How can we help?
Our Resources page contains blog posts with recent updates from the lab, tips to help families support their child’s early development, overviews of key research concepts, and all of the papers published by Dr. Roberts and the EIRG staff.
Use the Categories and Tags lists on this page to find posts of interest. Copies of EIRG papers can be downloaded from their posts under the Published Research section. You can subscribe using your email at the bottom of the page to be notified whenever a new post is added to the Resources section.
This study centers the perspectives of Black caregivers as they participate in a developmental diagnostic program for toddlers under three years old. The results hope to enhance the quality of caregiver-provider interactions during developmental assessment, leading to...
** Our research group has not accepted any monetary incentives for our recommendations. We have compiled this diverse list of toys and household item to help support your child's communication.Choose traditional toys over electronic ones Children are often drawn to...
This study aimed to characterize the extent to which EI speech-language pathologists (SLPs) use NDBI strategies, and the range of skills and behaviors addressed during their EI sessions, to contextualize the role of NDBIs within the scope of needs of families with...
Family-centered practice (FCP) is a core component of early intervention (EI) associated with improved child and family outcomes, but little is known about community-based speech-language pathologists' (SLPs') inclusion of families in EI. Authors Jordan Lee, Aaron J....
Learning to communicate using speech and language is a primary developmental task for young children. Delays in the acquisition of language are one of the earliest indicators of developmental deficits that may affect academic and social outcomes for individuals across...
Authors Maranda K. Jones, Matthew A. Zellner, Amanda N. Hobson, Amy Levin and Megan Y. Roberts Abstract Purpose In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critical to understand the feasibility and acceptability of the use of telediagnostic assessments in clinical...
Authors Megan Y. Roberts, Liane Thornhill, Jordan Lee, Matthew A. Zellner, Laura Sudec, Jeffrey Grauzer and Yael S. Stern Abstract Purpose We sought to understand the extent of the nationwide disruption to Part C Early Intervention services due to COVID-19 and the...
Author Sone*, B. J., Kaat, A. J., & Roberts, M. Y. (2021) Measuring parent strategy use in early intervention: Reliability and validity of the Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention Fidelity Rating Scale across strategy types. Autism....
Author Sone*, B. J., Lee*, J., & Roberts, M. Y. (2021). Comparing instructional approaches in caregiver-implemented intervention: An interdisciplinary systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Early Intervention. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053815121989807....
Author Hampton, L.H., Roberts, M.Y., Anderson, E., Hobson, A.N., Kaat, A.J., Bishop, S.L., Krogh-Jespersen,S., Wakshlag, L.S. & Bevans, K.B. (2020). Brief Report: What Diagnostic Observation Can Teach Us About Disruptive Behavior in Young Children with Autism....
The Reduce the Wait project is a federally funded research study that will provide autism evaluations to over 1,000 children enrolled in the Illinois Early Intervention program.
Overview The Sequencing Methods for Autism: A Randomized Trial (SMART) project examines how caregivers can learn social communication strategies, behavior regulation strategies or both sets of strategies to support autistic toddlers' communication and behavior. Social...
We have partnered with Dr. Morénike Giwa Onaiwu and an advisory board of 12 autistic adults and (autistic and allistic) caregivers of autistic children to create tools that researchers and the autistic/autism communities can use to co-design early childhood autism...
This presentation by EIRG clinicians, including Katie Zanzinger and Megan Roberts, at ASHA 2018 describes how SLPs can teach caregivers strategies to support their child's language development through play. ASHA 2018_v7 .pptx
How do maternal interactions differ between children with normal hearing and those with hearing loss? This poster from SRCLD 2018 describes findings from an EIRG study. Acoustic and Gestural Highlighting in Maternal Speech Directed at Infants with Hearing Loss
Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) technology is a metric that has the capability to record and analyze the language environments of young children and provides measures of adult word count (AWC), child vocalization count (CVC), and conversational turn count (CTC)...
Curtis _ SRCLD 2018 _ Effects of EMT on Semantic Development_3_MYR .pdf
Jones and Cutis _ SRCLD 2018 _ EDA Poster_FINAL .pdf
Listening_in_SRCLD .pdf
This research registry is for parents of children younger than 10 years old. Participating in the registry allows members of the EIRG to tell you about current and future research opportunities for you and your child! Join registry:...
This research registry is for clinicians and providers working with young children with developmental disabilities. Participating in the registry allows members of the EIRG to tell you about current and future research opportunities that you may be eligible to...
Spray bottles can make a novel toy and a fun activity for children that like to play with water. You can find small plastic ones for a couple dollars at most grocery stores or pharmacies. They will work across several levels of play and you can use it as an...
Shape sorters come in all shapes and sizes. This is one of our favorites because it’s two toys in one! Even though shape sorters seem like “educational” toys, all of our general toy recommendations still apply. That means letting your child lead and making it fun....
** Our research group has not accepted any monetary incentives for our recommendations This is a classic go-to toy for children playing at simple and combination levels. It can serve as an “entry level” toy for children who are just becoming interested in toys. ...