PhD, CCC-SLP

Assistant Professor

Dr. Larson’s research examines relationships between language and other cognitive factors in individuals with language disorders, including Developmental Language Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder, using behavioral and functional neuroimaging methodologies. The long-term goal of her research is to answer foundational questions about language development and language processing in neurotypical and clinical populations. The translational goals of her research are to improve differential diagnosis and treatment of individuals with language disorders.

She is an American Speech-Language-Hearing Association certified speech-language pathologist with 4 years of pediatric clinical experience and a member of the advocacy group, Raising Awareness of Developmental Language Disorder.

Larson Language and Cognition Lab View Dr. Larson’s publications on ResearchGate View Dr. Larson’s publications on Google Scholar

Education

• Postdoctoral Fellow 2021-2023 – University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT Department of Psychological Sciences, ASD Long-Term Outcomes Study (PIs I. Eigsti and D. Fein), Faculty Mentor: Dr. Inge-Marie Eigsti

• Ph. D. 2021 – University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Dissertation: Processing-Based Factors in Child Language Impairment, Faculty Mentor: Dr. Susan Ellis Weismer

• M.Ed. 2012 – University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, Department of Education and Human Development, Major: Speech-Language Pathology

• B.S. 2010 – Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL, Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences, Major: Communication Disorders and Sciences; Minor: Psychology

Courses taught

SLHS 8320 – Speech Sound Disorders

Current studies

• Language in the brain in Developmental Language Disorder
• Mental health and wellbeing in young adults with Developmental Language Disorder
• Associations between language and cognitive skills across development in toddlers at risk for Autism and Developmental Language Disorder

Research interests

Developmental Language Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Language, Cognition, Neural Function, Pediatrics, Long-term Outcomes

Select publications

• Larson, C. (2024). Exploring self-reported quality of life in developmental language disorder. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups. https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_PERSP-24-00122
• Larson, C., Bochynska, A., & Vulchanova, M. (2024). Mental rotation and language in autism spectrum disorder. Autism Research, 17, 785-798. http://doi.org/10.1002/aur.3128
• Larson, C., Eigsti, I., Spaulding, T., & Parish-Morris, J. (2023). Language is a critical mediator of autistic experiences within the criminal justice system. Autism Research, 1-7. doi: 10.1002/aur.3039
• Larson, C., Kaplan, D., Girolamo, T., Kover, S., Eigsti, I. (2023). A Bayesian statistics tutorial for clinical research: Prior distributions and meaningful results for small clinical samples. Journal of Clinical Psychology. doi: 10.1002/jclp.23570
• Larson, C., Rivera-Figueroa, K., Thomas, H. R., Stevens, M. C., Fein, D., & Eigsti, I. (2022). Structural language impairment in Autism Spectrum Disorder versus Loss of Autism Diagnosis: Behavioral and neural characteristics. NeuroImage: Clinical, 34, 103043.
• Larson, C. & Ellis Weismer, S. (2022). Working memory performance in children with Developmental Language Disorder: The role of domain. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 65(5), 1906-1920.

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