Lab Affiliation: Language Development in Diverse Context

Research Interests:

My research focuses on cultural and environmental influences on children’s language and literacy development. Currently, my colleagues and I have been examining the developmental trajectories of Spanish-English bilingual children’s language and literacy development during Head Start through early elementary school years. We have been asking questions about the predictive relationships among home and classroom factors and children’s outcomes. We are also in the process of developing an assessment instrument of bilingual children’s phonological development. This instrument is being designed for children from ages 3 to 6 years who speak either Mexican, Puerto Rican or Cuban dialects of Spanish. Additionally, my work involves the investigation of parents’ beliefs and involvement in their children’s education through qualitative research methodologies. In particular, I am interested in the beliefs and experiences of parents from low-income families and possible differences between parents’ beliefs and those of school personnel. Also, my interests include work on the promoting parents’ involvement in their children’s education and early literacy development.

Research Opportunities:

Opportunities for involvement in research are open to students interested in the study of young bilingual children’s language and literacy development.

Recent Publications:

Durham, R., Farkas, G., Hammer, C.S., Tomblin, J.B., & Catts, H.W. (In press). Kindergarten oral language skill: A key variable in the intergenerational transmission of socioecomonic status. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility .

Hammer, C.S., Lawrence, F.R., & Miccio, A.W. (in press).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.

Hammer, C.S., Rodríguez, B.L., Lawrence, F., & Miccio, A.W., (in press). Puerto Rican mothers’ beliefs and home literacy practices. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.

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.

Hammer, C.S., Nimmo, D., Cohen, R., Draheim, H., & Johnson, A. (2005). Book Reading Interactions between African American and Puerto Rican Head Start Children and Their Mothers. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 5(3), 195-227.

Hewitt, L., Hammer, C.S., Yont, C., & Tomblin, J.B. (2005). Language sampling for kindergarten children with and without SLI: Mean length of utterance, IPSYN, and NDW. Journal of Communication Disorders, 38, 197-213.

Fallon, K., Light, J., McNaughton, D., Drager, K., & Hammer, C.S. (2004). The Effects of Direct Instruction on the Single-Word Reading Skills of Children Who Require Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 1424-1439.

Hammer, C.S., & Miccio, A.W. (2004). Home literacy experiences of Latino families. In B. Wasik (Ed.), Handbook of family literacy. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Hammer, C.S., Miccio, A.W., & Rodriguez, B. (2004). Bilingual language acquisition and the child socialization process. In B. Goldstein (Ed.), Bilingual language development and disorders in Spanish-English speakers. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

Hammer, C.S., Detwiler, J., Blood, G.W., Qualls, C., & Detwiler, J. (2004). Speech-language pathologists' training and confidence in serving Spanish-English bilingual children. Journal of Communication Disorders, 37, 91-108.

Qualls, C.D., Lantz, J., Pietryz, Blood, G. & Hammer, C.S. (2004). Comprehension of idioms in adolescents with language-based learning disabilities compared to their typically developing peers. Journal of Communication Disorders,37, 295-311.

Blood, G.W., Ridenour, V., Qualls, C.D., & Hammer, C.S. (2003). Co-occurring disorders in children who stutter. Journal of Communication Disorders, 36, 427-448.

Hammer, C.S., Miccio, A.W., & Wagstaff, D. (2003). Home literacy experiences and their relationship to bilingual preschoolers’ developing English literacy abilities. Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 34, 20-30. Invited article.

Qualls, C.D., Treaster, B., Blood, G.W., & Hammer, C.S. (2003). Lexicalization of idioms in urban fifth graders: A reaction time study. Journal of Communication Disorders, 36, 245-261.

Qualls, C.D., O’Brien, R., Blood, G.W., & Hammer, C.S. (2003). Contextual variation, familiarity, academic literacy, and rural adolescents’ idiom knowledge. Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 34, 69-79. Invited article.

Blood, G.W., Blood, R., Hammer, C.S., & Qualls, C.D. (2002). Occupational stress in SLPs working in health care settings. Journal of Medical Speech Language Pathology, 10, 201-212.

Blood, G.W., Swavely, J., Thomas, W., Blood, R., Qualls, C.D., & Hammer, C.S. (2002). Job Satisfaction among SLPs working in public school and healthcare settings: A national survey. Language Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 33, 252-270.

Blood, G. W., Thomas, A., Ridenour, V., Qualls, C.D., & Hammer, C.S. (2002). Job stress in speech language pathologists working in rural, suburban and urban schools. Contemporary Issues in Communication Science and Disorders, 29, 132-140. Editor's Award.

Hammer, C.S., Pennock-Roman, M., Rzasa, S., & Tomblin, J.B. (2002). An analysis of the Test of Language Development-Primary for item bias. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 11, 274-284.

Hammer, C.S., Tomblin, J.B., Zhang, X., & Weiss, A. L. (2001). Parenting behaviors and their association to SLI in children. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 36, 185-205.

Vernon-Feagans, L. Hammer, C.S., Miccio, A.W., & Manlove, E. (2001). Early literacy in low income and bilingual children. In S. Neuman, & D. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook on research in early literacy (pp. 192-210). NY: Guilford Publications.

Hammer, C.S. (2000). “Come sit down and let mama read”: Book-reading interactions between African-American mothers and their infants. In J. Harris, A. Kamhi, & K. Pollock (Eds.), Literacy in African American Communities (pp. 21-44). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hammer, C. S. (2000). “We Did that Study Already”: Issues in recruiting African American and Hispanic participants for research. Contemporary Issues in Communication Science and Disorders, 27, 127-135.

Hammer, C.S. & Weiss, A.L. (2000). African American mothers' views about their infants’ language development. American Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 9, 126-140.