In my research, I study how children develop language skills, with a particular focus on children for whom this does not come naturally, such as some children with autism and children with developmental language disorder.
I am especially interested in understanding why some children develop language difficulties while others do not. What happens in the brain when children learn language? And how can we use this knowledge to better understand and support them?
In my current project, I investigate how the right hemisphere of the brain contributes to language abilities. Language is usually mainly processed in the left hemisphere, but we think the right hemisphere may also play an important role, especially for children with language difficulties. However, we do not know yet whether the involvement of the right hemisphere supports language development or whether it may contribute to children’s difficulties.
What I find so rewarding about my work is that, together with children and their parents, we are able to further decipher what happens during language development. The insights we gain from this research can help us better support children with developmental difficulties in the future.
