Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders

ABSTRACT This request is for five years of continuing support for the Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders (SRCLD) held annually at the Monona Terrace Convention Center in Madison, Wisconsin. This symposium is sponsored by the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison and by NIDCD/NICHD, as well as funds obtained through registration fees. SRCLD is the only national conference devoted solely to research on child language disorders. Over the past 45 years this meeting has achieved the distinction among child language researchers as a high-quality scientific meeting which fosters the exchange of theoretical, experimental, and methodological advances among professional researchers and doctoral students in training. Past programs have been uniformly of high quality, featuring multiple invited plenary presentations by prominent researchers from the field of communication sciences and disorders and related fields and a steady number of research papers submitted for poster presentations or short oral presentations. The impact of the SRCLD conference has been documented in several areas including its unique focus, program growth and quality, and the extent of student participation in all aspects of the conference. NIH funds are requested to provide travel and per diem for invited speakers, travel support for students, partial support for an administrative coordinator, and website improvements and management. Progress since the last grant began in 2020 includes: 1) a vibrant and diverse annual program comprised of 4 invited plenary talks, nine submitted short oral presentations, and an average of 110 poster presentations; 2) support of a minimum of 20 students through NIH student travel funds and private donations, with student travel award recipients consisting of 59% under-represented minorities; 3) expansion of mentoring activities to include a formal round-table mentoring session; 4) continued advances in the website which features an online poster attendance planner, expanded abstract archives, and online evaluations; and 5) sustained international participation. Over the next five years we intend to: 1) Highlight cutting edge and emerging topics in child language disorders through invited talks, tutorials, submitted oral presentations, and posters; 2) Engage predoctoral and postdoctoral students in all aspects of the conference, with an emphasis on inclusion of under-represented minority students; 3) Expand mentoring and networking opportunities for early-career scholars, with a concerted effort to support scholars from under-represented groups; and 4) Expand dissemination of the results of the conference through social media.