Joshua J. Diehl
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Rochester
Profile
Dr. Diehl’s research focuses on understanding and improving social-communication in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (including Asperger syndrome and PDD) and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Diehl’s work adapts psycholinguistic and neurocognitive paradigms to investigate the language and communication deficits that characterize these disorders. Additionally, Dr. Diehl integrates current research with adaptive technology to develop and test interventions aimed at improving communication.
One current line of research examines the production and comprehension of prosody by individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Dr. Diehl is interested in what prosody can tell us about communication and social deficits in autism spectrum disorders, and also in prosody’s promise as an early diagnostic marker of the disorder.
A second line of research involves the integration of an interactive humanoid robot into social skills interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders. The goal of this research is to critically examine whether or not the inclusion of this cutting-edge technology into the intervention provides additional benefits over traditional methods of practicing social skills.
F.U.N. Lab Homepage
Recent publications:
Diehl, J.J., Schmitt, L.M., Villano, M., & Crowell, C.R. (in press). The Clinical Use of Robots for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Critical Review. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2011.05.006
Diehl, J.J., & Paul, R. (in press). Acoustic differences in the imitation of prosodic patterns in children with autism spectrum disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2011.03.012.
Diehl, J.J. & Paul, R. (in press). Acoustic and perceptual measurements of prosody production on the PEPS-C by children with autism spectrum disorders. Applied Psycholinguistics.
Diehl, J.J., Wolf, J., Herlihy, L., & Moller, A.C.(in press). Seeing red: Are colors a window into implicit societal conceptions about the autism spectrum? Disability Studies Quarterly.
Villano, M., Crowell, C.R., Wier, K, Tang, K.*, Thomas, B.*, Shea, N.*, Schmitt, L.M.*, & Diehl, J.J. (2011). DOMER: A wizard of oz interface for using interactive robots to scaffold social skills for children with autism spectrum disorders. Proceedings of the Conference of Human-Robot Interaction 2011.
Diehl, J.J., Frost, S.J., Mencl, W.E., & Pugh, K. (2011). Neuroimaging and the phonological deficit hypothesis. In D. Braze, S. Brady, and C. Fowler (Eds.) Weighing Individual Differences in Reading: Theory and Evidence. New York: Psychology Press.
Diehl, J.J. & Berkovits, L. (2010). Is prosody a diagnostic and cognitive bellwether of autism spectrum disorders? In A. Harrison (Ed.) Speech Disorders: Causes, Treatments, and Social Effects (pp. 159-176). New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
South, M., & Diehl, J.J. (2010). Neurobiology: fMRI. In E. Hollander, A. Kolevzon, and J. Coyle (Eds.) Textbook of Autism Spectrum Disorders (pp. 485-496). American Psychiatric Publishing: Arlington, VA.
Diehl, J.J. & Paul, R. (2009). The assessment of prosodic disorders and neurological theories of prosody. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 11, 287-292. doi:10.1080/17549500902971887
Diehl, J.J., Watson, D., Bennetto, L., McDonough, J., & Gunlogson, C. (2009). An acoustic analysis of prosody in high-functioning autism. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30, 1-20. doi:10.1017/S0142716409090201
Arnold, J.A., Bennetto, L., & Diehl, J.J. (2009). Reference production in young speakers with and without autism. Cognition, 110, 131-146. doi:10.1080/01690960801920099
Diehl, J.J., Bennetto, L., Watson, D., Gunlogson, C., & McDonough, J. (2008). Resolving ambiguity: A psycholinguistic approach to prosody processing in high-functioning autism. Brain and Language, 106, 144-152. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2008.04.002
Palumbo, D., & Diehl, J.J. (2007). Managing attentional disorders. In Hunter & Donders (Eds.) Pediatric Neuropsychology Interventions (pp. 253-286). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Diehl, J.J., Bennetto, L., & Young, E.C. (2006). Story recall and narrative coherence of high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 83-98. doi:10.1007/s10802-005-9003-x
Young, E.C., Diehl, J.J., Morris, D., Hyman, S.L., & Bennetto, L. (2005). The use of two language tests to distinguish pragmatic language problems in children with autism spectrum disorders. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 36, 62-72. doi:10.1044/0161-1461(2005/006)
View Curriculum Vitae (PDF)
Contact Information:
114B Haggar Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Phone: (574) 631-1371
Email: joshua.diehl@nd.edu