The Speech/Language Genetics Lab is exploring methods to understand the link between genetics, speech and applications in communication disorders.
According to Beate Peter, head of the lab and a professor in the College of Health Solutions, the lab works at the intersection of understanding the genetics underlying speech and language, as well as translational research in the novel Babble Boot Camp program.
"We are looking for genetic influences on communication abilities," Peter said. "Once we find these insights, these pathways from genetic changes to clinical presentations of speech, language and reading disabilities, we want to turn that around into innovative and proactive interventions."
Peter and her colleagues have been investigating genetic predisposition for communication disorders in connection with classic galactosemia (CG) in children, with further studies into potential early intervention.
CG is a metabolic disease that prevents the body from breaking down the sugar molecule galactose. Individuals with the disorder are unable to make the GALT enzyme, the enzyme that breaks down galactose, which is found in dairy products.
Without the presence of the GALT enzyme in the bloodstream, toxic metabolites can accumulate in the body and brain, Peter said. The toxins can lead to myriad health conditions as well as difficulties with speech and language.
Peter's lab is currently running a program called "Babble Boot Camp," which is designed as an early intervention program for children diagnosed with CG. Peter said the lab began in 2014 and has since received a National Institutes of Health grant for $1 million, as it is one of the first proactive language-based interventions available for children with CG.
Babble Boot Camp works with children as young as several months old, as opposed to other early intervention programs that typically intervene with children two years of age or older. The boot camp works with parents to help develop pre-linguistic skills, such as babbling, in their children.
"Babble Boot Camp is about helping to strengthen those skills, so there's a strong foundation moving forward," Laurel Bruce, a professor in the College of Health Solutions, said.
The researchers use a LENA recorder to analyze times when a baby is babbling the most. From that information, they investigate the complexity of the babbling. The device fits into a vest that records the vocalizations of the babies for several hours.
In conjunction with the data from the LENA device, Babble Boot Camp also utilizes data gathered from surveying parents to learn about babbling development and the health of both the parent and child.
Natalee Geeso, a junior studying medical studies and a lab assistant, said the surveys cover how many words children are learning and the physical and emotional health of both the children and parents throughout speech development.
"We analyze as well, over the course of the language development therapy, how (parents) are able to improve their own health and their own feelings, maybe toward their child too. It could be something new for them as parents to be navigating," Geeso said.
Researchers in the lab are anticipating that their work will impact children beyond those involved in the ASU study, Peter said. She added that discussions are currently underway with teams in Brazil and the U.K. to potentially expand the ideas of the Babble Boot Camp internationally.
"One motivator for reaching out to these children and to support their speech and language is to give them the power to communicate," Peter said. "We need to work with them at the earliest possible age to build up their ability to make speech sounds and to build up their vocabulary."
Edited by Kate Gore, Senna James, Tiya Talwar and Pippa Fung.
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John Tamayo is a science and technology reporter in his first semester with The State Press. He is a senior majoring in Physics and Philosophy.
