Professor, Applied Behavioral Science
Director, Life Span Institute
1052 Dole Human Development Center
Department Phone: 785.864.4840
Office phone: 785.864.4295
Fax: 785.864.5202
E-mail: sfwarren@ku.edu
B.G.S. University of Kansas (Psychology and Human Development), 1974
M.A. University of Kansas (Human Development), 1975
Ph.D. University of Kansas (Developmental and Child Psychology), 1977
Research Interests
My major research interests are in the areas of early communication and language development and intervention and the prevention of mental retardation. Over the past 25 years I have investigated the effects of a variety of different communication and language intervention strategies intended for use with children 3 years and younger with developmental delays. This research has focused on the development of intervention models (i.e. milieu language intervention, prelinguistic communication intervention) and longitudinal evaluation of these and other approaches, the development and application of an overarching theoretical model for understanding the effects of early intervention, and most recently the interaction of early intervention and specific etiologies (e.g. fragile X syndrome, Downs syndrome). For the past several years I have worked with colleagues from several other universities on the development of optimal early intervention for the infants and toddlers of high-risk teen-age mothers. My research has been continuously funded since 1977 by NICHD and by the U.S. Department of Education. Along with KU colleagues Marc Fey and Nancy Brady, I am presently conducting of a 5-year longitudinal analysis seeking to determine whether prelinguistic communication intervention generates significantly greater effects compared to later language intervention (funded by the U.S. Department of Education). With John Borkowski (Notre Dame), Judith Carta (Kansas), Susan Landry (U. of Texas Heath Sciences Center), and Craig Ramey, Sharon Ramey, and Bette Keltner (Georgetown University) I am presently engaged in a major longitudinal study of the effects of cumulative social neglect on the development of the children of teen-age mothers (funded by NICHD and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) and with the same team have initiated a major prevention study with this same population (funded by NICHD). Finally, I am the Principal Investigator of a study on the role of maternal responsively in the development of young children with fragile X syndrome. This study is part of the Fragile X Research Center (NICHD) shared by the mental retardation research centers at the University of North Carolina and the University of Kansas.
Representative Publications
Warren , S.F, McQuarter, R.J., & Rogers-Warren, A. (1984). The effects of mands and models on the speech of unresponsive language delayed preschool children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 49, 42-52.
Warren, S.F. & Kaiser, A.P. (1986). Generalization of treatment effects by young language delayed preschool children: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 51, 239-252.
Warren, S.F. & Bambara, L. M. (1989). An experimental analysis of milieu language intervention: Teaching the action-object form. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 54, 448-461.
Warren , S.F., Yoder, P.J., Gazdag, G.E., Kim, K., & Jones, H.A. (1993). Facilitating prelinguistic communication skills in young children with developmental delay. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 36, 83-97.
McCathren, R.B., Yoder, P.J. & Warren, S.F. (1995). The role of directives in early language intervention. Journal of Early Intervention, 19, 74-85.
Warren, S.F. & Yoder, P.J. (1997). A developmental model of early communication and language intervention. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 3, 358-362.
Yoder, P.J. & Warren, S.F. (1998). Maternal responsivity predicts the extent to which prelinguistic intervention facilitates generalized intentional communication. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 41, 1207-1219.
Warren, S.F. & Yoder, P.J. (1998). Facilitating the transition to intentional communication. In A. Wetherby, S. Warren , & J. Reichle (Eds.). Transitions in Prelinguistic Communication (pp. 39-58). Baltimore : Brookes Publishing.
Gazdag, G. & Warren, S.F. (2000). Effects of adult contingent imitation on development of young children's vocal imitation. Journal of Early Intervention, 23, 24-35.
Yoder, P.J. & Warren, S.F. (2001). Relative treatment effects of two prelinguistic communication interventions on language development in toddlers with development delay vary by maternal characteristics. Journal of Speech, Language, & Hearing Research, 44, 224-237.
Warren, S.F. & Walker, D. (in press). Fostering early communication and language development. In D.M. Teti (Ed.). Handbook of Research Methods in Developmental Psychology. Oxford , UK : Blackwell Publishers.
Yoder, P.J., & Warren , S.F. (2002). The effects of prelinguistic milieu teaching and parent responsivity education on dyads involving children with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 45(6), 1158-1174.
