I was born in Providence, Rhode Island and grew up just across the border in the town of Seekonk, Massachusetts. I studied Music (classical piano performance) and Romance Languages at Wesleyan University (CT) before moving to Texas to pursue a doctorate in Linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin. Midway through grad school I did a stint in Rome on a Fulbright scholarship, where I was able to combine my love of Italian with my research interest in sign language and cognitive development. After earning my Ph.D. in 2010, I completed postdoctoral training in Psychology at the University of Chicago and Boston University, and in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Emerson College. I've been faculty in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at Miami University of Ohio since 2015, where I am currently an Associate Professor.

Press!
Autism Speaks posted about my work here, and Education Week covered my work here.
Some press (and fascinating discussion) about my recent paper (with Richard P. Meier and Helen Tager-Flusberg) on sign language pronouns in autism from the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative here, the University of Texas Daily Texan here, and from the ASHA Leader here.
I recently wrote a piece of guest commentary for the SFARI website commenting on possible differences in the autistic experience of selfhood.
My guest blog on the Autism Speaks website.
In 2012 I was named an "Autism Hero" by the website Autism Light.
An old article featuring my work while a graduate student at UT Austin.

Little-known fact:
I have an essay on racism in the book "Chicken Soup for the Teen Soul".