Skip to main content
What is Health and Human Development?

Diverse fields of study that share one
common goal: enriching the lives of others.

Search search
Mobile Search:
Krista Wilkinson
Distinguished Professor
Department
  • Communication Sciences and Disorders - CSD
  • Graduate Faculty
+ See All - See Less
Education
  • Ph.D., Georgia State University, 1993
Phone
Office Address
404J Ford Building
498 Allen Road
University Park, PA 16802
Fax
814-865-8133
Professional Credentials

Ph.D.

Research Interests

Dr. Wilkinson studies early communication and language in learners with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Her main interests include vocabulary learning as well as the use of visual supports in communication and education. 

Specializations

Augmentative and Alternative Communication
Language and Language Disabilities Across the Lifespan

Professional Experience

Dr. Wilkinson served as Editor for American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (2014-2016) and as Editor-in-Chief for 2017.  She has also served as Associate Editor at Augmentative and Alternative Communication and the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.

Grants and Research Projects

Developing Biodevices with Embodied Interactions to Empower People with Complex Communication Needs. Wilkinson, K. M., Billah, S., & Sowers, D. J. (2023-2024). Penn State Center for Biodevices Seed Grant.

This grant supported the development of artificial intelligence algorithms to interpret the natural, body-based gestural communication of individuals with motor and vision impairments whose natural speech is not meeting their daily communication needs. The team, which includes individuals with motor impairments and/or CVI, developed and tested a prototype technology that shifts the burden of access off the AAC user and onto the technologies, through the use of body-based sensors. The prototype is able to learn meaningful idiosyncratic gestures and ignore unintentional ones, allowing gestured communicative intent to be spoken through a communication device.

A Bio-Physiologically Integrated Approach to Studying Mechanisms of Swallow and Speech in Down Syndrome. Wilkinson, K. M. (PI), Madhavan, A., Etter, N., Lee, J., Olmstead, A., Miller, C. A., Sandberg, C., & Williams, D. (2023-2028).  National Institutes of Health Project INCLUDE.

This grant examines the mechanisms underlying speech and swallow function in individuals with Down syndrome. We examine the relation of structural and functional characteristics associated with the genetic underpinnings of Down syndrome (trisomy 21) to the functional production of speech and of swallow.  The team includes experts from across the CSD department in areas of clinical swallow measurement, oral somatosensation, speech production, speech perception, language, and brain imaging.