Rehabilitation Sciences doctoral candidate and speech-language pathologist Lauren Hudacek will present her research at the 2026 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, under the guidance of faculty advisors Dr. Christina Reuterskiöld and Dr. Ikuko Acosta. Her presentation, “Using Visual Art-Making to Support Narratives for Children with DLD,” examines how self-generated drawing may support personal event narrative production in adolescents with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).
The mixed-methods study compares two visual supports: adolescents telling a story about a recent personal event while viewing a photograph of the event, versus creating their own drawing and using it to support storytelling. Participants aged 11 to 14 with DLD completed virtual narrative tasks, with researchers analyzing narrative macrostructure and microstructure, as well as the content and form of their drawings. Surveys and semi-structured interviews captured adolescents’ perspectives on their experiences, challenges, and successes.
The project represents an interdisciplinary collaboration between Communicative Sciences and Disorders and Art Therapy and emphasizes adolescents’ creative strengths and perspectives alongside traditional measures of narrative performance. Collected virtually through Zoom, the research also highlights potential applications for telepractice.
The presentation contributes to Hudacek’s broader doctoral research exploring strengths-based, client-centered drawing and visual arts approaches to storytelling, language, and quality of life for children and adolescents with DLD.
