ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
2021- Associate Professor, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
2015-2021 Assistant Professor, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
2014-2015 Post-doctoral research fellow, Facial Affective and Communicative Expressions (FACE) Lab, Communication Sciences and Disorders Department, Emerson College.
Mentor: Ruth Grossman.
2011-2014 Post-doctoral research fellow, Center for Autism Research Excellence (CARE), Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University.
Mentor: Helen Tager-Flusberg.
2010-2011 Post-doctoral researcher, Psychology, The University of Chicago.
Mentor: Susan Goldin-Meadow.
EDUCATION
2010 Doctor of Philosophy, Linguistics, The University of Texas at Austin.
Dissertation title: The Signing of Deaf Children with Autism: Lexical Phonology and Perspective-Taking in the Visual-Spatial Modality. Advisor: Richard P. Meier.
Prize for the Outstanding Dissertation in the Social Sciences, Business, and Education, The University of Texas at Austin.
2004 Master of Arts, Linguistics, The University of Texas at Austin.
Thesis: How Infants Learn Signs for Objects: Testing the Nature of Unimodal Mappings. Readers: Richard P. Meier and Leslie B. Cohen.
1999 Bachelor of Arts, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT.
Major in Italian Studies. Recipient of Scott Prize for Excellence in Romance Languages.
AWARDS, GRANTS, AND FELLOWSHIPS RECEIVED
2022 Faculty Research Grant from the Committee on Faculty Research (CFR) and the Office of Research and Innovation, Miami University. “A Pilot Study of the Attention-Directing Abilities of Caregivers of Children with Autism.” Amount: $27,357.
2020 Publication, Reprint, Exhibition, and Performance Costs (PREP) program grant from Miami University. Amount: $500.
2019 Summer Research Appointment from the Committee on Faculty Research (CFR), Miami University. “Evaluation of School-Based Sign Language Programs for Hearing Children with Apraxia of Speech.” Amount: $6,200.
2019 R01-Series Grant to the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Title: “Brain mechanisms underlying skilled reading in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children with different communication modes.” (PI: Booth/Vanderbilt University). Amount: $12,500. Role: Consultant.
2019 R15-Series AREA Grant to the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Development. Title: “Transactional neurobiological influences on parent-child kindergarten adjustment.” (PIs: Kiel/Luebbe) Amount: $11,641. Role: Consultant.
2018 Publication, Reprint, Exhibition, and Performance Costs (PREP) program grant from Miami University. Amount: $500.
2017 Grant from the Miami University Humanities Center to support an outside speaker for the series “What the L: Language Research at Miami.” Amount: $1,700.
2017 Grant to support research in Social Justice, Human Rights, Diversity, and Inclusion from Miami University. “Inclusion of a Miami Undergraduate Student with Autism in Autism Research”. Amount: $4,300.
2016 Advancing Academic-Research Careers (AARC) Award from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Amount: $5,000.
2016 Miami University College of Arts and Sciences Summer Research Grant for New Tenure-Track Faculty. Amount: $5,000.
2013 Autism Science Foundation Research Enhancement Mini-Grant. Amount: $5,000.
2011-2014 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) for Postdoctoral Fellows from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD).
Title: “The Effects of Autism on the Sign Language Development of Deaf Children.”
Total Amount: $161,759. Grant number: F32DC011219.
2008-2010 Autism Speaks Predoctoral Fellowship. Title: “Visual Perspective-Taking and the Acquisition of American Sign Language by Deaf Children with Autism.” Total Amount: $56,000.
2008-2009 National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant. Title: “Sign Language in Deaf and Hearing Autistic Children.” PI: Richard P. Meier; Co-PI: Aaron Shield.
Total Amount: $11,860. Grant number: BCS-0746009.
2005-2007 Donald D. Harrington Graduate Fellowship, The University of Texas at Austin.
2005 Mason-Perkins Fulbright Fellowship in Deafness. Researcher at the Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy.
Supervisor: Virginia Volterra
2002-2004 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
2001-2002 Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in the Humanities
AWARDS, GRANTS, AND FELLOWSHIPS SUBMITTED
2022 R21-Series Grant to the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Title: Amount: Role: Subcontractor. (PI: Roberts/Northwestern)
2022 Apraxia Kids Ph.D. Clinical Research Grant. Title: “Assessment of Sign-Supported Speech and Speech-Generating Device Interventions for Childhood Apraxia of Speech.” Amount: $50,000. Role: PI. (Not funded)
2019 R01-Series Grant to the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Title: “The Impact of Sign Language Exposure and Parent Behavior on the Cognition and Language of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Amount: $2,088,657. Role: PI. (Not funded)
2019 Partnership Development Grant to the Center for Clinical & Translational Science & Training, University of Cincinnati. Title: “Unlocking Speech with Sign: Benefits of Sign-Supported Speech for Children with Apraxia of Speech.” Amount: $5,000. Role: PI. (Not funded)
2018 Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America – CASANA. Title: “Benefits of Sign for Children with Severe Childhood Apraxia of Speech.” Amount: $25,000. Role: PI. (Not funded)
2018 Researcher-Practitioner Collaboration grant to the American Speech-Language-Hearing (ASH) Foundation. Title: “Quality and Quantity of Sign Language Input for Children with Severe Childhood Apraxia of Speech.” Amount: $35,000. Role: PI. (Not funded)
PUBLICATIONS
PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES
1. Shield, A., Igel, M., & Meier, R.P. (2022). Are palm reversals the pronoun reversals of sign language? Evidence from a fingerspelling task. Frontiers in Psychology. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.953019
2. Chenausky, K., Baker, A., & Shield, A. (2022). Concurrent predictors of supplementary sign use in school-aged children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. doi: 10.1044/2022_LSHSS-22-00017
3. Chenausky, K.V., Gagné, D., Stipancic, K.L., Shield, A., & Green, J. (2021). The relationship between single-word speech severity and intelligibility in childhood apraxia of speech. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-00213
4. Shield, A., Neild, R., & Graham, P. (2020). Educational strategies for deaf children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education.
5. Chenausky, K., Brignell, A., Morgan, A., Gagne, D., Norton, D., Tager-Flusberg, H., Schlaug, G., Shield, A., & Green, J. (2020). Factor analysis of signs of childhood apraxia of speech. Journal of Communication Disorders, 87. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2020.106033
6. Shield, A., Wang, X., Bone, D., Narayanan, S., & Grossman, R.B. (2020). Linguistic and prosodic correlates of rapid social judgments of children and adolescents with and without ASD. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics. doi: 10.1080/02699206.2020.1771772
7. Shield, A., Igel, M., Randall, K., & Meier, R.P. (2020). The source of palm orientation errors in the signing of children with ASD: Imitative, motoric, or both? Brain Sciences. doi: 10.3390/brainsci10050268
8. Mazzaggio, G. & Shield, A. (2020). The production of pronouns and verb inflections by Italian children with ASD: A new dataset in a null subject language. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. doi: 10.1007/s10803-019-04349-7
9. Shield, A., & Meier, R.P. (2018). Learning an embodied visual language: Four imitation strategies available to sign learners. Frontiers in Psychology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00811
10. Shield, A., Knapke, K., Henry, M., Srinivasan, S., & Bhat, A. (2017). Impaired praxis in gesture imitation by deaf children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism and Developmental Language Impairments. doi: 10.1177/2396941517745674
11. Shield, A., Cooley, F., & Meier, R.P. (2017). Sign language echolalia in deaf children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 60, 1622-1634. doi: 10.1044/2016_JSLHR-L-16-0292
12. Bhat, A.N., Srinivasan, S.M., Woxholdt, C., & Shield, A. (2016). Differences in praxis performance and receptive language during fingerspelling between deaf children with and without autism spectrum disorder. Autism. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/1362361316672179
13. Shield, A., Pyers, J., Martin, A., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2016). Relations between language and cognition in native-signing children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Research, 9, 1304-1315. doi: 10.1002/aur.1621.
14. Shield, A., Meier, R.P., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2015). The use of sign language pronouns by native-signing children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45, 2128-2145. doi: 10.1007/s10803-015-2377-x
15. Shield, A. (2014). Preliminary findings of similarities and differences in the speech and sign language of children with autism. Seminars in Speech and Language, 35, 309-320. doi: 10.1055/s-0034-1389103
16. Mood, D., & Shield, A. (2014). Clinical use of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Second Edition with children who are deaf. Seminars in Speech and Language, 35, 288-300. doi: 10.1055/s-0034-1389101
17. Szarkowski, A., Mood, D., Shield, A., Wiley, S., & Yoshinaga-Itano, C. (2014). A summary of current understanding regarding children with autism spectrum disorder who are deaf or hard of hearing. Seminars in Speech and Language, 35, 241-259. doi: 10.1055/s-0034-1389097
18. Shield, A., & Meier, R.P (2012). Palm reversal errors in native-signing children with autism. Journal of Communication Disorders, 45, 439-454. doi:10.1016/j.jcomdis.2012.08.004
19. Goldin-Meadow, S., Shield, A., Lenzen, D., Herzig, M., & C. Padden (2012). The gestures ASL signers use tell us when they are ready to learn math. Cognition, 123, 448-453. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2012.02.006
PEER-REVIEWED CHAPTERS, RESEARCH BULLETINS, AND CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
1. Shield, A., Mood, D., Salamy, N., & Henner, J. (2021). Assessing signed language development in deaf/signing children with autism spectrum disorder. In W. Mann (Ed.), Handbook of Language Assessment across Modalities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2. Frisbie, A., Shield, A., Mood, D., Salamy, N., & Henner, J. (2021). Discussion of issues related to assessment of signed or spoken language development in children with autism spectrum disorder. In W. Mann (Ed.), Handbook of Language Assessment across Modalities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3. Shield, A., & Sampson, T. (2020). Research on deafness and ASD: Challenges, opportunities, and goals. In Deafness: Current Perspectives and Research Developments. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
4. Graham, P., Neild, R., & Shield, A. (2020). Increasing social awareness for deaf children on the autism spectrum: Innovative strategies. Odyssey: New Directions in Deaf Education.
5. Herman, R., Shield, A., & Morgan, G. (2019). Sign language development in deaf children with language impairments and autism spectrum disorders. In N. Grove & K. Launonen (Eds.), Manual Sign Acquisition in Children with Developmental Disabilities (133-149). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
6. Mahshie, J., Brennan, K., Childress, T., DeConde Johnson, C., Seal, B., & Shield, A. (2019). American Sign Language [Position Statement]. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). https://www.asha.org/policy/PS2019-00354/
7. Shield, A. (2016). Language and communication with children who are deaf + ASD. In: Raising and Educating Deaf Children: Foundations for Policy, Practice, and Outcomes. Oxford University Press.
8. Shield, A., & Meier, R.P. (2014). Personal pronoun avoidance in deaf children with autism. In W. Orman & M.J. Valleau (Eds.), Proceedings of the 38th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (403-415). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
9. Shield, A. & Meier, R.P. (2013). The acquisition of sign language by deaf children with autism spectrum disorder. In D. Quinto-Pozos (Ed.), Multilingual Aspects of Signed Language Communication and Disorder (90-122). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.
10. Shield, A. & J. Baldridge (2007). A morphological analyzer for American Sign Language. Proceedings of the Texas Linguistics Society X: Computational Linguistics for Less-Studied Languages (125-138). Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.
11. Shield, A. (2005). Ideological conflict at group boundaries: The hearing children of Deaf adults. In C. Sunakawa, T. Ikeda, S. Finch & M. Shetty (Eds.), Texas Linguistic Forum 48: Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Symposium about Language and Society (187-195).
12. Shield, A. (2003). The 64 million dollar vowel: Anglo pronunciation of a Spanish last name in Texas. In Penn Working Papers in Linguistics Volume 9.2, Papers from NWAV 31 (149-158).
EDITED VOLUME
1. Shield, A., Hallett, T., Oshima, S., & S. Floyd, Eds. (2006). Papers from Symposium About Language and Society at Austin XIV, Texas Linguistic Forum 50.
WORKS UNDER REVIEW AND IN PREPARATION
1. Singleton, J., Walker, K., Meier, R.P., & Shield, A. (in prep). Fluent but repetitive ASL signing in a Deaf native signer with Autism Spectrum Disorder. To be submitted to Language Acquisition.
2. Shield, A., Hylton, B., Combs, A., & Malsch, K. (in prep). The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on deaf education. To be submitted to Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education.
3. Shield, A., & Ferris, L. (in prep). Visual representations of the ASL alphabet show evidence of learnability problems.
PRESENTATIONS
INVITED TALKS
1. "Deafness and ASD: Considerations for Theory and Practice." Talk to be presented at the Alabama Autism Conference, Tuscaloosa, AL, February 24, 2023.
2. “A look back on a decade of ASL research in deaf American children with ASD.” Talk presented at the International Workshop on Sign language exposure for people with autism spectrum disorders. University of Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis, France, July 1, 2022.
3. “Language acquisition for deaf children with ASD: Considerations and complications.” Talk presented at the Language First conference (online), October 22, 2021.
4. “The acquisition of ASL by deaf children on the spectrum.” Talk presented at the Deaf and ASD International Online Conference, York, England, UK, February 5, 2021.
5. “The use of signs by children with apraxia of speech.” Talk presented at the Professionals in Communication Sciences and Disorders Speaker Series, New York University, January 29, 2021.
6. "Insights about language from research with deaf children with autism.” Invited talk at the University of Connecticut Cognitive Science Colloquium Series, Storrs, CT, November 1, 2019.
7. "Insights into cognitive and linguistic processes from research on autism and sign language.” Invited talk at the Language and Literacy in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Symposium, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, October 24, 2019.
8. Language Alumni Panel, Power of Language Symposium, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, April 26, 2019.
9. “What sign language research can tell us about language and language disorder.” Talk presented at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf, Boston, MA, October 11, 2018.
10. “What sign language research can tell us about language and language disorder.” Invited talk at the 2018 Speech and Hearing Foundation of Massachusetts Annual Lecture, Emerson College, Boston, MA, October 10, 2018.
11. “What sign language research can teach us about language and language disorder.” Invited talk at Grinnell College Department of Linguistics, April 17, 2017.
12. “What sign language research can teach us about language and language disorder.” Talk presented as part of the What the L? speaker series. Miami University, December 5, 2016.
13. “Defining the precision hypothesis: The USE model.” Talk presented at the Consortium on Autism and Science Language Meeting at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, MA, December 11-13, 2015.
14. “Research with deaf children on the autism spectrum: Implications for theory and practice.” Talk presented at the Panel on Sign Language Research, University of Connecticut, January 15, 2015.
15. “What (deaf) children with autism can teach us.” Talk presented at Conversations on Autism & Sign Language (CASL): Unlocking the Emergence of Social Communication. Stony Brook University, December 15, 2014.
16. “ASL in deaf children with autism.” Talk presented to the American Society for Deaf Children conference, Family Strong: Together We Stand, The Learning Center for the Deaf, Framingham, MA, June 28, 2014.
17. “Palms, points, and pronouns: Language and cognition in deaf children with autism.” Talk presented to the University of Connecticut Developmental Psychology Colloquium, October 25, 2013.
18. “Autismo e sordità: Nuove scoperte e sfide.” Talk presented in Italian at the Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy, July 19, 2013.
19. "Autism, deafness, and sign language: Research issues and clinical implications.” Talk presented to the Boston Medical Center Developmental Pediatrics literary seminar, March 28, 2013.
20. “Palms, points, and pronouns: Language and cognition in deaf children with autism.” Talk presented to the Harvard University Language and Cognition Group, Department of Psychology, February 26, 2013.
21. “Theoretical implications of research on deaf children with autism.” Talk presented at the Boston University Developmental Science Colloquium and Brown Bag Series, March 28, 2012.
22. “Preliminary goals of research into deafness and autism: Documenting and making connections.” Talk at York University, England, November 11, 2011.
23. “Phonological errors in the signing of deaf children with autism: Clues to cognition.” Talk at the Deafness, Cognition, and Language Centre (DCAL), University College London, November 10, 2011.
24. “Sign language and autism: An intersection of modality, language, and cognition.” Talk given at the University of Chicago Workshop on Language, Cognition, and Computation, January 28, 2011.
25. “Come i bambini udenti imparano segni per oggetti: Un test sulla natura dei mapping unimodali”. Seminar given in Italian at the Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Rome, Italy, January 2005.
REFEREED CONFERENCE PAPERS
1. "Non-autistic versus autistic children: Why should I say "um" if I'm not talking to anybody?" Talk to be presented at the 18th International Pragmatics Conference, Brussels, Belgium, July 9-14, 2023. [Boo, C., Shield, A., McIntyre, N., Grossman, R., Mundy, P., Naigles, L., & Zane, E.]
2. "What we now know about signing children with ASD." Talk to be presented at the Meeting on Language in Autism (MoLA), Durham, NC, March 10, 2023.
3. "Repetition and handshape intrusion in the fluent signing of an autistic, deaf adolescent." Talk to be presented at the Meeting on Language in Autism (MoLA), Durham, NC, March 10, 2023. [Walker, K., Singleton, J.L., Meier, R.P., & Shield, A.]
4. “Fluent but repetitive ASL signing in a Deaf native signer with Autism Spectrum Disorder”. Talk presented at the International Conference on Sign Language Acquisition, June 23-25, 2022. [Singleton, J., Walker, K., Meier, R.P., & Shield, A.]
5. "A longitudinal case study of palm orientation errors in the signing of a child with ASD". Talk to be presented at the (canceled) Meeting on Language in Autism (MoLA), Duke University, Durham, NC, March 12-14, 2020.
6. “Comparing the effectiveness of backward design approaches with different amounts of metacognitive and deliberate practice.” Talk presented at the Original Lilly Conference on College Teaching, Oxford, OH, November 17, 2017.
7. “Language development in a bimodal bilingual child with autism.” Talk presented at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Annual Convention, Los Angeles, CA, November 9, 2017. [Shield, A., Randall, K., Hughes, W., Stelzer, D., & Belzer, D.]
8. “Research on deaf children with ASD informs our understanding of autism and language.” Talk presented as part of the symposium “Rethinking Child Language Disorders: Insights from Sign Language Research.” American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Washington, DC, February 11-15, 2016.
9. “Autism spectrum disorder among children who are deaf/hard of hearing: Diagnostic & intervention considerations.” Talk presented at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Annual Convention, Denver, CO, November 12, 2015.
10. “Sign language experience changes how learners imitate gestures.” Talk presented at the Sixth Conference of the Society for Gesture Studies: Gesture in Interaction, San Diego, CA, July 2014.
11. "When pronouns are points: Investigating reference to self and other in signing ASD children." Talk presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Atlanta, GA, May 15, 2014.
12. “The transparency of sign pronouns does not aid deaf children with autism.” Talk presented at Linguistic Society of America (LSA), Minneapolis, MN, January 5, 2014.
13. “Personal pronoun avoidance in deaf children with autism.” Talk presented at Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD) 38, November 1, 2013. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P.]
14. “Spatial grammar constructions in deaf signing children with autism.” Talk presented at the workshop “Language and Mind in Autism”, International Congress of Linguists (ICL) 19, Geneva, Switzerland, July 25, 2013.
15. “Different echolalia types in native-signing children with autism.” Talk presented at the Society for Research on Child Development (SRCD) pre-conference on development in deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Seattle, WA, April 17, 2013. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P.]
16. “Sign language and autism: Phonological errors in the sign language of deaf children with autism.” Talk at the Encontro Nacional Sobre Aquisição da Linguagem (ENAL) VIII, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Brazil, October 18, 2011. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P., presented by RPM.]
17. “Sign language and autism: Phonological errors in the sign language of deaf children with autism.” Talk at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil, October 13, 2011. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P., presented by RPM.]
18. “Different strategies for solving mathematical equivalence in a sign language.” Paper presented at the 41st Meeting of the Jean Piaget Society, Berkeley, CA, June 2011.
19. “Phonological errors in the signing of deaf autistic children: More evidence for a self-other mapping deficit.” Paper presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Philadelphia, PA, May 2010. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P.]
20. “Visual perspective taking in sign language: Evidence from deaf children with autism.” Paper presented at the Linguistic Society of America, Baltimore, MD, January 2010. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P.]
21. “A morphological transducer for American Sign Language.” Paper at Texas Linguistic Society (TLS) X, October 2006.
22. “How children learn signs for objects: Testing the nature of unimodal mappings”. Paper presented at Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR) 8, Barcelona, Spain, October 2004.
23. “Comment les enfants apprennent-ils les signes pour les objets?” Paper presented in French at Surdité et Societé, 72nd Congrès de l’Association francophone pour le savoir, Montreal, Quebec, May 2004.
24. “Ideological conflict at group boundaries: The hearing children of Deaf adults”. Paper presented at Symposium on Language and Society at Austin (SALSA) XII, Austin, TX, April 2004.
25. “The 20 million dollar vowel: Anglo pronunciation of a Spanish last name in Texas”. Paper presented at New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV) 31, Stanford University, Stanford, California, October 2002.
REFEREED CONFERENCE POSTERS
1. "Non-autistic versus autistic children: Why should I say "um" if I'm not talking to anybody?" Poster to be presented at the 2023 Society for Research on Child Development Biennial Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, March 24, 2023. [Boo, C., Shield, A., McIntyre, N., Grossman, R., Mundy, P., Naigles, L., & Zane, E.]
2. “Investigating speech severity and intelligibility in CAS.” Poster presented at the Apraxia-Kids National Conference, July 8-10, 2021. [Chenausky, K.V., Gagne, D., Stipancic, K.L., Shield, A., & Green, J.]
3. “Are palm reversals the pronoun reversals of sign language?” Poster presented at the Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, June 3-4, 2021. [Shield, A., & Igel, M.]
4. “Functions of Signs Produced by School-Aged Children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech.” Poster presented at the Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, June 3-4, 2021. [Shield, A., Gerenz, P., & Blackburn, E.]
5. "Predictors of language gains of school-aged children with childhood apraxia of speech.” Poster to be presented at the (canceled) Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders (SRCLD), Madison, Wisconsin, May 29, 2020. [Baker, A., Chenausky, K., & Shield, A.]
6. "Production of prepositions by children with autism spectrum disorder". Poster to be presented at the (canceled) Meeting on Language in Autism (MoLA), Duke University, Durham, NC, March 2020. [Shield, A., Scheible, C., Zane, E., & Grossman, R.B.]
7. “Issues in the developmental assessment of deaf/signing children with autism spectrum disorder.” Poster to be presented at the (postponed) Fifth International Conference on Family Centred Early Intervention for Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (FCEI), Bad Ischl, Austria, May 27-30, 2020. [Shield, A., Mood, D., Salamy, N., & Henner, J.]
8. “A sign-supported speech intervention for school-aged children with childhood apraxia of speech.” Poster presented at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Annual Convention, Orlando, FL, November 21-23, 2019. [Baker, A. & Shield, A.]
9. “What a pro-drop language can tell us about pronouns’ use in high-functioning ASD children: The case of Italian.” Poster presented at XPRAG.it, Cagliari, Italy, September 2019. [Shield, A. & Mazzaggio, G.]
10. “The production of pronouns and verb inflections by Italian children with ASD: A new dataset in a pro-drop language.” Poster presented at the Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders (SRCLD), Madison, WI, June 6-8, 2019. [Mazzaggio, G. & Shield, A.]
11. “Relations between production of third-person pronouns and mental state terms in the narratives of children with ASD.” Poster presented at the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) annual meeting, Montreal, Canada, May 2019. [Shield, A. & Grossman, R.B.]
12. "Issues in the assessment of deaf/signing children with ASD.” Poster presented at the International Conference on Sign Language Acquisition and Assessment (SLAAC), Haifa, Israel, November 2018. [Shield, A., Mood, D., Salamy, N., & Henner, J.]
13. “Linguistic and prosodic correlates of perceived social skills in conversation.” Poster presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), San Francisco, May 2017. [Shield, A., Bone, D., Naryanan, S., & Grossman, R.]
14. “Native-signing children with autism produce signed echoes.” Poster presented at Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders (SRCLD), Madison, Wisconsin, June 2016. [Cooley, F., Shield, A., & Meier, R.P.]
15. “Minimally-verbal autism in children with native exposure to ASL.” Poster presented at Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR) 12, Melbourne, Australia, January 2016. [Shield, A., Parnes, G. & Davidson, K.]
16. “Three modality differences between signed and spoken language echolalia.” Poster presented at Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR) 12, Melbourne, Australia, January 2016. [Cooley, F., Shield, A., & Meier, R.P.]
17. “The link between language and theory of mind: Evidence from deaf children with autism.” Poster presented at the 9th Biennial Meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, Columbus, OH, October 2015. [Shield, A., Martin, A., & Pyers, J.]
18. “Native exposure to sign language does not attenuate the social-cognitive deficits of ASD.” Poster presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Salt Lake City, May 2015. [Shield, A., Martin, A., & Pyers, J.]
19. “Differences in fingerspelling praxis performance between deaf children with autism and deaf typically developing children between 5 and 14 years of age.” Poster presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Salt Lake City, May 2015. [Woxholdt, C., Srinivasan, S., Bhat, A., & Shield, A.]
20. “Palm reversals are the pronoun reversals of sign language.” Poster presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Toronto, May 2012.
21. “The role of mismatch in the signing and gesturing of deaf children: Mathematical equivalence problems.” Poster presented at the Visual Language & Visual Learning (VL2) site visit, Northwestern University, May 16, 2011.
22. “Palm orientation errors are characteristic of deaf children with autism.” Poster presented at Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR) 10, West Lafayette, IN, October 2010. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P.]
23. “Are some signs hard for deaf autistic children to learn?” Poster presented at Signing on the Spectrum: Meeting the Needs of Deaf Children with Autism, Framingham, MA, October 2008.
24. “Sign language in deaf and hearing autistic children: An exploratory study.” Poster presented at Society for Research on Child Language Disorders (SRCLD), Madison, WI, June 2008. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P.]
25. “How infants learn signs for objects: Testing the role of social reference in unimodal mappings”. Poster presented at Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development (SRCD), Atlanta, GA, April 2005.
TEACHING
COURSES TAUGHT
SPA 223: Theories of Language Development, Miami University (Fall ‘15, Spring ‘16, Fall ‘16, Spring ’17, Fall ’19, Spring ’20)
SPA/DST 312: Deaf Culture: Global, National, and Local Issues, Miami University (Fall ’17, Spring ’18, Spring ’19, Spring ’20, Fall ’20, Spring ’21, Fall ’21, Spring ’22, Fall ‘22, Spring '23)
SPA 334: Clinical Phonetics and Articulation Disorders, Miami University (Spring ‘16; Fall ’17, Spring ’21, Fall ‘21, Spring '23)
SPA 413: Senior Seminar in Communication Disorders, Miami University (Fall ’16, Spring ’18, Spring ’19, Fall ’19, Fall ’20, Fall ’21, Fall ‘22)
SPA 416: Research Design in Communicative Disorders, Miami University (Spring ’21, Spring ‘22)
LIN 312: Language in the Body: Gesture, Sign, and Speech, University of Texas at Austin (2008-2009)
LIN 306: Introduction to the Study of Language, University of Texas at Austin (2007-2009)
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT
2016-2017 Alumni Teaching Scholars for Early-Career Faculty, Miami University.
2015-2016 New Faculty Teaching Enhancement Program (NFTEP), Miami University.
2021 Global Miami Plan Faculty Advisors Fellows Program, Miami University
AWARDS
2019 Outstanding Professor Award Nominee, Miami University Associated Student Government
2020 Student Recognition of Teaching Excellence Award, in recognition for creativity and innovation in teaching for Fall 2020
2021 Outstanding Professor Award Top 12 Finalist, Miami University Associated Student Government
ADVISING/MENTORING
Dean’s Scholar Mentor
Honors with Distinction Project Mentor
Thesis Advisor
· Bruce Leewiwatanakul (Boston University School of Medicine, MA 2014). Clinical Practices in Utilizing the ADOS to Assess Deaf or Hard of Hearing children for Autism.
· Colleen Scheible (Miami University, MA 2019). Use of Spatial and Temporal Terms by Adolescents with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder.
· Kristina Randall (Miami University, MA 2020). Expressive Language in a Bimodal Bilingual Child with ASD.
· Alison Baker (Miami University, MA 2020). Predictors of Language Gains of Hearing, School-Aged Children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech.
· Megan Igel (Miami University, MA 2021). The cognitive and linguistic profile of children with ASD who produce palm reversals.
· Kaleigh Hollyday (Miami University, MA 2023). Attention-getting strategies of the Deaf parents of children with ASD.
Thesis Committee Member
· Lauren Hernandez (MA received May 2016). Phonological Processes in English Sentences Produced by Adult Native Speakers of Spanish
· Megan Alano (MA received May 2016). Evidence Based Review of Norm-Referenced Language Tests for Identification of Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder.
· Kaitlyn Gilfert (MA received May 2017). The Directionality of English Vowel Substitution Errors in /hVt/ Context.
· Ciara Cooley (MA received May 2018). How do context awareness and listener experience taking the SPEAK test influence perceptions of non-native speaking proficiency?
· Chloe Turner (MA received May 2020). Documenting Consonant and Vowel Variations in a Sample of Native Born Anguillian Teenagers.
Senior Project Advisor
· Greta Parnes (Yale University, 2015). Honors thesis in Cognitive Science.
Mentored Student Posters
Miami University Undergraduate Research Forum, April 20, 2022:
· Emily Blackburn: Characteristics of Teacher Signing in a School-Based Setting for Children with Apraxia of Speech
· Melanie Hamon: An Analysis of the Use of Profanity in Informal Text (and What it Can Tell Us About the Community)
· Brynn Hylton: Impacts of COVID-19 on Deaf Education
Miami University Undergraduate Research Forum, April 21, 2021:
· Paige Gerenz & Emily Blackburn: Functions of Manual Sign in Children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)
· Kaleigh Hollyday: The Attitudes, Values, and Beliefs of Educators and Parents of Deaf Children in Listening and Spoken Language Programs
· Hailey Kingsbury: Facial Movements of Native-Signing Children with and without ASD
Miami University Undergraduate Research Forum, April 29, 2020:
· Callie Gnam, Nicole Bennie, Paige Gerenz, Emily Blackburn, & Allora Hern: Fingerspelling Patterns in Signing Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Miami University Graduate Research Forum, November 1, 2019:
· Megan Igel: A Longitudinal Case Study of a Signer with ASD Reveals Perspective-Taking Difficulties
Miami University Undergraduate Research Forum, April 24, 2019:
· Abby Bowman: What Is the Quality and Quantity of Sign-Supported Speech for Children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech in a School-Based Program?
· Sarah Kingsbury, Theresa Adams, & Hailey Kingsbury: The Production of Mental State Terms and Pronoun Ambiguity in Narratives by Adolescents With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder
· Megan Igel: Articulatory Development in Sign and Speech of A Bimodal Bilingual Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Ohio Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, March 9, 2019:
· Sarah Kingsbury, Theresa Adams, & Hailey Kingsbury: The Production of Mental State Terms and Pronoun Ambiguity in Narratives by Adolescents With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder (2nd place winner in Student Poster Contest)
· Colleen Scheible: Use of Spatial and Temporal Terms by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
· Kristina Randall: Expressive Language Development in a Bimodal Bilingual Child with Autism
Miami University Undergraduate Research Forum, April 25, 2018:
· Kristina Randall: Language Development in a Bimodal Bilingual Child with Autism.
· Bryn McElroy, Megan Igel, & Theresa Adams: Linguistic Differences in the Production of Narratives by Adolescents with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder
Ohio Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, March 24, 2018:
· Kristina Randall: Echolalia in a Bimodal Bilingual Child with Autism.
· Bryn McElroy, Megan Igel, & Theresa Adams: Linguistic Differences in the Production of Narratives by Adolescents with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Miami University Undergraduate Research Forum, April 26, 2017:
· Kristina Randall: Language Development in a Bimodal Bilingual Child with Autism.
· Danielle Belzer & Leah Kovach: The Development of Joint Attention in a Bimodal Bilingual Child with Autism.
· Wil Hughes & Danielle Stelzer: Do Deaf Children with Autism Differ from Typically-Developing Deaf Children in Their Use of the Face?
· Bryn McElroy, Sarah Kingsbury, & Megan Igel: A Linguistic Analysis of Narratives Produced by Adolescents with High-Functioning Autism.
SERVICE
SERVICE TO THE UNIVERSITY
· Member of the Graduate Student Financial Assistance (GSFA) Committee, 2017-2021.
· Member of the Linguistics and Disability Studies interdepartmental programs, 2015-2020.
· Member of the Search Committee for Tenure-Track Positions in Child Language, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Miami University, 2016-2017; 2017-2018.
· Member of the Search Committee for Tenure-Track Position in Computational Linguistics, Department of English, Miami University, 2019-2020.
· Member of the Undergraduate/Assessment Committee, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Miami University, 2016-.
· Member of the Governance Committee, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Miami University, 2017-2018, 2019-.
· Member of the American Sign Language Program Committee, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Miami University, 2018-2019.
· Member of the Linguistics Program Committee, Miami University, 2016-present.
· Faculty Co-Adviser, Autism Allies Club (formerly Autism Speaks U), 2016-present.
· Co-Founder and Organizer, What the L? Language Research at Miami Speaker Series, Miami University, 2016-present.
SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION
· Editor, Special Issue: Modality and Language Acquisition: How does the channel through which language is expressed affect how children and adults are able to learn? Frontiers in Psychology.
· Member, Ad Hoc Committee on American Sign Language, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2018.
· Member, Autism Spectrum Disorder Topic Committee for the ASHA Convention, 2021-.
· Associate Editor, Autism and Developmental Language Impairments, 2020-present.
· Member, Editorial Board, Autism and Developmental Language Impairments, 2018-2020.
· External consultant, National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes.
Communication of research to the profession/public:
Ad hoc reviewer for the following journals:
· Autism: International Journal of Research and Practice
· Autism Research
· Autism and Developmental Language Impairments
· Child Development
· Cognition
· Developmental Psychology
· Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
· Journal of Communication Disorders
· Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
· Journal of Pragmatics
· Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
· Language and Linguistics Compass
· Language, Learning and Development
· Mind and Language
· PLOS ONE
· Reinvention: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research
· Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders
· Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
PRESS
Madhusoodanan, J. “Confusion at the crossroads of autism and hearing loss”. August 12, 2020. Spectrum News. https://www.spectrumnews.org/features/deep-dive/confusion-at-the-crossroads-of-autism-and-hearing-loss/?utm_source=Spectrum
Benson, E. “Aaron Shield, linguist”. April 4, 2016. University of California Santa Cruz Science Communication Program. https://scicom.ucsc.edu/publications/QandA/2016/shield.html
Sparks, S.D. “Studies on Deafness Yield Broader Benefits”. Education Week, February 23, 2016. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/02/24/studies-on-deafness-yield-broader-benefits.html
“Research on deaf children with autism yields broader insights”. February 12, 2016. https://www.autismspeaks.org/science/science-news/research-deaf-children-autism-yields-broader-insights
“Sign-Language Use Sheds New Light on ASD-Related Language Delay”. The ASHA Leader, 20(17), June 2015. http://leader.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=2300819
Kovelamudi, V. “Study: Hearing and deaf children with autism both avoid using pronouns”. The Daily Texan, April 6, 2015. http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2015/04/06/study-hearing-and-deaf-children-with-autism-both-avoid-using-pronouns
“A New Look at Language Delay in Children with Autism”. UT News, April 2, 2015. https://news.utexas.edu/2015/04/02/a-new-look-at-language-delay-in-children-with-autism
Zeliadt, N. “Sign language study solves autism’s pronoun mystery”. Spectrum Autism Research News, February 27, 2015. https://spectrumnews.org/opinion/sign-language-study-solves-autisms-pronoun-mystery/
2021- Associate Professor, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
2015-2021 Assistant Professor, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
2014-2015 Post-doctoral research fellow, Facial Affective and Communicative Expressions (FACE) Lab, Communication Sciences and Disorders Department, Emerson College.
Mentor: Ruth Grossman.
2011-2014 Post-doctoral research fellow, Center for Autism Research Excellence (CARE), Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University.
Mentor: Helen Tager-Flusberg.
2010-2011 Post-doctoral researcher, Psychology, The University of Chicago.
Mentor: Susan Goldin-Meadow.
EDUCATION
2010 Doctor of Philosophy, Linguistics, The University of Texas at Austin.
Dissertation title: The Signing of Deaf Children with Autism: Lexical Phonology and Perspective-Taking in the Visual-Spatial Modality. Advisor: Richard P. Meier.
Prize for the Outstanding Dissertation in the Social Sciences, Business, and Education, The University of Texas at Austin.
2004 Master of Arts, Linguistics, The University of Texas at Austin.
Thesis: How Infants Learn Signs for Objects: Testing the Nature of Unimodal Mappings. Readers: Richard P. Meier and Leslie B. Cohen.
1999 Bachelor of Arts, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT.
Major in Italian Studies. Recipient of Scott Prize for Excellence in Romance Languages.
AWARDS, GRANTS, AND FELLOWSHIPS RECEIVED
2022 Faculty Research Grant from the Committee on Faculty Research (CFR) and the Office of Research and Innovation, Miami University. “A Pilot Study of the Attention-Directing Abilities of Caregivers of Children with Autism.” Amount: $27,357.
2020 Publication, Reprint, Exhibition, and Performance Costs (PREP) program grant from Miami University. Amount: $500.
2019 Summer Research Appointment from the Committee on Faculty Research (CFR), Miami University. “Evaluation of School-Based Sign Language Programs for Hearing Children with Apraxia of Speech.” Amount: $6,200.
2019 R01-Series Grant to the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Title: “Brain mechanisms underlying skilled reading in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children with different communication modes.” (PI: Booth/Vanderbilt University). Amount: $12,500. Role: Consultant.
2019 R15-Series AREA Grant to the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Development. Title: “Transactional neurobiological influences on parent-child kindergarten adjustment.” (PIs: Kiel/Luebbe) Amount: $11,641. Role: Consultant.
2018 Publication, Reprint, Exhibition, and Performance Costs (PREP) program grant from Miami University. Amount: $500.
2017 Grant from the Miami University Humanities Center to support an outside speaker for the series “What the L: Language Research at Miami.” Amount: $1,700.
2017 Grant to support research in Social Justice, Human Rights, Diversity, and Inclusion from Miami University. “Inclusion of a Miami Undergraduate Student with Autism in Autism Research”. Amount: $4,300.
2016 Advancing Academic-Research Careers (AARC) Award from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Amount: $5,000.
2016 Miami University College of Arts and Sciences Summer Research Grant for New Tenure-Track Faculty. Amount: $5,000.
2013 Autism Science Foundation Research Enhancement Mini-Grant. Amount: $5,000.
2011-2014 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) for Postdoctoral Fellows from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD).
Title: “The Effects of Autism on the Sign Language Development of Deaf Children.”
Total Amount: $161,759. Grant number: F32DC011219.
2008-2010 Autism Speaks Predoctoral Fellowship. Title: “Visual Perspective-Taking and the Acquisition of American Sign Language by Deaf Children with Autism.” Total Amount: $56,000.
2008-2009 National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant. Title: “Sign Language in Deaf and Hearing Autistic Children.” PI: Richard P. Meier; Co-PI: Aaron Shield.
Total Amount: $11,860. Grant number: BCS-0746009.
2005-2007 Donald D. Harrington Graduate Fellowship, The University of Texas at Austin.
2005 Mason-Perkins Fulbright Fellowship in Deafness. Researcher at the Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy.
Supervisor: Virginia Volterra
2002-2004 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
2001-2002 Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in the Humanities
AWARDS, GRANTS, AND FELLOWSHIPS SUBMITTED
2022 R21-Series Grant to the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Title: Amount: Role: Subcontractor. (PI: Roberts/Northwestern)
2022 Apraxia Kids Ph.D. Clinical Research Grant. Title: “Assessment of Sign-Supported Speech and Speech-Generating Device Interventions for Childhood Apraxia of Speech.” Amount: $50,000. Role: PI. (Not funded)
2019 R01-Series Grant to the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Title: “The Impact of Sign Language Exposure and Parent Behavior on the Cognition and Language of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Amount: $2,088,657. Role: PI. (Not funded)
2019 Partnership Development Grant to the Center for Clinical & Translational Science & Training, University of Cincinnati. Title: “Unlocking Speech with Sign: Benefits of Sign-Supported Speech for Children with Apraxia of Speech.” Amount: $5,000. Role: PI. (Not funded)
2018 Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America – CASANA. Title: “Benefits of Sign for Children with Severe Childhood Apraxia of Speech.” Amount: $25,000. Role: PI. (Not funded)
2018 Researcher-Practitioner Collaboration grant to the American Speech-Language-Hearing (ASH) Foundation. Title: “Quality and Quantity of Sign Language Input for Children with Severe Childhood Apraxia of Speech.” Amount: $35,000. Role: PI. (Not funded)
PUBLICATIONS
PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES
1. Shield, A., Igel, M., & Meier, R.P. (2022). Are palm reversals the pronoun reversals of sign language? Evidence from a fingerspelling task. Frontiers in Psychology. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.953019
2. Chenausky, K., Baker, A., & Shield, A. (2022). Concurrent predictors of supplementary sign use in school-aged children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. doi: 10.1044/2022_LSHSS-22-00017
3. Chenausky, K.V., Gagné, D., Stipancic, K.L., Shield, A., & Green, J. (2021). The relationship between single-word speech severity and intelligibility in childhood apraxia of speech. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-00213
4. Shield, A., Neild, R., & Graham, P. (2020). Educational strategies for deaf children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education.
5. Chenausky, K., Brignell, A., Morgan, A., Gagne, D., Norton, D., Tager-Flusberg, H., Schlaug, G., Shield, A., & Green, J. (2020). Factor analysis of signs of childhood apraxia of speech. Journal of Communication Disorders, 87. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2020.106033
6. Shield, A., Wang, X., Bone, D., Narayanan, S., & Grossman, R.B. (2020). Linguistic and prosodic correlates of rapid social judgments of children and adolescents with and without ASD. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics. doi: 10.1080/02699206.2020.1771772
7. Shield, A., Igel, M., Randall, K., & Meier, R.P. (2020). The source of palm orientation errors in the signing of children with ASD: Imitative, motoric, or both? Brain Sciences. doi: 10.3390/brainsci10050268
8. Mazzaggio, G. & Shield, A. (2020). The production of pronouns and verb inflections by Italian children with ASD: A new dataset in a null subject language. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. doi: 10.1007/s10803-019-04349-7
9. Shield, A., & Meier, R.P. (2018). Learning an embodied visual language: Four imitation strategies available to sign learners. Frontiers in Psychology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00811
10. Shield, A., Knapke, K., Henry, M., Srinivasan, S., & Bhat, A. (2017). Impaired praxis in gesture imitation by deaf children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism and Developmental Language Impairments. doi: 10.1177/2396941517745674
11. Shield, A., Cooley, F., & Meier, R.P. (2017). Sign language echolalia in deaf children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 60, 1622-1634. doi: 10.1044/2016_JSLHR-L-16-0292
12. Bhat, A.N., Srinivasan, S.M., Woxholdt, C., & Shield, A. (2016). Differences in praxis performance and receptive language during fingerspelling between deaf children with and without autism spectrum disorder. Autism. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/1362361316672179
13. Shield, A., Pyers, J., Martin, A., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2016). Relations between language and cognition in native-signing children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Research, 9, 1304-1315. doi: 10.1002/aur.1621.
14. Shield, A., Meier, R.P., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2015). The use of sign language pronouns by native-signing children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45, 2128-2145. doi: 10.1007/s10803-015-2377-x
15. Shield, A. (2014). Preliminary findings of similarities and differences in the speech and sign language of children with autism. Seminars in Speech and Language, 35, 309-320. doi: 10.1055/s-0034-1389103
16. Mood, D., & Shield, A. (2014). Clinical use of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Second Edition with children who are deaf. Seminars in Speech and Language, 35, 288-300. doi: 10.1055/s-0034-1389101
17. Szarkowski, A., Mood, D., Shield, A., Wiley, S., & Yoshinaga-Itano, C. (2014). A summary of current understanding regarding children with autism spectrum disorder who are deaf or hard of hearing. Seminars in Speech and Language, 35, 241-259. doi: 10.1055/s-0034-1389097
18. Shield, A., & Meier, R.P (2012). Palm reversal errors in native-signing children with autism. Journal of Communication Disorders, 45, 439-454. doi:10.1016/j.jcomdis.2012.08.004
19. Goldin-Meadow, S., Shield, A., Lenzen, D., Herzig, M., & C. Padden (2012). The gestures ASL signers use tell us when they are ready to learn math. Cognition, 123, 448-453. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2012.02.006
PEER-REVIEWED CHAPTERS, RESEARCH BULLETINS, AND CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
1. Shield, A., Mood, D., Salamy, N., & Henner, J. (2021). Assessing signed language development in deaf/signing children with autism spectrum disorder. In W. Mann (Ed.), Handbook of Language Assessment across Modalities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2. Frisbie, A., Shield, A., Mood, D., Salamy, N., & Henner, J. (2021). Discussion of issues related to assessment of signed or spoken language development in children with autism spectrum disorder. In W. Mann (Ed.), Handbook of Language Assessment across Modalities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3. Shield, A., & Sampson, T. (2020). Research on deafness and ASD: Challenges, opportunities, and goals. In Deafness: Current Perspectives and Research Developments. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
4. Graham, P., Neild, R., & Shield, A. (2020). Increasing social awareness for deaf children on the autism spectrum: Innovative strategies. Odyssey: New Directions in Deaf Education.
5. Herman, R., Shield, A., & Morgan, G. (2019). Sign language development in deaf children with language impairments and autism spectrum disorders. In N. Grove & K. Launonen (Eds.), Manual Sign Acquisition in Children with Developmental Disabilities (133-149). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
6. Mahshie, J., Brennan, K., Childress, T., DeConde Johnson, C., Seal, B., & Shield, A. (2019). American Sign Language [Position Statement]. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). https://www.asha.org/policy/PS2019-00354/
7. Shield, A. (2016). Language and communication with children who are deaf + ASD. In: Raising and Educating Deaf Children: Foundations for Policy, Practice, and Outcomes. Oxford University Press.
8. Shield, A., & Meier, R.P. (2014). Personal pronoun avoidance in deaf children with autism. In W. Orman & M.J. Valleau (Eds.), Proceedings of the 38th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (403-415). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
9. Shield, A. & Meier, R.P. (2013). The acquisition of sign language by deaf children with autism spectrum disorder. In D. Quinto-Pozos (Ed.), Multilingual Aspects of Signed Language Communication and Disorder (90-122). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.
10. Shield, A. & J. Baldridge (2007). A morphological analyzer for American Sign Language. Proceedings of the Texas Linguistics Society X: Computational Linguistics for Less-Studied Languages (125-138). Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.
11. Shield, A. (2005). Ideological conflict at group boundaries: The hearing children of Deaf adults. In C. Sunakawa, T. Ikeda, S. Finch & M. Shetty (Eds.), Texas Linguistic Forum 48: Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Symposium about Language and Society (187-195).
12. Shield, A. (2003). The 64 million dollar vowel: Anglo pronunciation of a Spanish last name in Texas. In Penn Working Papers in Linguistics Volume 9.2, Papers from NWAV 31 (149-158).
EDITED VOLUME
1. Shield, A., Hallett, T., Oshima, S., & S. Floyd, Eds. (2006). Papers from Symposium About Language and Society at Austin XIV, Texas Linguistic Forum 50.
WORKS UNDER REVIEW AND IN PREPARATION
1. Singleton, J., Walker, K., Meier, R.P., & Shield, A. (in prep). Fluent but repetitive ASL signing in a Deaf native signer with Autism Spectrum Disorder. To be submitted to Language Acquisition.
2. Shield, A., Hylton, B., Combs, A., & Malsch, K. (in prep). The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on deaf education. To be submitted to Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education.
3. Shield, A., & Ferris, L. (in prep). Visual representations of the ASL alphabet show evidence of learnability problems.
PRESENTATIONS
INVITED TALKS
1. "Deafness and ASD: Considerations for Theory and Practice." Talk to be presented at the Alabama Autism Conference, Tuscaloosa, AL, February 24, 2023.
2. “A look back on a decade of ASL research in deaf American children with ASD.” Talk presented at the International Workshop on Sign language exposure for people with autism spectrum disorders. University of Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis, France, July 1, 2022.
3. “Language acquisition for deaf children with ASD: Considerations and complications.” Talk presented at the Language First conference (online), October 22, 2021.
4. “The acquisition of ASL by deaf children on the spectrum.” Talk presented at the Deaf and ASD International Online Conference, York, England, UK, February 5, 2021.
5. “The use of signs by children with apraxia of speech.” Talk presented at the Professionals in Communication Sciences and Disorders Speaker Series, New York University, January 29, 2021.
6. "Insights about language from research with deaf children with autism.” Invited talk at the University of Connecticut Cognitive Science Colloquium Series, Storrs, CT, November 1, 2019.
7. "Insights into cognitive and linguistic processes from research on autism and sign language.” Invited talk at the Language and Literacy in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Symposium, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, October 24, 2019.
8. Language Alumni Panel, Power of Language Symposium, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, April 26, 2019.
9. “What sign language research can tell us about language and language disorder.” Talk presented at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf, Boston, MA, October 11, 2018.
10. “What sign language research can tell us about language and language disorder.” Invited talk at the 2018 Speech and Hearing Foundation of Massachusetts Annual Lecture, Emerson College, Boston, MA, October 10, 2018.
11. “What sign language research can teach us about language and language disorder.” Invited talk at Grinnell College Department of Linguistics, April 17, 2017.
12. “What sign language research can teach us about language and language disorder.” Talk presented as part of the What the L? speaker series. Miami University, December 5, 2016.
13. “Defining the precision hypothesis: The USE model.” Talk presented at the Consortium on Autism and Science Language Meeting at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, MA, December 11-13, 2015.
14. “Research with deaf children on the autism spectrum: Implications for theory and practice.” Talk presented at the Panel on Sign Language Research, University of Connecticut, January 15, 2015.
15. “What (deaf) children with autism can teach us.” Talk presented at Conversations on Autism & Sign Language (CASL): Unlocking the Emergence of Social Communication. Stony Brook University, December 15, 2014.
16. “ASL in deaf children with autism.” Talk presented to the American Society for Deaf Children conference, Family Strong: Together We Stand, The Learning Center for the Deaf, Framingham, MA, June 28, 2014.
17. “Palms, points, and pronouns: Language and cognition in deaf children with autism.” Talk presented to the University of Connecticut Developmental Psychology Colloquium, October 25, 2013.
18. “Autismo e sordità: Nuove scoperte e sfide.” Talk presented in Italian at the Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy, July 19, 2013.
19. "Autism, deafness, and sign language: Research issues and clinical implications.” Talk presented to the Boston Medical Center Developmental Pediatrics literary seminar, March 28, 2013.
20. “Palms, points, and pronouns: Language and cognition in deaf children with autism.” Talk presented to the Harvard University Language and Cognition Group, Department of Psychology, February 26, 2013.
21. “Theoretical implications of research on deaf children with autism.” Talk presented at the Boston University Developmental Science Colloquium and Brown Bag Series, March 28, 2012.
22. “Preliminary goals of research into deafness and autism: Documenting and making connections.” Talk at York University, England, November 11, 2011.
23. “Phonological errors in the signing of deaf children with autism: Clues to cognition.” Talk at the Deafness, Cognition, and Language Centre (DCAL), University College London, November 10, 2011.
24. “Sign language and autism: An intersection of modality, language, and cognition.” Talk given at the University of Chicago Workshop on Language, Cognition, and Computation, January 28, 2011.
25. “Come i bambini udenti imparano segni per oggetti: Un test sulla natura dei mapping unimodali”. Seminar given in Italian at the Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Rome, Italy, January 2005.
REFEREED CONFERENCE PAPERS
1. "Non-autistic versus autistic children: Why should I say "um" if I'm not talking to anybody?" Talk to be presented at the 18th International Pragmatics Conference, Brussels, Belgium, July 9-14, 2023. [Boo, C., Shield, A., McIntyre, N., Grossman, R., Mundy, P., Naigles, L., & Zane, E.]
2. "What we now know about signing children with ASD." Talk to be presented at the Meeting on Language in Autism (MoLA), Durham, NC, March 10, 2023.
3. "Repetition and handshape intrusion in the fluent signing of an autistic, deaf adolescent." Talk to be presented at the Meeting on Language in Autism (MoLA), Durham, NC, March 10, 2023. [Walker, K., Singleton, J.L., Meier, R.P., & Shield, A.]
4. “Fluent but repetitive ASL signing in a Deaf native signer with Autism Spectrum Disorder”. Talk presented at the International Conference on Sign Language Acquisition, June 23-25, 2022. [Singleton, J., Walker, K., Meier, R.P., & Shield, A.]
5. "A longitudinal case study of palm orientation errors in the signing of a child with ASD". Talk to be presented at the (canceled) Meeting on Language in Autism (MoLA), Duke University, Durham, NC, March 12-14, 2020.
6. “Comparing the effectiveness of backward design approaches with different amounts of metacognitive and deliberate practice.” Talk presented at the Original Lilly Conference on College Teaching, Oxford, OH, November 17, 2017.
7. “Language development in a bimodal bilingual child with autism.” Talk presented at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Annual Convention, Los Angeles, CA, November 9, 2017. [Shield, A., Randall, K., Hughes, W., Stelzer, D., & Belzer, D.]
8. “Research on deaf children with ASD informs our understanding of autism and language.” Talk presented as part of the symposium “Rethinking Child Language Disorders: Insights from Sign Language Research.” American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Washington, DC, February 11-15, 2016.
9. “Autism spectrum disorder among children who are deaf/hard of hearing: Diagnostic & intervention considerations.” Talk presented at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Annual Convention, Denver, CO, November 12, 2015.
10. “Sign language experience changes how learners imitate gestures.” Talk presented at the Sixth Conference of the Society for Gesture Studies: Gesture in Interaction, San Diego, CA, July 2014.
11. "When pronouns are points: Investigating reference to self and other in signing ASD children." Talk presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Atlanta, GA, May 15, 2014.
12. “The transparency of sign pronouns does not aid deaf children with autism.” Talk presented at Linguistic Society of America (LSA), Minneapolis, MN, January 5, 2014.
13. “Personal pronoun avoidance in deaf children with autism.” Talk presented at Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD) 38, November 1, 2013. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P.]
14. “Spatial grammar constructions in deaf signing children with autism.” Talk presented at the workshop “Language and Mind in Autism”, International Congress of Linguists (ICL) 19, Geneva, Switzerland, July 25, 2013.
15. “Different echolalia types in native-signing children with autism.” Talk presented at the Society for Research on Child Development (SRCD) pre-conference on development in deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Seattle, WA, April 17, 2013. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P.]
16. “Sign language and autism: Phonological errors in the sign language of deaf children with autism.” Talk at the Encontro Nacional Sobre Aquisição da Linguagem (ENAL) VIII, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Brazil, October 18, 2011. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P., presented by RPM.]
17. “Sign language and autism: Phonological errors in the sign language of deaf children with autism.” Talk at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil, October 13, 2011. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P., presented by RPM.]
18. “Different strategies for solving mathematical equivalence in a sign language.” Paper presented at the 41st Meeting of the Jean Piaget Society, Berkeley, CA, June 2011.
19. “Phonological errors in the signing of deaf autistic children: More evidence for a self-other mapping deficit.” Paper presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Philadelphia, PA, May 2010. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P.]
20. “Visual perspective taking in sign language: Evidence from deaf children with autism.” Paper presented at the Linguistic Society of America, Baltimore, MD, January 2010. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P.]
21. “A morphological transducer for American Sign Language.” Paper at Texas Linguistic Society (TLS) X, October 2006.
22. “How children learn signs for objects: Testing the nature of unimodal mappings”. Paper presented at Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR) 8, Barcelona, Spain, October 2004.
23. “Comment les enfants apprennent-ils les signes pour les objets?” Paper presented in French at Surdité et Societé, 72nd Congrès de l’Association francophone pour le savoir, Montreal, Quebec, May 2004.
24. “Ideological conflict at group boundaries: The hearing children of Deaf adults”. Paper presented at Symposium on Language and Society at Austin (SALSA) XII, Austin, TX, April 2004.
25. “The 20 million dollar vowel: Anglo pronunciation of a Spanish last name in Texas”. Paper presented at New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV) 31, Stanford University, Stanford, California, October 2002.
REFEREED CONFERENCE POSTERS
1. "Non-autistic versus autistic children: Why should I say "um" if I'm not talking to anybody?" Poster to be presented at the 2023 Society for Research on Child Development Biennial Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, March 24, 2023. [Boo, C., Shield, A., McIntyre, N., Grossman, R., Mundy, P., Naigles, L., & Zane, E.]
2. “Investigating speech severity and intelligibility in CAS.” Poster presented at the Apraxia-Kids National Conference, July 8-10, 2021. [Chenausky, K.V., Gagne, D., Stipancic, K.L., Shield, A., & Green, J.]
3. “Are palm reversals the pronoun reversals of sign language?” Poster presented at the Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, June 3-4, 2021. [Shield, A., & Igel, M.]
4. “Functions of Signs Produced by School-Aged Children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech.” Poster presented at the Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, June 3-4, 2021. [Shield, A., Gerenz, P., & Blackburn, E.]
5. "Predictors of language gains of school-aged children with childhood apraxia of speech.” Poster to be presented at the (canceled) Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders (SRCLD), Madison, Wisconsin, May 29, 2020. [Baker, A., Chenausky, K., & Shield, A.]
6. "Production of prepositions by children with autism spectrum disorder". Poster to be presented at the (canceled) Meeting on Language in Autism (MoLA), Duke University, Durham, NC, March 2020. [Shield, A., Scheible, C., Zane, E., & Grossman, R.B.]
7. “Issues in the developmental assessment of deaf/signing children with autism spectrum disorder.” Poster to be presented at the (postponed) Fifth International Conference on Family Centred Early Intervention for Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (FCEI), Bad Ischl, Austria, May 27-30, 2020. [Shield, A., Mood, D., Salamy, N., & Henner, J.]
8. “A sign-supported speech intervention for school-aged children with childhood apraxia of speech.” Poster presented at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Annual Convention, Orlando, FL, November 21-23, 2019. [Baker, A. & Shield, A.]
9. “What a pro-drop language can tell us about pronouns’ use in high-functioning ASD children: The case of Italian.” Poster presented at XPRAG.it, Cagliari, Italy, September 2019. [Shield, A. & Mazzaggio, G.]
10. “The production of pronouns and verb inflections by Italian children with ASD: A new dataset in a pro-drop language.” Poster presented at the Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders (SRCLD), Madison, WI, June 6-8, 2019. [Mazzaggio, G. & Shield, A.]
11. “Relations between production of third-person pronouns and mental state terms in the narratives of children with ASD.” Poster presented at the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) annual meeting, Montreal, Canada, May 2019. [Shield, A. & Grossman, R.B.]
12. "Issues in the assessment of deaf/signing children with ASD.” Poster presented at the International Conference on Sign Language Acquisition and Assessment (SLAAC), Haifa, Israel, November 2018. [Shield, A., Mood, D., Salamy, N., & Henner, J.]
13. “Linguistic and prosodic correlates of perceived social skills in conversation.” Poster presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), San Francisco, May 2017. [Shield, A., Bone, D., Naryanan, S., & Grossman, R.]
14. “Native-signing children with autism produce signed echoes.” Poster presented at Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders (SRCLD), Madison, Wisconsin, June 2016. [Cooley, F., Shield, A., & Meier, R.P.]
15. “Minimally-verbal autism in children with native exposure to ASL.” Poster presented at Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR) 12, Melbourne, Australia, January 2016. [Shield, A., Parnes, G. & Davidson, K.]
16. “Three modality differences between signed and spoken language echolalia.” Poster presented at Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR) 12, Melbourne, Australia, January 2016. [Cooley, F., Shield, A., & Meier, R.P.]
17. “The link between language and theory of mind: Evidence from deaf children with autism.” Poster presented at the 9th Biennial Meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, Columbus, OH, October 2015. [Shield, A., Martin, A., & Pyers, J.]
18. “Native exposure to sign language does not attenuate the social-cognitive deficits of ASD.” Poster presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Salt Lake City, May 2015. [Shield, A., Martin, A., & Pyers, J.]
19. “Differences in fingerspelling praxis performance between deaf children with autism and deaf typically developing children between 5 and 14 years of age.” Poster presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Salt Lake City, May 2015. [Woxholdt, C., Srinivasan, S., Bhat, A., & Shield, A.]
20. “Palm reversals are the pronoun reversals of sign language.” Poster presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Toronto, May 2012.
21. “The role of mismatch in the signing and gesturing of deaf children: Mathematical equivalence problems.” Poster presented at the Visual Language & Visual Learning (VL2) site visit, Northwestern University, May 16, 2011.
22. “Palm orientation errors are characteristic of deaf children with autism.” Poster presented at Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR) 10, West Lafayette, IN, October 2010. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P.]
23. “Are some signs hard for deaf autistic children to learn?” Poster presented at Signing on the Spectrum: Meeting the Needs of Deaf Children with Autism, Framingham, MA, October 2008.
24. “Sign language in deaf and hearing autistic children: An exploratory study.” Poster presented at Society for Research on Child Language Disorders (SRCLD), Madison, WI, June 2008. [Shield, A. & Meier, R.P.]
25. “How infants learn signs for objects: Testing the role of social reference in unimodal mappings”. Poster presented at Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development (SRCD), Atlanta, GA, April 2005.
TEACHING
COURSES TAUGHT
SPA 223: Theories of Language Development, Miami University (Fall ‘15, Spring ‘16, Fall ‘16, Spring ’17, Fall ’19, Spring ’20)
SPA/DST 312: Deaf Culture: Global, National, and Local Issues, Miami University (Fall ’17, Spring ’18, Spring ’19, Spring ’20, Fall ’20, Spring ’21, Fall ’21, Spring ’22, Fall ‘22, Spring '23)
SPA 334: Clinical Phonetics and Articulation Disorders, Miami University (Spring ‘16; Fall ’17, Spring ’21, Fall ‘21, Spring '23)
SPA 413: Senior Seminar in Communication Disorders, Miami University (Fall ’16, Spring ’18, Spring ’19, Fall ’19, Fall ’20, Fall ’21, Fall ‘22)
SPA 416: Research Design in Communicative Disorders, Miami University (Spring ’21, Spring ‘22)
LIN 312: Language in the Body: Gesture, Sign, and Speech, University of Texas at Austin (2008-2009)
LIN 306: Introduction to the Study of Language, University of Texas at Austin (2007-2009)
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT
2016-2017 Alumni Teaching Scholars for Early-Career Faculty, Miami University.
2015-2016 New Faculty Teaching Enhancement Program (NFTEP), Miami University.
2021 Global Miami Plan Faculty Advisors Fellows Program, Miami University
AWARDS
2019 Outstanding Professor Award Nominee, Miami University Associated Student Government
2020 Student Recognition of Teaching Excellence Award, in recognition for creativity and innovation in teaching for Fall 2020
2021 Outstanding Professor Award Top 12 Finalist, Miami University Associated Student Government
ADVISING/MENTORING
Dean’s Scholar Mentor
- Kristina Randall (Miami University class of 2018).
- Abby Bowman (Miami University class of 2019).
- Hailey Kingsbury (Miami University class of 2021).
- Katie Kingsbury (Miami University class of 2023).
Honors with Distinction Project Mentor
- Sarah Kingsbury (Miami University class of 2019).
- Kaleigh Hollyday (Miami University class of 2021).
- Hailey Kingsbury (Miami University class of 2021).
Thesis Advisor
· Bruce Leewiwatanakul (Boston University School of Medicine, MA 2014). Clinical Practices in Utilizing the ADOS to Assess Deaf or Hard of Hearing children for Autism.
· Colleen Scheible (Miami University, MA 2019). Use of Spatial and Temporal Terms by Adolescents with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder.
· Kristina Randall (Miami University, MA 2020). Expressive Language in a Bimodal Bilingual Child with ASD.
· Alison Baker (Miami University, MA 2020). Predictors of Language Gains of Hearing, School-Aged Children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech.
· Megan Igel (Miami University, MA 2021). The cognitive and linguistic profile of children with ASD who produce palm reversals.
· Kaleigh Hollyday (Miami University, MA 2023). Attention-getting strategies of the Deaf parents of children with ASD.
Thesis Committee Member
· Lauren Hernandez (MA received May 2016). Phonological Processes in English Sentences Produced by Adult Native Speakers of Spanish
· Megan Alano (MA received May 2016). Evidence Based Review of Norm-Referenced Language Tests for Identification of Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder.
· Kaitlyn Gilfert (MA received May 2017). The Directionality of English Vowel Substitution Errors in /hVt/ Context.
· Ciara Cooley (MA received May 2018). How do context awareness and listener experience taking the SPEAK test influence perceptions of non-native speaking proficiency?
· Chloe Turner (MA received May 2020). Documenting Consonant and Vowel Variations in a Sample of Native Born Anguillian Teenagers.
Senior Project Advisor
· Greta Parnes (Yale University, 2015). Honors thesis in Cognitive Science.
Mentored Student Posters
Miami University Undergraduate Research Forum, April 20, 2022:
· Emily Blackburn: Characteristics of Teacher Signing in a School-Based Setting for Children with Apraxia of Speech
· Melanie Hamon: An Analysis of the Use of Profanity in Informal Text (and What it Can Tell Us About the Community)
· Brynn Hylton: Impacts of COVID-19 on Deaf Education
Miami University Undergraduate Research Forum, April 21, 2021:
· Paige Gerenz & Emily Blackburn: Functions of Manual Sign in Children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)
· Kaleigh Hollyday: The Attitudes, Values, and Beliefs of Educators and Parents of Deaf Children in Listening and Spoken Language Programs
· Hailey Kingsbury: Facial Movements of Native-Signing Children with and without ASD
Miami University Undergraduate Research Forum, April 29, 2020:
· Callie Gnam, Nicole Bennie, Paige Gerenz, Emily Blackburn, & Allora Hern: Fingerspelling Patterns in Signing Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Miami University Graduate Research Forum, November 1, 2019:
· Megan Igel: A Longitudinal Case Study of a Signer with ASD Reveals Perspective-Taking Difficulties
Miami University Undergraduate Research Forum, April 24, 2019:
· Abby Bowman: What Is the Quality and Quantity of Sign-Supported Speech for Children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech in a School-Based Program?
· Sarah Kingsbury, Theresa Adams, & Hailey Kingsbury: The Production of Mental State Terms and Pronoun Ambiguity in Narratives by Adolescents With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder
· Megan Igel: Articulatory Development in Sign and Speech of A Bimodal Bilingual Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Ohio Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, March 9, 2019:
· Sarah Kingsbury, Theresa Adams, & Hailey Kingsbury: The Production of Mental State Terms and Pronoun Ambiguity in Narratives by Adolescents With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder (2nd place winner in Student Poster Contest)
· Colleen Scheible: Use of Spatial and Temporal Terms by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
· Kristina Randall: Expressive Language Development in a Bimodal Bilingual Child with Autism
Miami University Undergraduate Research Forum, April 25, 2018:
· Kristina Randall: Language Development in a Bimodal Bilingual Child with Autism.
· Bryn McElroy, Megan Igel, & Theresa Adams: Linguistic Differences in the Production of Narratives by Adolescents with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder
Ohio Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, March 24, 2018:
· Kristina Randall: Echolalia in a Bimodal Bilingual Child with Autism.
· Bryn McElroy, Megan Igel, & Theresa Adams: Linguistic Differences in the Production of Narratives by Adolescents with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Miami University Undergraduate Research Forum, April 26, 2017:
· Kristina Randall: Language Development in a Bimodal Bilingual Child with Autism.
· Danielle Belzer & Leah Kovach: The Development of Joint Attention in a Bimodal Bilingual Child with Autism.
· Wil Hughes & Danielle Stelzer: Do Deaf Children with Autism Differ from Typically-Developing Deaf Children in Their Use of the Face?
· Bryn McElroy, Sarah Kingsbury, & Megan Igel: A Linguistic Analysis of Narratives Produced by Adolescents with High-Functioning Autism.
SERVICE
SERVICE TO THE UNIVERSITY
- Faculty Advisor, ASL Club, 2022-present.
- Director, Linguistics Program, Miami University, 2021-present.
- Graduate Thesis Coordinator, Miami University, 2019-present.
- Representative, Divisional Academic Appeals Board, 2020-present.
- Member of the Promotion and Tenure Committee, 2021-present.
· Member of the Graduate Student Financial Assistance (GSFA) Committee, 2017-2021.
· Member of the Linguistics and Disability Studies interdepartmental programs, 2015-2020.
· Member of the Search Committee for Tenure-Track Positions in Child Language, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Miami University, 2016-2017; 2017-2018.
· Member of the Search Committee for Tenure-Track Position in Computational Linguistics, Department of English, Miami University, 2019-2020.
· Member of the Undergraduate/Assessment Committee, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Miami University, 2016-.
· Member of the Governance Committee, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Miami University, 2017-2018, 2019-.
· Member of the American Sign Language Program Committee, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Miami University, 2018-2019.
· Member of the Linguistics Program Committee, Miami University, 2016-present.
· Faculty Co-Adviser, Autism Allies Club (formerly Autism Speaks U), 2016-present.
· Co-Founder and Organizer, What the L? Language Research at Miami Speaker Series, Miami University, 2016-present.
SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION
· Editor, Special Issue: Modality and Language Acquisition: How does the channel through which language is expressed affect how children and adults are able to learn? Frontiers in Psychology.
· Member, Ad Hoc Committee on American Sign Language, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2018.
· Member, Autism Spectrum Disorder Topic Committee for the ASHA Convention, 2021-.
· Associate Editor, Autism and Developmental Language Impairments, 2020-present.
· Member, Editorial Board, Autism and Developmental Language Impairments, 2018-2020.
· External consultant, National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes.
- External assessor, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
Communication of research to the profession/public:
- Guest on The Testing Psychologist podcast. January 23, 2020.
- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association live-chat on “Strategies for Serving Deaf or Hard of Hearing Children with a Diagnosis of Autism”. September 7, 2017.
- Featured on Autism Science Foundation podcast “The Young and the Deaf: The relevance to Language Development in Autism”. July 13, 2017.
- Autism Science Foundation live-chat on the use of sign language with children with autism spectrum disorder. August 24, 2016
- Guest column for Spectrum Autism Research News on “Pronouns, like selfhood, are imprecise”. May 6, 2015. https://spectrumnews.org/opinion/cross-talk/cross-talk-scientists-discuss-selfhood-in-autism/
- Guest blog for Autism Speaks on “Autism Speaks (and Signs)”. https://www.autismspeaks.org/blog/2012/11/06/autism-speaks-and-signs
Ad hoc reviewer for the following journals:
· Autism: International Journal of Research and Practice
· Autism Research
· Autism and Developmental Language Impairments
· Child Development
· Cognition
· Developmental Psychology
· Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
· Journal of Communication Disorders
· Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
· Journal of Pragmatics
· Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
· Language and Linguistics Compass
· Language, Learning and Development
· Mind and Language
· PLOS ONE
· Reinvention: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research
· Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders
· Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
PRESS
Madhusoodanan, J. “Confusion at the crossroads of autism and hearing loss”. August 12, 2020. Spectrum News. https://www.spectrumnews.org/features/deep-dive/confusion-at-the-crossroads-of-autism-and-hearing-loss/?utm_source=Spectrum
Benson, E. “Aaron Shield, linguist”. April 4, 2016. University of California Santa Cruz Science Communication Program. https://scicom.ucsc.edu/publications/QandA/2016/shield.html
Sparks, S.D. “Studies on Deafness Yield Broader Benefits”. Education Week, February 23, 2016. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/02/24/studies-on-deafness-yield-broader-benefits.html
“Research on deaf children with autism yields broader insights”. February 12, 2016. https://www.autismspeaks.org/science/science-news/research-deaf-children-autism-yields-broader-insights
“Sign-Language Use Sheds New Light on ASD-Related Language Delay”. The ASHA Leader, 20(17), June 2015. http://leader.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=2300819
Kovelamudi, V. “Study: Hearing and deaf children with autism both avoid using pronouns”. The Daily Texan, April 6, 2015. http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2015/04/06/study-hearing-and-deaf-children-with-autism-both-avoid-using-pronouns
“A New Look at Language Delay in Children with Autism”. UT News, April 2, 2015. https://news.utexas.edu/2015/04/02/a-new-look-at-language-delay-in-children-with-autism
Zeliadt, N. “Sign language study solves autism’s pronoun mystery”. Spectrum Autism Research News, February 27, 2015. https://spectrumnews.org/opinion/sign-language-study-solves-autisms-pronoun-mystery/