Karen Barako Arndt | Child Language and Literacy Lab

Karen Barako Arndt, (Dissertation, in progress: The production of complement taking verbs across complement clause types in elicited language tasks) M.Ed., M.S., CCC-SLP is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at Vanderbilt University. She received a B.A. in English Literature and Secondary English Education (2002) from Florida State University, a M.Ed. in Language and Literacy/English Education (2003) from the Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, and a M.S. in Speech-language Pathology (2006) from Vanderbilt University.

Karen was a recipient of the ASHA Students Preparing for Research and Academic Careers (SPARC) Award in 2004-2005. As part of her SPARC award, she completed a research project entitled: The Production of Infinitives by Children with Specific Language Impairment, which continued as her first pre-dissertation research project. Karen’s second pre-dissertation research project examined complex syntax production longitudinally in the language samples of children with SLI. Her dissertation focuses on the production of complement taking verbs across complement clause types in elicited language tasks with typically developing preschool children. Her research interests include complex syntax development in children with SLI as well as language and literacy issues in children with SLI, specifically writing.

She has worked as a research assistant in the Child Language and Literacy Lab since 2006, helping to coordinate an NIH R03 funded project (PI: C. Melanie Schuele, PhD) and currently works as a tutor at the Vanderbilt Reading Clinic. Karen is a 2013-2014 recipient of the ASHFoundation Student Research Grant in Early Child Language Development, which she will use to support her dissertation research. Karen is a 2013-2014 recipient of the ASHFoundation Student Research Grant in Early Child Language Development, which she will use to support her dissertation research.

Conference Presentations

Barako Arndt, K. & Schuele, C. M. (Scheduled, 2013, November). Elicited Production of Complement Clause Types in Typically Developing Preschool Children. Poster at the Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association, Chicago, IL.

Barako Arndt, K., & Schuele, C. M. (2012, November). Knowing, thinking, wondering: Complement clauses and theory of mind. Poster presented at the Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association, Atlanta, GA.

Barako Arndt, K., Weiler, B., & Schuele, C. M. (2012, June). Elicited tasks: What's important (past tense). Poster at the Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, Madison, WI.

Eisenband, L., Schuele, C.M., & Barako Arndt, K. (2011, June). Elicited tasks: What’s important? Poster to be presented at the Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, Madison, WI.

Fisher, J., Barako-Arndt, K., Guillot, K., Schuele, C.M., & Combs, S. (2010, November). Preschool teacher talk: How much complex syntax is in there? Poster session presented at the Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Philadelphia, PA.

Barako Arndt, K., & Schuele, C. M. (2010, November). A framework for analyzing complex syntax in language samples. Seminar presented at the Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Philadelphia, PA.

Barako-Arndt, K. & Schuele, C. M. (2009, November). Complex syntax production in children with SLI: longitudinal findings. Poster session presented at the Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, New Orleans, LA.

Publications

Barako Arndt, K. & Schuele, C. M. (2013). Multiclausal utterances aren't just for big kids: A framework for analysis of complex syntax production in spoken language of preschool- and early school-age children. Topics in Language Disorders, 33, 125-139.

Barako Arndt, K. & Schuele, C. M. (2012). Production of infinitival complements by children with specific language impairment. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics.

Schuele, C. M., Spencer, E., Barako Arndt, K. & Guillot, K. (2007). Literacy and children with specific language impairment. Seminars in Speech and Language, 28(1), 35-47.

Awards

Students Preparing for Academic and Research Career (SPARC) Award, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Early Childhood Language Research Grant, American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation

Travel Award to the Symposium for Research on Child Language Disorders