Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Expert on language delays to give annual Goldstick Lecture

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Ann P. Kaiser, the Susan W. Gray Professor of Education and Human Development at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, will give the annual Goldstick Family Lecture at the University of Illinois.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 30 in Illinois Room A at the I Hotel and Conference Center, 1900 S. First St., Champaign.

Kaiser’s presentation, “Every Child is Communicating Now: Some Things We Know as Scientists, Some Things We Know as Humans,” will cover three decades of research on children who have autism and other developmental disabilities that impact spoken language.

Kaiser serves as the principal investigator on several research and demonstration grants focusing on naturalistic early communication interventions that assist children with language delays.

She has published more than 100 articles and chapters on early interventions for children with language delays and developmental disabilities and for children at risk due to poverty.

Kaiser has received numerous honors for her research and mentoring, including appointment to the Harvey Branscomb Distinguished Professorship at Vanderbilt University.

Michaelene Ostrosky, head of the department of special education and Goldstick Family Scholar in the College of Education at Illinois, said Kaiser’s contributions to her field are extraordinary.

“All one needs to say is ‘milieu teaching’ or ‘language and special needs,’ and Professor Kaiser’s name rises to the forefront as someone who has shaped the field of early language intervention for children with language delays and developmental disabilities,” Ostrosky said.

In the spring of 2005, Phillip C. and Beverly Goldstick created an endowment in the College of Education to fund the Goldstick Initiative for the Study of Communication Disorders.

The fall lecture/seminar series made possible by the endowment enables Illinois faculty members, students, and scholars nationwide to share their research with the community.

The endowment also supports a sustainable training and research program in communication disorders in children and youth that provides fellowships to two doctoral students whose research focuses on these disorders and delays.

The Oct. 30 event will include remarks by Phillip Goldstick; Caryn (Goldstick) Zelinger; Mary Kalantzis, dean of the college; and Ostrosky. A reception will follow Kaiser’s talk.

Founded in 1905, the College of Education is dedicated to facilitating and improving the learning process within the context of challenging educational settings, not just within its building or across its campus, but throughout the state, nation and world.

The college has four academic departments that serve more than 1,600 students: curriculum and instruction; educational psychology; education policy, organization and leadership; and special education.

Ranked among the top 10 programs in the nation, the department of special education has long been a leader in research that promotes effective, inclusive outcomes for individuals with disabilities across the life span.

For more information, contact Debbie Morgan, associate director of advancement in the college, at 333-9237; email
morgand@illinois.edu
.

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