Jamie Linert, M.S.
Ph.D Candidate
Department of Speech-Language Hearing Sciences
University of Minnesota
Academic Mission
My mission is to contribute to the scientific knowledge of the cognition of human language through the study of speech and language in neurodevelopmentally diverse communicators. This is important on the theory level because we cannot have a good understanding of how humans comprehend and produce language if we exclude certain groups from the data. On an applied level, a greater understanding of the similarities and differences between typical and non-typical communicators can lead to better language interventions so that all people can communicate to the best of their ability.
What Am I Up To?
Current Projects
Language and Smith-Magenis Syndrome
Smith-Magenis syndrome (SMS) is a rare and understudied developmental disorder. The language profile of people with SMS is not well understood even though language impairment is present in nearly all cases of SMS. I have been working on a scoping review of SMS and language. The purpose of this review is to document the work on SMS and language that has been done so far, to compile what is well understood about the language profile in SMS, and to identify specific gaps in the literature that can prompt future research (like my upcoming dissertation project!)
Preliminary findings can be found here!
Longitudinal Language Change in Fragile X Syndrome
Despite the robust literature documenting the language profiles of fragile X syndrome (FXS), little is known about how language ability in FXS changes over time. This is especially true for adolescents. This study addresses this gap by investigating language change in adolescents with FXS over four years. We’re interested in the change in syntactic abilities, which we’re measuring using both language assessments and language samples. The results of this study were presented in three parts—the first two at the Symposium for Child Language Disorders and the third at the ASHA Convention, 2023 (check out all three posters here!). The manuscript for publication is under review. Keep an eye out for it!
Developmental Language Disorder: Strategies for Intervention
I’m part of Dr. Lizbeth Finestack’s research team investigating explicit instruction in grammatical intervention for children with Developmental Language Disorder. Learn about this project and other work in Dr. Finestack’s lab here.
On the Horizon
Now that I have advanced to PhD Candidate status, I am honing my dissertation prospectus and applying for dissertation funding. The project will be a study of the language profile in Smith-Magenis syndrome. If you or a loved one has SMS and would be interested in participating in a potential study, please reach out to me! If all goes well, data collection will begin in spring 2024.