Research Interests
Keith Nelson's interests concern cognitive developmental theory. His research involves children's acquisition and use of language and art. He also works with microcomputer-multimedia applications in educational research aimed at improving communication, art, and thinking in normal and handicapped children. Another facet of theorizing deals with the ways that cognition, emotion, and motivation are intertwined in children's learning. Another recent direction includes joint projects with scholars at The Prevention Center concerning new integrative interventions for at-risk preschool and school children that jointly advance social skills, language, emotion regulation, literacy, and motivation.
Programmatic research additionally has concerned similarities and differences in language-learning patterns across different subject groups, notably language-delayed, developmentally delayed, language-normal, autistic, and aphasic. Coupled to this are systematic experimental studies of different treatments. These sorts of systematic efforts are rare in the field of communication disorders and child language. Our lab is one of a very few that has demonstrated highly specific learning conditions under experimental control that are causally associated with language acquisition gains by both language-delayed and language-typical children. We are currently refining both theoretical accounts of the most effective learning conditions so far and new intervention procedures that move toward further improvement of language intervention effectiveness.
Recent Publications
Nelson, K. E. (2000). Methods for stimulating and measuring lexical
and syntactic advances: Why Fiffins and lobsters can tag along with other
recast friends. In L. Menn & N. B. Ratner (Eds.), Methods for
Studying Language Production. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Nelson, K. E. (2001). Dynamic tricky mix theory suggests multiple analyzed
pathways (MAPS) as an intervention approach for children with autism and
other language delays. In S. von Tetzchner & J. Clibbens (Eds.), Understanding
the Theoretical and Methodological Bases of Augmentative and Alternative
Communication (pp. 141-159). Toronto: International Society for Augmentative
and Alternative Communication.
Nelson, K. E., Camarata, S. M., Welsh, J., Butkovsky, L., & Camarata,
M. (1996). Effects of imitative and conversational recasting treatment
on the acquisition of grammar in children with Specific Language Impairment
and younger language-normal children. Journal of Speech and Hearing
Research, 39, 850-859.
Bohannon, J. N., Padgett, R. J., Nelson, K. E., & Mark, M. (1996).
Useful evidence on negative evidence. Developmental Psychology, 33,
551-555.
Nelson, K. E., Heimann, M., & Tjus, T. (1997). Theoretical and applied
insights from multimedia facilitation of communication skills in children
with autism, deaf children, and children with motor or learning disabilities.
In L. B. Adamson & M. A. Romski (Eds.), Research on Communication
and Language Disorders: Contributions to Theories of Language Development
(pp. 296-325). Baltimore: Brookes.
Nelson, K. E., & Welsh, J. A. (1998). Progress in multiple language
domains by deaf children and hearing children: Discussions with a Rare
Event Transactional Model. In R. Paul (Ed.), The Speech/Language Connection
(pp.179-225). Baltimore: Brookes.
Nelson, K. E., Welsh, J., Camarata, S. M., Butkovsky, L., & Camarata,
M. (1995). Available input and available language learning mechanisms
for specifically language-delayed and language-normal children. First
Language, 15, 1-17.
Nelson, K. E., Welsh, J., Camarata, S., Heimann, & Tjus, T. (2001).
A rare event transactional dynamic model of tricky mix conditions contributing
to language acquisition and varied communicative delays. In K. E. Nelson,
A. Koc, & C. Johnson (Eds.), Children's Language (Vol. 11).
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
