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Gerard (Trace) Poll, Ph.D.

Education and Background

• Doctor of Philosophy in Communication Sciences and Disorders, Penn State University, 2012
• Master of Science, Penn State University, 2007
• Master of Business Administration, University of Chicago- Booth School of Business, 1987
• Bachelor of Arts, University of Chicago, 1982

Dr. Poll is a speech-language pathologist whose research focuses on developmental language disorders in school-aged children, adolescents, and young adults.

He is interested in developing better assessment practices and better defining the cognitive and linguistic characteristics of language-learning disorders. His work also focuses on enabling adolescents with disabilities to be better prepared for the transition from K-12 education to adult settings such as post-secondary training, employment, and community participation.

Current work in his lab focuses on the development of a social communication assessment for at-risk adolescents and young adults. 

Professional Recognition and Affiliation

• Academic Research Enhancement Award (R15DC020521), Improving Social Communication Assessment for Adolescents at Risk for Communication Disorders. National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 2022-2025. Role: PI
• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (Special Interest Group 1 affiliate)
• ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University Committee on Faculty Research Grant to Promote Research, 2018-2020
• Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31DC010960), pre-doctoral fellowship from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 2010-2013

Selected Publications

• Poll, G.H., Drexler, S., Huntington, A. Galindo, M. & Galack, A. (in press). Comprehensive assessments of theory of mind abilities for school-age children: A systematic review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.
• Poll, G.H. & Petru, J. (2022). Exploring the contributions of expert review and cognitive interviewing to evaluating the content validity of items for a new measure of adolescent social communication, the Transition Pragmatics Interview. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics.
• Hoffman, T.K. & Poll, G.H. (2022). Challenges faced by childcare directors during COVID-19: Leading during a global pandemic. Early Childhood Education Journal.
• Poll, G.H. & Petru, J. (2022). Assessing adolescent metacognitive skills to support transition planning: Age-related change and domain specificity. Communication Disorders Quarterly.
• Poll, G.H., Maskalunas, C., Walls, L., Durbin, S., Hunken, H. & Petru, J. (2021).  Measurement properties of social communication assessments for transition-age adolescents: A systematic review. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools 52, 917-936,
• Poll, G.H. & Miller, C.A. (2021).  Speech production factors and verbal working memory in children and adults with a developmental language disorder.  Applied Psycholinguistics 42, 673-702.
• Ryer, J.E. & Poll, G.H. (2020).  The effectiveness of hybrid telepractice and in-person fluency treatment for a school-aged child: A case study.  Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups,
• Poll, G. H., & Miller, C.A. (2020).  Considering proceduralization through the lens of adolescents with developmental language disorders: Commentary on Kamhi (2019).  Journal of Communication Disorders 83.
• Poll, G. H., Burke, L., Miller, C. A., & Fiene, J. (2017). Prognostic Indicators: Predicting Degree of Change From Interventions for Adolescents at Risk for Language Weakness. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 38(4), 219-230.
• Burke, L., Poll, G., & Fiene, J. (2017). Response to an Expository Writing Strategy across Middle School RtI Tiers. Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal, 15(1), 85-101.
• Poll, G. H., Miller, C. A., & Van Hell, J. G. (2016). Sentence repetition accuracy in adults with developmental language impairment: Interactions of participant capacities and sentence structures. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 59(2), 302-316.
• Poll, G. H., Miller, C. A., & van Hell, J. G. (2015). Evidence of compensatory processing in adults with developmental language impairment: Testing the predictions of the procedural deficit hypothesis. Journal of Communication Disorders, 53, 84-102.
• Poll, G. H., Watkins, H. S., & Miller, C. A. (2014). Lexical decay during online sentence processing in adults with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 57(6), 2253-2260.
• Poll, G. H., Miller, C. A., Mainela‐Arnold, E., Adams, K. D., Misra, M., & Park, J. S. (2013). Effects of children's working memory capacity and processing speed on their sentence imitation performance. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 48(3), 329-342.