ABOUT

The Speech and Neurodevelopment Laboratory is located in the Behrakis Health Sciences Center at Northeastern University and is a part of the Bouvé College of Health Sciences. Students and researchers in our group are inclusive of disciplines from the Speech and Hearing sciences, Engineering, Biology, and pediatric Environmental Health sciences. Our projects encompass both basic science and clinical research.

A central focus of our work is the study of the interplay between sucking, feeding and early infant vocal development. We currently study these behaviors in full-term, premature, and other infant populations such as infants with cleft lip and palate. In addition to establishing new assessment measures, our lab seeks to use Non-Nutritive Suck (NNS) as a way to characterize infant sucking and evaluate neurodevelopment at various time points in early infancy and childhood.