The focus of my research is based in developmental psychology, and grounded in an epigenetic (Gottlieb, 2002), or systems (Smith & Thelen, 2003) approach to development.  The overarching theme of my research is to examine the interaction between various aspects of language development, cognitive development, and social cognitive development, and their influence on the overall development of children with autism, language delay, and typical developmental processes. I am particularly interested in the developmental pathways of children with autism and how these children’s language and cognitive development are affected by their social difficulties.