Danielle Mead, PhD

Associate Professor, Child & Adolescent Development

Dr. Mead's research explores language development in young children within a variety of contexts, focusing on the transcription and analysis of language samples and examining how they relate to other language areas (e.g., private speech, narrative complexity, bilingualism), cognitive abilities (e.g., non-verbal skills, executive functioning), and typical and/or atypical development (e.g., children on the autism spectrum). She brings her research experiences and expertise into the classroom as she primarily teaches courses in introduction to child development, infant/toddler development, language development, research methods, and graduate-level cognitive/language development.

Education

• Ph.D., Applied Developmental Psychology, George Mason University
• M.A., Applied Developmental Psychology, George Mason University
• B.S., Psychology, University of Mary Washington

Recent Publications

• Mead, D. L., & Winsler, A. (2019). Change over time in the type and functions of crib speech around the fourth birthday. Language & Communication, 67, 29-44. doi: 10.1016/j.langcom.2018.12.00

• Manwaring, S. S., Swineford, L. B., Mead, D. L., Yeh, C. C., Zhang, Y., & Thurm, A. (2019). The gesture-language association over time in toddlers with and without language delays. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 4, 1-15. doi: 10.1177/2396941519845545

• Thurm, A., & Mead, D. L. (2018). Skill attainment and loss. In Bornstein, M. H. (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of lifespan human development (Vol. 5, pp. 2009-2010). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. doi: 10.4135/9781506307633.n745

Recent Presentations

• Fusaro, M., Mead, D., Golloher, A., & Slusser, E. (2020). Virtual storytime: Supporting children’s learning from screen-based programs. Review of research submitted to San Jose Public Library.

• Mead, D. L., Hutchison, L., & Winsler, A. (2019, March). Narrative competence and executive functioning in young children with varying degrees of bilingualism. Poster presented for presentation at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, MD.

• Manwaring, S. S., Swineford, L. B., Mead, D. L., & Thurm, A. (2019, March). The gesture-language association over time in toddlers with and without language delays. Poster presented for presentation at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, MD.

Noteworthy Grants and Awards

• San Jose Public Library, Evaluation of SJPL Virtual Programming Standards (Co-PI), $9,900 Awarded (2020-2021)

Areas of Research Interest

• Autism spectrum disorder
• Communication
• Gesture
• Language delays
• Language development
• Private speech
• Solitary play

Recommended Reading

• Jim Henson: The Biography by Brian Jay Jones
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer

Personality Playlist

Listen to Danielle's playlist below and access all of the personality playlists on our Lurie College of Education Spotify account