“All
forms of language production — including speaking, gesturing and
writing — are complicated motor activities, Lisa Goffman, now a
member of the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, said. “The
child has to coordinate breathing and lip, tongue and jaw movements
to express desired words and sentences. We are interested in how
these complicated and organized movements develop in young language
learners and, more critically, what can go awry in children with
speech and language difficulties.”
Goffman has spent 21
years Purdue University as a researcher with funding from the
National Institutes of Health. Now the Nelle C. Johnston Chair in
Early Childhood Communications Disorders at UT-Dallas, Goffman said
more children suffer from language disorders than autism spectrum
disorders, yet they are often overlooked. She said her move to UT
Dallas was based on the strength of the program and the clinical
services at the Callier Center for Communication Disorders.
“It's
one of the best programs in the country in my field, and it will
allow me to further develop my work at the interface of language and
speech motor development and disorders,” Goffman said.
Professor puts underserved children on her radar
The University of
Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) recently hired a professor who has spent
more than two decades trying to help with language and speech
difficulties -- a group she says he been widely underserved.