Carol Scheffner Hammer, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Ph.D., University of Iowa, 1996
Associate Professor
Contact Information
401D Ford Building
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
(814) 865-1849
Fax: (814) 863-3759
Courses Taught
CSD 300, Developmental Considerations in the Assessment and Treatment of Language Disorders
CSD 462, Clinical Bases of Language Disorders
CSD 546, Language Development and Disorders in Children
CSD 597D, Literacy Topics: Multidisciplinary Perspectives
CSD 597E, Multicultural Issues in Communication Disorders
Research Interests
Language and literacy development and disorders in bilingual children
Cultural and environmental influences on language and literacy outcomes of children from diverse backgrounds
Parental beliefs about language and literacy development and disorders
Language development and disorders
Member of the Center for Language Science
Examples of Collaborative Projects
Promoting the Emergent Literacy Development of English Language Learners: A Culturally Informed Approach (C.S. Hammer, Principal Investigator). The purpose of the project is to develop and evaluate a home-based, culturally informed emergent literacy intervention that is designed to promote Latino parents' abilities to support the language and literacy development of their children who are learning English. The intervention is based on a socio-cultural perspective that recognizes that families operate from a cultural model when raising children; an emergent literacy perspective that emphasizes the importance of language, print concepts, phonological awareness and letter knowledge, and a view of language which argues that support of children's first language is essential when they are learning a second. Funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.
Bilingual Preschoolers: Precursors to Literacy (C. Hammer Principal Investigator, A. Miccio Co-Principal Investigator). This project is a prospective longitudinal study of the language and literacy development of Head Start children of Puerto Rican descent from the ages of 4-7 years. The aims of the project are to determine the patterns of language and literacy development of bilingual children and to identify factors in the home and classroom environment that relate to positive outcomes in children's development. Funded by the NIH-National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the US Department of Education-Institute of Educational Sciences.
Parental Beliefs about Literacy Development (Lead Investigator with Barbara van Horn and Barbara Rodriguez). This project investigates the beliefs of Mexican-American and Puerto Rican mothers about children's abilities. This project seeks to develop an understanding of cultural influences on children's development, and examines the relationship between parental beliefs and children's language and literacy outcomes.
Project PRIDE: PReventing Illiteracy and Disabilities Through Early-Intervention (G. Blood Principal Investigator, I. Blood and C. Hammer Co-Principal Investigator). This will be a four year training grant funded by the US Department of Education. The purpose of this project is to implement a new comprehensive preservice master's level training program for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to provide quality services to children with communication and literacy problems, especially those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, specifically in rural areas.
Assessing Bilingual Phonological Development in Young Children ( A. Miccio Principal Investigator, C. Hammer Co-Principal Investigator) The aims of this project are 1) to develop a valid and reliable measure to identify phonological disorder in bilingual Spanish and English speaking children and to distinguish disorder from phonological variation due to typical bilingual phonological development and change; 2) To assess change in multiple aspects of bilingual children's phonological development in order to identify characteristics of young bilingual children's phonological systems that are indicators of disorder later in development and 3) to develop training materials and a screening tool for use by speech-language pathologists. The phonological assessment project is funded jointly by the National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, The Administration for Children and Families and the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (2005-2010).
FOCUS (K. Bierman & W. Smutz Principal Investigators, C. Hammer Investigator). FOCUS is an interdisciplinary project designed to promote children's school readiness in collaboration with community agencies. Specifically, FOCUS, an intervention being conducted in three communities in Pennsylvania , is designed to train parents to support their children's language, social-emotional and reading abilities. As part of this project, mother-child interactions and their relationships among children's outcomes as a result of intervention are being studied. FOCUS is supported by the Kellogg Foundation.
Recent Publications
Miccio, A.W., Hammer, C.S., & Rodríguez, B.L. (in press). Code-switching and language disorders in young bilingual children. In J. Toribio & B. Bullock (Eds.), Handbook on linguistic code-switching. Cambridge University Press.
Hammer, C.S., Lawrence, F.R., & Miccio, A.W. (2008). Exposure to English before and after entry into head start: Bilingual children's receptive language growth in Spanish and English. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25 (4).
Durham, R., Farkas, G., Hammer, C.S., Tomblin, J.B., & Catts, H.W. (2007). Kindergarten oral language skill: A key variable in the intergenerational transmission of socioecomonic status. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 25, 294-305.
Hammer, C.S., Lawrence, F.R., & Miccio, A.W. (2007). Bilingual children's language abilities and reading outcomes in head start and kindergarten. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 38, 237-248. Invited Article.
Hammer, C.S., Rodríguez, B.L., Lawrence, F.R., & Miccio, A.W., (2007). Puerto Rican mothers' beliefs and home literacy practices. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 38, 216-224 . Invited Article.
Hammer, C.S., & Miccio, A.W. (2006). Early language and reading development of bilingual preschoolers from low-income families. Topics in Language Disorders, 26 (4), 302-317.