Contributions to Science
Early prediction of speech impairments in cerebral palsy
My primary research program aims to advance the early prediction of speech impairments in infants and young children with cerebral palsy (CP) through the study of vocal characteristics. My central hypothesis is that neurological disturbances at birth affecting motor development can also affect early speech development, potentially revealing vocal markers for reduced speech functioning. This work is informed by the stage model of vocal development, which presumes that infant vocal development lays the foundation for later speech abilities. The long-term goal of this research is to facilitate earlier referrals to speech therapy to introduce effective communication interventions for children with CP and speech impairments at the youngest possible age.
Featured papers:
Vocal production of infants at risk for speech motor involvement: A scoping review (Long et al., 2023)
Marginal and canonical babbling in ten infants at risk for cerebral palsy (Long & Hustad, 2023)
Longitudinal change in speech classification between 4 and 10 years in children with cerebral palsy (Long et al., 2022)
Infant vocal fitness signaling and the origins of language in humans
This line of work studies how infants vocally signal information about their developmental progress to caregivers. My dissertation revealed three key findings. First, infant vocal imitation is rare in the first year of life but is highly salient to listeners. This underscores its potential to be used as a vocal signal of developmental information for caregivers. Second, infants produce nonsocial vocalizations about three times more frequently than social ones, which highlights independent vocal play as a primary driver of the development of articulatory properties of speech. Last, although infants vocalize the most during independent vocal play, they produce their most advanced vocal forms during social periods. This suggests that infants signal their most complex levels of vocal developmental ability to caregivers in periods of direct attention.Â
Featured papers:
Canonical babbling trajectories across the first year of life in autism and typical development (Long et al., 2024)
Perspectives on the origin of language: Infants vocalize most during independent vocal play but produce their most speech-like vocalizations during turn-taking (Long et al., 2022)
Social and endogenous infant vocalizations (Long et al., 2020)
Open science practices in communication sciences and disorders
I am actively involved in a secondary line of research using team science studying the impact and adoption of open science practices, including open access publication, in the field of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD). This work emphasizes the necessity of promoting and incentivizing open science in CSD to improve equitable access to knowledge across international, clinical, and scientific communities.
Featured papers:
The effect of open access on scholarly and societal metrics of impact in the ASHA Journals (Long, Drown, & El Amin, 2023)
Open science practices in communication sciences and disorders: A Survey (El Amin et. al., 2023)
Access research beyond the paywall: Five strategies to read what you need (Pfeiffer, Long, & El Amin, 2022)
Upcoming and Recent
Conference Presentations
AACPDM 2024
American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine Annual Meeting
Quebec City, CAN October 23-26, 2024Speech and Language Development in Children with Cerebral Palsy and Seizures
Long, HL, Romer, K, Spence, D, Warner, W, & Rhodes, LMoLA 2024
Meeting on Language in Autism 2024
Durham, NC March 14-17, 2024Canonical babbling trajectories across the first year of life in autism and typical development
Long, HL, Ramsay, G, Yoo, H, Su, PL, Bene, ER, Pileggi, M, Brane, N, Klaiman, C, Pulver, SL, & Richardson, S, & Oller, DKMotor Speech Conference 2024
San Diego, CA February 21-24, 2024An examination of the relationship between infant vocal characteristics and later speech motor involvement in cerebral palsy
Long, HL & Hustad, KCASHA 2023
Annual Convention for the American Speech-Language Hearing Association
Boston, MA November 16-18, 2023Vocal Production of Children with Anarthria and Cerebral Palsy
Long, HL & Hustad, KCPoster
An Examination of Early Vocal Production and Speech-Language Outcomes in Infants at Risk for CP
Long, HL Sandgren, C, Mabie, H, & Hustad, KCTechnical Demo
Self-Archiving 101: Benefits for Clinicians and Researchers
Drown, L, Kearney, E, El Amin, M, & Long, HLTechnical Demo
Bypassing the Paywall: Accessing Journal Articles for Clinical Practice and Evidence-Based Learning
Ciullo, B, Lassiter, T, Pfeiffer, D, Drown, L, Long, HL, Gaeta, L, & Harold, MOral seminar