During development, an extremely complex interface exists between language and motor variables.  The central aim of the research conducted in this laboratory is to determine how linguistic intentions are instantiated in motor action and how motor and repsentational factors are related to speech and language disorders.  The experiments combine physiological analyses of movement with phonetic transcription and acoustic approaches.  One recent research question involves how production based factors at the level of movement contribute to the acquisition of prosodic structure.  In other research, we investigate how speech movements are organized for the production of differentiated phonetic segments.  A major objective of these studies is to discover how language and motor development are linked and, thus, to contribute to new intervention approaches for children with speech and language deficits.   

Lisa Goffman teaches courses in the area of speech and language development and disorders.  Some specific courses include an undergraduate class in developmental speech and language disorders and graduate classes in speech motor and feeding development and disorders and communication disorders in infancy.  Professor Goffman holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.