Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC) member Tatiana Peredo, Ph.D., is a research assistant professor of Special Education. Dr. Peredo’s research program aligns with the topics of communication and learning and family support. Her research focuses on multilingual and monolingual language development and intervention in early childhood, with a focus on Latino children with developmental language delays, autism, and cleft palate, and their families. Her research program’s goal is to identify effective and culturally and linguistically appropriate early language interventions for young children with different diagnoses that impact their language development.
In the interview below, Peredo shares how she became interested in disabilities research, describes her current research projects, and highlights how becoming a member of the VKC enhances the work she does.
Tell me about your attraction to developmental disabilities research. Do you have a personal connection to disability?
I am an early childhood researcher and work with children who are at risk for early language and literacy delays, children with developmental language disorder, children with autism, and, more recently, children with cleft palate. I do not have a personal connection to disability. One of my children was born with a congenital heart defect and has had several other more minor medical issues requiring specialist care. Along with endless doctors’ appointments during his early years, he also had major heart surgery at 22 months old. That experience has given me a lot of empathy for what parents go through when their child’s disability involves complex medical needs.
I do not know if I sought out disability research or if it found me! I have always loved working with young children, when I was a child growing up in Brazil, I was taking care of and entertaining all the younger children. Soon after I got my bachelor’s degree, I got a job as a teacher in an inclusive preschool. I did not have prior experience with children with disabilities but became really interested in their therapies and in trying to learn what strategies I could use to support them in the classroom. Shortly after, I went back to school to get a master’s degree in counseling thinking I wanted to become a play therapist. I got connected with Dr. Ann Kaiser’s lab during my search for a clinical internship placement and started working in her early language intervention research projects with toddlers with disabilities.
After a few years, I moved to Texas where, ultimately, I received my doctorate in developmental psychology from the University of Texas at Dallas. During my time there, I worked in a local early intervention program as a bilingual intervention specialist providing assessment and therapy for children with disabilities whose families spoke Spanish. I also had a part time job as a behavior therapist for a boy with profound autism. He taught me so much and I attribute my interest in working with autistic children to him (fun fact—he was also the ring bearer at my wedding!).
This was certainly not the most direct career path, but each of these experiences really shaped my research trajectory and I feel grateful that I absolutely love the work that I do.
What are your current research interests and what problem(s) or challenge(s) does it address?
My research focuses on the intersection of culture, language, and disabilities. Broadly, I am interested in how to improve access to early intervention services for families who are underserved both in research and in clinical practice. I am working on early language and literacy intervention approaches to reduce disparities in access and quality of services for children in the U.S. who speak English as a second language. I am also working with collaborators in Latin America where early intervention is a very nascent concept. Although I have a special interest in working with Latinx children and families, I am also interested in creating culturally sustaining interventions to increase access and quality of services for children from other ethnically diverse populations.
Do you have a story about a research participant or a breakthrough that illustrates the impact of your work?
I do! I recently connected with two mothers who participated in a parent coaching study for children with cleft palate that I conducted as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Brazil in 2023. I wanted to share that I am continuing the work with toddlers with cleft palate now through an NIH funded study in the U.S. One of the mothers told me she was so happy that her and her daughter could contribute to this work. She said her daughter is doing incredibly well, that she attributes that to the intervention, and that participating in the project was so important to them! The other mother said she and her daughter loved the sessions they had with me. My research fellowship was in a small city where it is easy to find connections. This mother happened to be close friends with one of my daughters’ teachers. I remember one of the first days of school when I arrived for pick up, the teacher stopped me to hug me and tell me that she was so grateful for the work I was doing with her friend and promised she would be taking equally good care of my daughter. It am proud to see the meaningful impact of this research on families.
What are your reasons for becoming a VKC Member? How does the VKC enhance the work you do?
Being a member of the VKC allows me to connect with and learn from other disability researchers. I am very grateful to have received a Nicholas Hobbs Discovery Award from the VKC which allowed me to examine how respeto (respect, obedience, deference) is embedded in parent-child interactions for Latino parents with children with developmental language disorder. This has very important implications in designing interventions focused on the strengths parents bring into these interactions with their children with disabilities. I read every single email that comes from the VKC because I always find something interesting whether it is a report of a research study, an upcoming lecture, or a training opportunity. I love that VKC Science Day provides an opportunity to connect with other researchers and to learn about research being conducted by students and post-doctoral researchers.
