Vanessa Harwood

Vanessa Harwood
  • Assistant Professor, PhD, CCC-SLP
  • Communicative Disorders
  • Phone: 401.874.2577
  • Email: vharwood@uri.edu
  • Office Location: Independence Square, Suite K

Labs

Biography

Vanessa Harwood is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders at the University of Rhode Island. Dr. Harwood has several years of experience as a pediatric speech and language pathologist through Lifespan School Solutions – The Bradley Schools, RI. She completed her doctorate at the University of Connecticut in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences in 2015. Her dissertation research was completed through Haskins Laboratories, CT. where she investigated neurobiological markers of language in toddlers.

Research

I am interested in translational research aimed at improving diagnostic and therapeutic services for the pediatric clinical populations. I am specifically interested in the neurobiological markers of language and literacy impairments. I use methodologies such as EEG/ERP to investigate electrophysiological measures of speech perception and their relationships with behavioral characteristics of language and reading.

Education

  • Ph.D., Speech Language and Hearing Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 2015
  • M.S., Communicative Disorders: Speech & Language Pathology, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, 2005
  • B.A., Elementary and Special Education, Providence College, Providence, RI, 2003

Selected Publications

Harwood, V., Preston, J., Baron, A., Kleinman, D., & Landi, N. (2022). Event-Related Potentials to Speech Relate to Speech Sound Production and Language in Young Children. Developmental Neuropsychology, 1-19.

Harwood, V., & Arthur, D. (2021). An Error Analysis of Nonword Repetition Performance in Toddlers and Young Children: Theoretical Implications and Clinical Utility. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 30(5), 2069-2079.

Harwood, V., Preston, J., Grela, B., Roy, D., Harold, O., Andrada, K., Landi, N. (2017). Electrophysiology of perception and processing of phonological information as indices of toddlers’ language performance. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences, 1-13, doi: 10.1044/2016_JSLHR-L-15-0437.

Preston, J., Molfese, P., Gumkowski, N., Sorcinelli, A., Harwood, V., Irwin, J., Landi, N. (2014). Neurophysiology of speech planning in childhood apraxia of speech. Developmental Neuropsychology, 39, 385-40.