Past Lab Members

Alyson Abel, PhD (Master's Thesis Title: Word learning: The effect of phonological awareness, 2006) is an Assistant Professor (beginning Fall 2014) in the School of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at San Diego State University.  Alyson was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas at Dallas Callier Center for Communication Disorders (2012-2014). She earned her PhD  from the Child Language Doctoral Program at the University of Kansas (Dissertation title: Effects of verb familiarity on finiteness marking in children with SLI; Advisor: Mabel Rice, PhD) and her  MS. in Speech-Language Pathology from Vanderbilt  (Master's Thesis Title: Word learning: The effect of phonological awareness; Advisor: C. Melanie Schuele, PhD.) Alyson's primary research interests lie in the areas of word learning, particularly verb learning, and behavioral neurolinguistics. Specifically, her research focuses on how EEG measures the online process of noun and verb learning in typically developing children, children with SLI and children from low SES families.

April Dillard was an undergraduate research assistant in the Child Language and Literacy Lab. She received a B.S. in Latin American & Iberian Studies from Vanderbilt University (2010). April is currently teaching 5th grade in Tulsa, OK with Teach for America.

Lauren Eisenband Matz completed her master degree in speech-language pathology in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at Vanderbilt University. She received a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in speech-language pathology. Prior to matriculating in the masters program, Laurie was lab manager for Dr. Amanda Woodward at the University of Maryland. While a masters student Laurie was a trainee on the US Department of Education training grant, Enhancing the Preparation of Speech-Language Pathologists to Collaboratively Address the Language and Literacy Needs of Children with Disabilities. She completed her school placement in the Fairfax County, Virginia Schools. She received the Students Preparing for Academic and Research Career (SPARC) Awards from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association in 2010. Her SPARC research project, Elicited tasks: What’s important?, was presented at the Symposium for Research in Child Language Disorders (Madison, WI) in June 2011. Laurie is currently a speech-language pathologist at The Lab School of Washington in Washington, DC.

Jamie D. Fisher, (Dissertation Title:Complex syntax production in preschool teacher talk, 2013) completed her PhD in August 2013. She received a B.S. (2005) in Speech Pathology and Audiology from Tennessee State University and a M.A. (2007) in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Cincinnati. As an undergraduate Jamie completed a summer research internship at the University of Maryland, College Park with Dr. Nan Berstein-Ratner. She completed a master's thesis, Head Start Teachers’ and Low Socio-Economic Status Parents’ Vocabulary Usage, with Dr. Nancy Creaghead.

Kathryn Guillot is originally from Spring, Texas.  She received her B.S. degree in 2002 in Communication Disorders from the University of Houston and her M.S. in 2003 in Communication Disorders with an emphasis in Pediatric Aural Habilitation from University of Texas at Dallas Callier Center for Communication Disorders.  After finishing her master's degree, she worked at the Center for Hearing and Speech in Houston, Texas for two years; the center provides comprehensive audiology and speech-language services to children between the ages of birth and 18 years. Kathryn completed her PhD program in speech and hearing sciences at Vanderbilt University. Kathryn’s areas of interest are language development, speech perception and production development, and literacy development in children with hearing impairment and who use cochlear implants.

Anna Lineback is originally from Greenville, SC. She graduated from Princeton University in 2006 with a concentration in Classics (Latin) and a certificate in Italian. Anna has a master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Vanderbilt (2010). From 2007-08, Anna worked as a research assistant on two NIH funded research grants (PI: Conture; PI: Schuele). In her masters program, Anna received ASHA's SPARC - Students Preparing for Academic and Research Careers. Anna is currently a speech-language pathologist working in the public schools in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Emily Lund, (Dissertation Title: Maternal word learning cues to children with cochlear implants, 2013) completed her PhD in Fall 2013. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Texas Christian University.  Emily received a B.A. in Spanish and Economics (2006) from Vanderbilt University College of Arts and Sciences and a M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology (2008), with an emphasis in early identification and interdisciplinary aural rehabilitation of children with hearing loss, from Vanderbilt University Medical School.

Julie Rosenthal is originally from Buffalo Grove, Illinois. She received a B.S. in Special Education (severe disabilities) and minor in Deaf Education from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University in 2008. She worked in the lab as a research assistant from 2006 to 2008.  She completed a Peabody Scholars undergraduate research project in 2007, looking at preschool children’s response patterns on the TEGI Past Tense Probe.  Julie received a M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from Vanderbilt with an emphasis in aural rehabilitation.

Julie completed her CFY and worked at The Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center Pediatric Speech & Language Clinic from August 2010-August 2012. During her time at Vanderbilt, she focused her interests on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for children with complex communication needs and articulation and language therapy for the school-age population. Julie is currently working at Franklin Elementary School in Franklin, Tennessee and sees clients private practice.

Sabrina Smiley Evans is a speech-language pathologist working privately in the Middle Tennessee Area in conjunction with Playball Therapy in Hendersonville, TN to supply clinic and home-based services.   Sabrina earned her B.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from Tennessee State University in 2005.  In 2007, she earned her M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from Vanderbilt University.  Sabrina's primary interests lie in the field of early intervention and its application to children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Prior to her current job placement, she had the opportunity to develop these interests by working at the following job placements (listed from most recent): The Brown Center for Autism, Nashville TN providing ABA directed services for children on the Autism Spectrum through 6 years of age, The UT Pediatric Language Clinic providing group and home-based interventions to children from birth to three with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who are participating in Tennessee's Early Intervention System (TEIS), Programs for Infants and Children (PIC) a multidisciplinary early intervention agency in Anchorage, AK and working for Dr. Joanne Roberts with the Carolina Communication Project at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, on a longitudinal study comparing children with ASD, Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome, and children who are typically developing.

Elizabeth Spencer Kelley, PhD, CCC-SLP completed her PhD in 2009 (Dissertation Title: Part-term learning in children from families of low socioeconomic status). She received a B.S. from the University of Missouri-Columbia (2001) and a master’s degree at Vanderbilt University (2005) in speech-language pathology. Her research is focused on language and literacy development in children with oral language impairments with a particular focus on children from socio-economically disadvantaged homes.

While a PhD student, Beth received the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation Early Childhood Research Grant in 2007 for her dissertation project: Part-Term Learning in Children with Low Vocabulary. Following her PhD Beth completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Howard Goldstein at The Ohio State University. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Krystal Werfel, PhD, CCC-SLP, completed her PhD in 2012 (Dissertation Title: Contribution of linguistic knowledge to spelling ability in elementary school children). She received a B.S. in Child Development (2006) from the University of Tennessee and a M.S. in speech-language pathology (2008), with an emphasis in interdisciplinary aural habilitation, from Vanderbilt. She was a recipient of the ASHA Students Preparing for Research and Academic Careers Award in 2007. As part of her SPARC award, Krystal completed a research project entitled: Kindergarten Children’s Phonological Awareness: Segmentation and Representation of Consonant Blends, which continued as her first PhD research project. Krystal received the American Speech-Language Hearing Foundation Student Research Grant in Early Childhood Language Development (2009) to support her second PhD research project: Phonemic Awareness Training for Preschool Children with Hearing Loss.

JoAnne White Berns (Master's Thesis Title: The spelling skills of children with speech sound disorders, 2013) completed her masters degree in speech-language pathology. She graduated with an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt's Peabody School of Education, in elementary education and human & organizational development. She was a trainee on the US Department of Education training grant, Enhancing the Preparation of Speech-Language Pathologists to Collaboratively Address the Language and Literacy Needs of Children with Disabilities.

Brian Weiler, Brian M.S., CCC-SLP, is a PhD student in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at Vanderbilt University. He received a B.A. (2000) from Davidson College and a M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology (2007) from Vanderbilt University Medical School. After finishing his master's degree, he worked at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center providing speech-language services to children, specializing in the school-aged and fluency populations.

Tiffany Woynaroski, PhD, CCC-SLP completed her PhD in 2014 (Dissertation Title: The Stability and Validity of Automated Vocal Analysis in Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Early Stages of Language Development). She is an Assistant Professor in Hearing and Speech Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Karen Barako Arndt, (Dissertation, in progress: The production of complement taking verbs across complement clause types in elicited language tasks) M.Ed., M.S., CCC-SLP is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at Vanderbilt University. She received a B.A. in English Literature and Secondary English Education (2002) from Florida State University, a M.Ed. in Language and Literacy/English Education (2003) from the Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, and a M.S. in Speech-language Pathology (2006) from Vanderbilt University.

Shih-Yuan Liang, received a B.A. in Psychology (2009) from National Taiwan University, and a M.S. in Clinical Linguistics from a European scholarship program co-organized by University of Groningen, University of Eastern Finland, and University of Potsdam (2011). Her major research interests include exploring the interweaving of cognitive abilities, oral language skills, and literacy development in young children, and incorporating both behavioral and neuroscientific methods to enhance a better understanding of the nature of learning, language acquisition, and the neural correlates. She is particularly interested in linking oral language to literacy development with a bidirectional approach: not only examining the ways early oral language skills corroborate later reading and writing, but also exploring the potential implications of how early literacy activities nourish the development of language and cognition.

Hannah Krimm, MS, CCC-SLP, CDP earned a B.S. in Psychology (2011) from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She earned an M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology (2013) from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, during which she completed a master’s thesis entitled Predictive Value of Orthographic Processing for Spelling Proficiency. Clinically, Hannah has worked as a school SLP and she became a Certified Dyslexia Practitioner in 2017. Hannah’s major research interests include using educational technology to support children with language-based learning disabilities and to improve professional learning for those who serve them.