Research: Classification and prediction of reading comprehension difficulties; quantitative methodology and analysis
Mercedes Spencer is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. She earned her PhD in Psychology from the Florida State University and completed her postdoctoral training in the Department of Special Education at Vanderbilt University. Her work uses a variety of approaches (e.g., latent variable structural equation modeling, meta-analysis) to investigate children’s language and literacy development and answer questions related to the prediction and classification of reading disorders and associated cognitive profiles and developmental trajectories. Specifically, she is interested in the contribution of executive function and attention skills to this process and aims to identify potential early indicators of reading comprehension difficulties to better predict and prevent future reading comprehension problems in children.