Susan Ellis Weismer , Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Education

B.A.     Indiana University, Speech & Hearing Science
Ph.D.   Indiana University, Language Development & Disorders

Teaching

CD 440  Child Language Disorders, Assessment & Intervention
CD 910  Grant Writing and Professional Development Seminar
CD 940  Intervention issues in child language disorders

Interests

Susan's research is focused on comparing the developmental course and nature of language processing in children with various types of language delay or disorders compared to children with typical language development. To date, most of her published research has focused on toddlers with late onset of language development (‘late talkers’) and children and adolescents with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) who exhibit substantial language deficits in the absence of other accompanying problems such as hearing impairment, mental retardation, or social-emotional disturbance.

 A new NIH-funded longitudinal project will characterize early language and communication skills in children on the autism spectrum compared to late talkers without autism. The goal of this research is to address theoretical issues concerning the dimensional vs. distinct category account of language disorders and to inform practical issues related to early differential diagnosis and predictors of language outcome. The web page address for these research projects is: http://www.waisman.wisc.edu/mrddrc/indexfr.html (Click on “Waisman Center Laboratory Websites” then “Language Processes Lab”). Susan's lab is located on the fourth floor of the Waisman Center.

Highlighted Activities

Leonard, L., Ellis Weismer, S., Miller, C., Francis, D., Tomblin, J.B., & Kail, R. (In press). Speed of 

     processing, working memory, and language impairment in children. Journal of Speech,

     Language, and Hearing Research.


Ellis Weismer, S. Language and communication on the autism spectrum. To appear in Genes,

     Brain and Development: The Neurocognition of Genetic Disorders, M. Barnes (Ed.),

     Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.


Moyle, M.J., Ellis Weismer, S, Lindstrom, M., & Evans, J. (In press). Longitudinal relationships

     between lexical and grammatical development in typical and late talking children. Journal of

     Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.


Ellis Weismer, S. (In press). The influence of developmental perspectives on research and

     practice in communicative disorders: A festschrift for Robin Chapman, in Typical talkers, late

     talkers, and children with specific language impairment:  A language endowment spectrum? 

     R. Paul (Ed.), Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 


Ellis Weismer, S. (2005). Speech perception in specific language impairment (pp. 567-588), in

     Handbook of Speech Perception. D. Pisoni and R. Remez (Eds.), Malden, MA:  Blackwell

     Publishers


Ellis Weismer, S., Plante, E., Jones, M., & Tomblin, J.B.  (2005). A functional magnetic resonance

     imaging investigation of verbal working memory in adolescents with specific language

     impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 48, 405-425.

Menu

  • Susan Ellis Weismer
  • 369 Goodnight Hall
    Phone: 608-262-6487
    Fax: 608-262-6466
  • Department of Communicative Disorders
    University of Wisconsin
    1975 Willow Drive
    Madison, WI 53706
  • Personal Home Page