This is an administrative supplement request under Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number PA-20- 222. This supplement is being submitted in order to provide 24 months of funding to Ms. Emily Hansen, who is a Master's/PhD student in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ms. Hansen is an individual with disabilities, and has presented documentation clearly indicating that she has substantial limitations in one or more major life activities. Only 5.8% of all doctorates in biological sciences were awarded in 2014 to individuals with disabilities, and the proposed supplement will enhance diversity in health- related disciplines. The goals of the grant proposal are to train Ms. Hansen on all aspects of our research protocol, thereby expanding her expertise in bilingualism, Developmental Language Disorder, eye-tracking methodology, and complex statistical analyses. In the parent grant (R01 DC016015), we aim to identify how to best structure the language environment to yield optimal language outcomes in bilingual children, especially children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. To answer this fundamental question, we examine the effect of dual language input on word learning in Spanish-English bilingual children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD).
The parent grant examines how dual language input influences the learning of words in bilingual children who span the continuum of language abilities ? from those with typical skills in both languages to those with weak skills in both languages (i.e., language impairment). The purpose of this diversity supplement is to train Ms. Emily Hansen, an individual with disabilities, on all aspects of the grant. There is a significant disparity in the number of individuals with disabilities who obtain college degrees, and especially doctoral degrees, and the proposal outlined in this supplement would help address this disparity.
