Adriana Valtierra

Adriana M. Valtierra is a PhD student and trainee on Project REACH.. She received a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Spanish (2016) from Indiana University Bloomington and a M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology (2020) with an emphasis in pediatric hearing loss from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

After completing her master’s degree, Adriana worked at the Kansas State School for the Deaf providing speech and language services to Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) students. She then worked at the National Center for Childhood Deafness and Family Communication at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and provided speech-language services to children in a variety of populations including DHH and AAC users.

Research Information

Adriana’s research interests include language development, particularly literacy and syntax, in bimodal-bilingual DHH children and how clinicians and educators assess and monitor language development in these children. Adriana is a trainee on a Leadership Training Grant from the US Department of Education, Project REACH: Research Expertise and Training in Children with Hearing Loss (PI: Schuele).

Publications

Perry, L. K., Custode, S. A., Fasano, R. M., Gonzalez, B. M., & Valtierra, A. M. (2022). Coordination of caregiver naming and children’s exploration of solid objects and nonsolid substances. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 945664. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.945664

Perry, L.K., Prince, E.B., Valtierra, A.M., Rivero-Fernandez, C., Ullery, M.A., Katz, L.F., Laursen, B., & Messinger, D.S. (2018). A year in words: The dynamics and consequences of language experiences in an intervention classroom. PLoS ONE, 13(7), e0199893. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199893

Presentations

Kan, D., Brown, B., Hudson, C., Valtierra, A. M. (2022, January) Culturally sustaining pedagogy with deaf children. Multi-Presentation Session presented at the Council for Exceptional Children 2022 Annual Convention & Expo, Orlando, FL.

Messinger, D.S., Custode, S.A., Perry, L.K., Mitsven, S.G., Ullery, M.A., Katz, L.F., Vitale, L., Valtierra, A.M., Prince, E.B., Johnson, N. (2019, March) Classroom cries exhibit more temporal structure than non-cries at one year. Symposium presented at the 38th biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, MD. 

Custode, S.A., Perry, L.K., Mitsven, S.G., Vitale, L. Valtierra, A.M., Song, C., & Messinger, D.S. (2019, March) The power of peers: Effects of peer interaction on language development in early intervention classrooms. In L. Yuan & P. Carvalho (chairs) Learning before schools. Symposium presented at the 38th biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, MD. 

Perry, L.K., Valtierra, A.M., & Custode, S.A. (2018, June) Temporal synchrony of parent’s naming and infants’ exploration. In L.K. Slone (chair) Characterizing the temporal structure of infants’ early auditory experiences and relations to infant learning. Symposium presented at the 21st biennial meeting of the International Congress on Infant Studies, Philadelphia, PA. 

Perry, L.K., Prince, E.B., Valtierra, A.M., Rivero-Fernandez, C., Ullery, M.A., Katz, L.F., Laursen, B., & Messinger, D.S. (2018, June). What big data and automated measures can tell us about language and social development in early intervention classrooms. Flash talk presented at the 21st biennial meeting of the International Congress on Infant Studies, Philadelphia, PA. 

Meltzer, A. L., Valtierra. A. M., Perry, L.K. (2017, October). Novel noun generalization in children with and without cochlear implants. Poster presented at the Florida Psycholinguistics Conference, Gainesville, FL. 

Valtierra, A. M., Yandow, S., Meltzer, A. L., Perry, L. K. (2017, October). Differences in free-play with objects and substances in relation to word learning: evidence from head-cameras. Poster presented at the Florida Psycholinguistics Conference, Gainesville, FL. 

Mitsven, S.G, Perry, L. K., Vitale, L., Lei, L.B., Cooper, S.S., Valtierra, A.M., Song, C., Laursen, B., & Messinger, D.S., (2017, June). What you get is what you give: The effects of peers speech on language outcomes of infants. In L.K. Perry (chair) The future of infancy research: Examining what infants’ everyday experiences can tell us about development. Symposium presented at the 21st biennial meeting of the International Congress on Infant Studies, Philadelphia, PA. 

Perry, L.K., Prince, E.B., Valtierra, A.M., Rivero-Fernandez, C., Ullery, M.A., Katz, L.F., Messinger, D.S. (2017, July). Language input and development during a year in an early intervention classroom. Poster presented at the 38th annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, London, UK. 

Perry, L.K., Mitsven, S.G., Vitale, L., Lei, L.B., Cooper, S.S., Valtierra, A.M., Song, C., Laursen, B., & Messinger, D.S., (2017, June). The shared space of language and peer interactions. In L.K. Perry (chair) Kids in space: The dynamic coupling between space and language development. Symposium presented at the 48th annual Conference of the Jean Piaget Society, Amsterdam, NL. 

Perry, L.K., Valtierra, A.M., & Custode, S.A., (2017, June). The role of parent naming in children’s exploration and generalization of solids and nonsolids. In L. Colosimo (chair) Action, perception, and learning. Symposium presented at the 48th annual Conference of the Jean Piaget Society, Amsterdam, NL. 

Perry, L.K., Prince, E.B., Valtierra, A.M., Rivero-Fernandez, C., Ullery, M.A., Katz, L.F., Messinger, D.S. (2017, June). A year in an early intervention classroom: Insights from automated measures of language. Talk presented at the annual Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, Madison, WI.