About
Teresa Girolamo is an assistant professor in the School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at San Diego State University. She completed a PhD at the University of Kansas in Child Language and postdoctoral training in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Communication at the University of Connecticut. She also holds a Master of Science in Teaching in Special Education from Pace University. Dr. Girolamo's research focuses on understanding and improving communication and other developmental outcomes for autistic individuals across the lifespan. (eliminate if not needed: She also serves as Co-Project Director on an Office of Special Education Personnel Preparation grant to prepare speech-language pathology and special education students to provide interprofessional services to young students with autism and other disabilities.) Her RCMAR CHIME-supported project applies secondary analyses and data science to identify modifiable contextual influences on communication outcomes among older autistic adults, using community-engaged methods to strengthen the rigor, validity, and potential for implementation of study findings. Her career interests include advancing quality of care for autistic and neurodivergent adults, developing clinical tools to support effective assessment, and mentoring trainees to become highly-qualified clinicians and researchers.
Cohort
2026-27
Project
Determining multi-level factors in communication outcomes of older autistic adults