Projects Underway
These are just a sampling of some of my current projects underway- please be in touch if you are interested in a collaboration!
Sex Differences in Autistic Preterm Youth: Evidence from the ELGAN Study
In Press, March 2024!
Coming soon, in collaboration with Dr. Mike O'Shea and Dr. Clare Harrop, we use a longitudinal cohort design of infants born extremely preterm (<28 weeks) to evaluate phenotypic differences between males and females later diagnosed with Autism.
Sex differences and parent-teacher discrepancies in reports of autism traits: Evidence for camouflaging in a school setting.
Under Review
Led by brilliant graduate student, Orla Putnam, we evaluated sex differences in parent-reported and teacher-reported autistic traits using a carefully sex- and IQ-matched sample from the Simons Simplex Collection. Our results suggested significant discrepancies between reporters when it came to autistic females' social motivations and social skills. Parents broadly rated autistic females' as more severely impacted than teachers, which supports the theory that females may be camouflaging in school settings.
Frustration Accessing Medical Services for Parents of Autistic Females
In the works!
Led by the Harrop Lab's amazing Research Assistant, Amanda Neal, we leveraged six years of data from the National Survey of Children's Health to evaluate parent-reported frustration accessing medical services for their autistic child. Using risk-ratios, we were interested in whether autistic females were at an elevated risk of experiencing frustration compared to autistic males. Our results suggested autistic females are 3-4x more likely than autistic males to report not feeling heard, feeling frustrated, not feeling like part of their medical team, and not having their cultural values respected.
White Matter Development and Language: The Unique Role of the Arcuate in Toddlers Later Diagnosed with Autism
Just out in 2024!
In collaboration with Dr. Jessica Girault (UNC) and the IBIS Network team, we detail a comprehensive, longitudinal study of the associations between white matter microstructure fractional anisotropy and expressive and receptive language outcomes in 461 infants, including 70 infants diagnosed with autism at 24 months. Results from mixed linear effects modeling suggest significant interactions between autism diagnosis and white matter predicting expressive and receptive language that are unique to the left and right arcuate. To date, this is the first known work investigating this connection in autistic toddlers.
Taste of Tech
Research Skills and Proficiencies
Behavioral Methods
Robust clinical assessment, diagnostics, behavioral assessments, social interaction tasks, and behavioral coding
Analysis Software
RStudio, SPSS, JASP, MPlus
Neurophysiological Methods
EEG, fNIRS, Eye Tracking
Populations
Infancy through older adults, clinical populations (e.g., autistic youth) and Deaf/HoH individuals across the lifespan
Statistical Skills
Regression, Hierarchical Linear Modeling, Mixed Method Modeling, Bayesian
Other Things Worth Mentioning
Efficient, strong writer, strong group leader, excellent communicator, innovative and curious
Selection of Completed Works
Below are a selection of completed, published works. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have questions about one the following, or a project not featured here.
Poster Gallery
The Archive
Some older works (that are still relevant!) across my three main demographics of interest: infants, autistic youth, and Deaf/Hard of Hearing individuals
Predictors of Infant Expressive Language Longitudinally (10mos-24mos)
May 2022
Published in Infant Behavior and Development, this longitudinal project evaluates the unique predictors of infant expressive language at 10, 18, and 24 months, including gestures, vocabulary, and grammar. Predictors including maternal parenting styles, demographic, and infant temperament were assessed. Results suggest unique predictors at various time points, once accounting for infant development over time, including maternal intrusive style parenting and infant negative affectivity.
Birth Order and Language in Autistic Youth: Extant Data Analysis from the Simon Simplex Collection
September 2021
My COVID-19 dissertation evaluated the role of birth order (i.e., having an older, non-autistic sibling) on expressive and receptive language development in autistic youth ages 4-18. Results suggested an advantage of being a second born in terms of social skills, but only for lower-resourced families. Treatment implications for lower-resourced areas are discussed.
Relationship between EEG and Behavioral Categorization of Voice Onset Time Detection in Children with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder
May 2020
In collaboration with Dr. Shuman He at The Ohio State University, we evaluated behavioral and neural measures of voice onset time detection in children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder who have a heterogeneous presentation of spoken language abilities. Results suggested a correlation between auditory event-related potentials captured via EEG and behavioral categorization of a/ba and a/pa continuum, which was further related to expressive language.
