The focus of the Neurodevelopmental Diversity Language and Learning (NeuDLL or “noodle”) Lab is on the development of language, communication, and related skills in children. The mission of the NeuDLL Lab is to better understand individual differences in development, with consideration for the many factors that influence learning and change over time. These influences include what children already know, how they interact with the world, and characteristics of input around them. The goal of this research is to understand how children develop skills related to language and communication so that those skills may eventually be better supported to help children achieve their best.
NeuDLL Team Statement on Equity and Growth
We are a small community of researchers and students who are dedicated to learning, with the ultimate goal of supporting children and their families. We acknowledge the systemic inequities that have shaped society, research, and higher education. We are actively striving to better understand and take action to address those inequities in our lab culture and our work.
About the Principal Investigator
Sara T. Kover, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the University of Washington. Dr. Kover’s expertise is in the area of language development in children, including those with developmental disabilities. Her research has also addressed the development of cognitive skills that support language acquisition, methodological issues in research on child language and developmental disabilities, well-being in families, commonalities and differences between fragile X syndrome and autism, and the assessment of language abilities in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Faculty Statement on Equity and Humility
As institutions of higher education increasingly ask applicants to submit diversity statements on their contributions to equitable and inclusive environments, faculty members, researchers, mentors, and leaders have their own commitments to evaluate. I am committed to listening, to learning, and to pushing back against systems of inequity in all realms of my professional and personal activities and areas of influence. This involves self-reflection, accepting feedback without defensiveness, and learning from my mistakes. I acknowledge that I am on my own journey in understanding the depth of racism, ableism, audism, and other biases in our society. I recognize that aspects of my positionality have afforded me tremendous privileges in my education and profession, whereas other aspects of my identity that do not align with the dominant culture or identity have and still do elicit bias. I am willing to lead difficult and uncomfortable conversations; to name out loud the inequities that I or others see; and to make changes that are unsettling to myself or others if they have the potential to move the needle towards equity. As a faculty member, instructor, mentor, researcher, and collaborator, I am attempting to create space and then step to the side to allow others to reach their aims, better than I have. I have a long way to go, but I am committed to engaging for the long haul.
You may reach Dr. Kover at:
Speech and Hearing Sciences
University of Washington
1417 NE 42nd Street
Seattle, WA 98105
(206) 543-7888
skover@uw.edu