Helen L. Long
Assistant Professor
Psychological Sciences
Though Helen Long knew she wanted to be a speech-language-pathologist as a child, it wasn’t until she began working in the field that she realized her true passion was for research. With a PhD from the University of Memphis, a master’s from Florida State University and postdoctoral experience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Long seeks to build an evidence base available to clinicians to support early diagnosis and intervention planning for children with disabilities.
1. What are your specific teaching and/or research areas and interests?
My research studies early speech and communication development in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and other neurodevelopmental disabilities. Many people with CP use speech to communicate, but many others are nonverbal and communicate using other methods. We can’t diagnose speech impairments until after children are expected to be speaking, which is during a critical period of development. The earlier we can detect signs of speech impairments, the earlier we can help these kids start using other methods.
My past research has looked as young as infancy to see if early babbling patterns can predict later speech abilities, but my research at CWRU will look more broadly at a range of communication behaviors to look at even more specific potential predictors. I will be teaching classes around these topics, including Speech Sound Disorders and Augmentative and Alternative Communication in the Communication Sciences Program of the Department of Psychological Sciences.
2. What do you look forward to at Case Western Reserve University?
One of the biggest things that drew me to CWRU is the strong emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration. I am excited to build research and collaborative connections with others in the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Medicine and local hospital/community networks working to enhance the lives of people with disabilities.
3. Do you have any personal goals, hobbies, family, interests that you would like to share?
I am excited to explore the almost overwhelming number of museums, nature centers and parks in the Cleveland area. I also can’t wait to visit Cedar Point for the first time! Professionally, my goal has always been to work toward improving the lives of families and people with communication disorders and to inspire my students to strive to do the same.
4. What’s one piece of advice you have for students?
Don’t strive for perfection. As an undergraduate, I wrote an opinion piece about prioritizing friendships and social experiences over being the “perfect” student with a flawless transcript—and I still believe in that philosophy. College is a crazy short time in your life as you start the rest of your life, and there is nothing else like it. There will be plenty of time to chase perfection in adulthood if you so choose. In the meantime, take some risks and live boldly during your college years.