Research Program – Translational Science
Program Overview
The major short- and medium-term objectives of the Institute’s Translational Science Program are to continue and extend a research program that has successfully translated laboratory methodologies developed with humans and nonhumans to resolve certain well-known challenges in regular and special education classrooms, hospitals and clinics, and other environments that provide services to children and adult humans. As in translational research in the biomedical sciences, translational behavioral research represents initial efforts to validate laboratory findings and methodologies in environments that emulate certain aspects of laboratory control but introduce also features of environments in which educational or clinical services are provided. The goal is to establish that success of laboratory-derived methodologies does not depend on the highly-controlled environments that are typical of basic science projects.
While some focus on translational science has been a feature of past programs, the Institute will expand the nature and scope of topics addressed within its larger focus on symbolic functioning. Translational research on pre-academic and academic instruction will be extended from its initial focus on very basic reading prerequisites to the more complex performances involved in skilled reading and mathematics. Foundational work on basic symbolic functioning in children with post- and pre-lingual deafness addressed via cochlear implants will be extended to address a broader range of issues affecting this population. Also considered within the translational domain will be extension of work that has translated methodologies developed originally with nonhumans, school-aged children, and individuals with intellectual disabilities to study the transition from preverbal to verbal behavior in infants and toddlers – studies that may serve as foundations for further translational research to model early intervention potential and ultimately applications in early intervention for infants and toddlers at risk for neurodevelopmental disabilities. A new direction for the Institute will include translation of past work to address new populations and behavioral capabilities with a specific focus on investigating relationships between brain and behavior. Projects proposed within the Translational Science Program will include:
4. Perception, Discrimination, and Equivalence
Description and Rationale: Projects in this category derive for work initiated within previous research program, and that remain targets for translational research. Regarding the work with children whose deafness was addressed by cochlear implantation, certain basic issues have been resolved for the population in general (e.g., symbolic functioning tends to be consistent with language age which in turn appears highly correlated with the length of auditory experience). There remain, however, many questions to be answered about the short-, medium-, and long-term prospects for CI-implanted children, especially those whose functioning does not achieve expected levels of development. Regarding the latter children, is failure of cochlear implantation to render their level of functioning typical of their peers due to some aspect of the quality of their auditory input or to some other variable (e.g., undetected intellectual disability)?
Regarding studies with preverbal children, the new Institute will build upon initial successes in methodological studies aimed at adapting methods from other components of the program to address questions relating to the development of symbolic functions and their behavioral prerequisites in the period from 12-30 months of age. Among the primary research targets of this program will be developing reliable methodology for studying symbolic functioning/prerequisites in the highly-engaged behavior of the individual child, work that may prove informative and perhaps more educationally/clinically relevant than studies employing group methodology and statistical control of inter-individual variability.
5. Relational Learning in Basic Academics
Description and Rationale: Projects in this category address a longstanding interest of our research programs, application of laboratory-derived methods to establish very early instances of reading printed words and relating them with their visual referents (objects, pictures, etc.) and auditory counterparts in children at risk for or already exhibiting protracted failure in school. A computer-based model research curriculum has been devised to (1) establish the first or very early instances of printed word-dictated word and printed word-picture relations, (2) expand that relational repertoire via further structured teaching, and (3) to build gradually the word attack skills that permit children to read new words with little or no training via recombination of syllabic units and other processes that may be involved in the development of phonological awareness. The Institute program will further develop and refine the model research curriculum and investigate extensions of the methodology to the realm of basic mathematic skills. This translational research effort is intended to serve as an ongoing and expanding conduit of new and/or refined methodology for the Institute’s Applied Science Programs in which laboratory-derived and validated instructional technology is exported for use in regular and special education classrooms.
6. Extensions to Neurobehavioral Science (Neurology, Vision, etc.)
Description and Rationale: Projects in this category are new translational science additions to the Institute’s research program that derive in part from past basic and translational research by current Institute faculty. Included in this category will be extensions of existing methodology to characterize neurobehavioral functioning in individuals with communication skills that have been compromised due to congenital or acquired neurodevelopmental disabilities. The project will build upon results of projects that have addressed selected aspects of sensory and cognitive functions in nonhuman primates and children with limited language development, work that will be extended to study individuals with confirmed or suspected neurological disorders.
