Debra C. Vigil Ph.D., CCC-SLP: Biography/Education

Courses Taught

• SPA 340 Language Development in Children
• SPA 467 Language Disorders in Children
• SPA 667 Assessment and Intervention of Children with Language Disorders
• SPA 723 Language Theory

Research Interests

Identification of cultural differences in language acquisition, cultural diversity issues in treatment of minority children with language disorders, social interactive predictors of language disorders, and autism. With regard to normal development, Dr. Vigil is interested in how social and cultural behaviors of adults and siblings in a child's environment effect language acquisition. Interests with children with language disorders include how cultural socialization may effect direct intervention with children and how parents from diverse cultures may help to facilitate language development in children with language disorders. An additional interest includes how to effectively provide therapeutic services to children with autism.

Current Projects

A collaborative project with University Center for Excellence in Disabilities organizing the Nevada Autism Summit (http://repc.unr.edu/NAS/); comparing parental language input to preschool children with and without language disorders in a Spanish-speaking population, analyzing Spanish-speaking children’s gesture use for assessment purposes. Dr. Vigil's ongoing research involves students on projects at different levels of competence depending on graduate or undergraduate status.