UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Krista Wilkinson, professor of communication sciences and disorders at Penn State, has been named editor of the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (AJSLP). The mission of AJSLP, which has been online-only since 2010, is to report peer-reviewed, primary research findings concerning an array of clinically oriented topics transcending all aspects of clinical practice in speech-language pathology.
Wilkinson’s research focuses on language development, and augmentative and alternative communication intervention in individuals with severe intellectual/developmental disabilities. In much of her early work, she examined how vocabulary instruction can be improved through an understanding of processes of early word learning in children with and without disabilities.
Her current research examines how to improve the design of augmentative and alternative communication displays. Through applications of the tools of neuroscience and cognitive sciences, Wilkinson seeks to understand how individuals with severe disabilities perceive and understand the visual information presented on visual augmentative and alternative communication displays. The resulting information can help improve clinical services by permitting clinicians to tailor the design of the communication system to the visual-cognitive processing skills of individuals who use them.
Wilkinson has published more than 45 peer-reviewed publications and multiple book chapters and other invited papers. She served as associate editor for the American Journal of Speech Language Pathology from 2004 to 2010 and for Augmentative and Alternative Communication from 2007 to 2009. Two of her publications have received the editor’s award for most significant contribution to the journal Augmentative and Alternative Communication.
Wilkinson has received multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health. In addition to serving as a faculty member at Penn State, she is an adjunct associate scientist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School's Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center. She received a bachelor's degree in linguistics and cognitive sciences from Brown University and a master's degree and doctorate in psychology from Georgia State University.