Please describe your research in non-technical language. How did you become interested in your research subject?
I became interested in the use of the melody and rhythm of speech (prosody) during a CSD course titled 'Language Acquisition' taught by Dr. Jill Thorson. After joining the Communication, Acquisition, and Translational Studies Lab (CAT Lab), I continued to expand my knowledge and interest in the subject matter. I am specifically interested in how prosodic assessments can continue to be developed and improved for clinical use.
What are the most interesting findings from your research?
The most interesting findings from our research included that the Lexical Stress Understanding and Expression tasks from a prosodic assessment (PEPS-C) were performed with significantly less accuracy by an adult population in comparison to the other three tasks. This is interesting, as an adult group should score within an average range for each prosodic feature since they have typical receptive and expressive abilities. This further supported the CAT Lab's understanding of the need to continue to make improvements to the prosodic assessments that are available.
