Prof Prof Daniela O\'Neill

I am a child development scientist and expert on children's talk and how their social pragmatic communication grows. As part of my research, I developed the standardized parent-report measure, the Language Use Inventory (LUI), to help speech-language pathologists, child language researchers, and other child development and health professionals assess early social communication in 18- to 47-month-old children. Its psychometrics has been extensively supported in studies with both neurotypical & neurodiverse children (see https://languageuseinventory.com/Research). The LUI is now used in over 1500 institutions worldwide and over 20 translations are underway. In 2022, we will embark on a 2-year project to evaluate the use of the LUI for developmental surveillance of 2-year-olds' language within family physician practices. I am the Director of the Children’s Communication Lab at the University of Waterloo. You can find out more about the research, publications, and outreach projects of my lab by visiting https://uwaterloo.ca/childrens-communication-lab/