Lesley Olswang,
Dr. Lesley B. Olswang began her academic career at the University of Washington, Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences in 1978. She was promotoed to Associate Professor in 1985 and Full Professor in 1991. She servied as Associate Chair from 1995-2005. She is currently a Professor Emeritus. She has had extensive clinical and research experience with children with language disorders. Her research has included two primary populations: young school-age children and children below the age of three. Her school-age research has examined the social communication of children diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome as they participate in classroom activities. Dr. Olswang's research with children below the age of three has focused on two specific populations: infants with severe physical disabilities and toddlers with specific language impairment. She has been investigating the benefits of treatment with these children and their families, particularly attempting to determine readiness factors that might predict when children and families will best benefit from different intervention options. The promising findings of this work has led to her current interests in implementation sciences. Her research has been supported by grants from the University of Washington, the Washington State Association for Retarded Citizens, the US Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control.