Jane (Janie) Sommer Eppstein

PhD Student; Project REACH Trainee

Janie Eppstein is a PhD student in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at Vanderbilt University. During her master’s program, She is a trainee on a Leadership Training Grant from the US Department of Education, Project REACH: Research Expertise and Training in Children with Hearing Loss, (PI: Schuele).

She received a B.S in Biology and Spanish from Olivet Nazarene University (2010) and a M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from Vanderbilt University (2012). As a trainee on the OSEP Personnel Preparation Project, Enhancing the Preparation of Speech-Language Pathologists to Collaboratively Address the Language and Literacy Needs of Children, Janie developed specialty skills in language and literacy and school SLP practices.   

Janie worked as a school speech-language pathologist in Metro Nashville Public Schools, providing speech-language services to children with diverse linguistic backgrounds. She also worked at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center (Vanderbilt University Medical Center) as a speech-language pathologist, serving the communication needs of children within the Susan Gray School, an inclusive preschool, and completing autism evaluations.

Research Information

Janie’s research interests include speech language pathology practices in schools and language and literacy skills for Spanish-English bilingual children.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Berns, J. & Sommer, J. (2015, August). Improving Literacy Through Speech Language Therapy. Seminar presented at the School Speech-Language Pathology Conference at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN.

Sommer, J.& Wyman, M. (2018, January). EL Assessments. Presentation to the related service providers in Metro Nashville Public Schools, Nashville, TN.

Sommer, J. (2018, August). Meaningful Therapy Activities for Speech Sound Intervention. eminar presented at the School Speech-Language Pathology Conference at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN.

Schletzer, K., & Sommer, J. (2019, January). A Start to Finish Look at Comprehensive EL Assessments. Workshop presented at the Partners in Education Conference, Nashville, TN.

Sommer, J. (2019, August). Meaningful Therapy Activities for Speech Sound Intervention. Seminar presented at the School Speech-Language Pathology Conference at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN.

Winter, H., Correia, P., & Sommer, J. (2022, January) Developmental Milestones. Inservice presentation for the teachers at Susan Gray School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN.