גנדלר-שלו הילה, ד”ר
Background
Hila’s research area is child language development. Her academic goals are having a better understanding of typical and atypical language acquisition processes, developing efficient tools for language development screening, grasping the environmental effects on language development, and optimizing the language learning conditions for children from various backgrounds. Hila’s doctoral thesis explored early lexical development characteristics of typically developing Hebrew-speaking toddlers. Her study was based on a large national sample, forming early lexical development norms in Hebrew. Currently, she is a fellow researcher supervised by Dr. Rama Novogrodsky. Her studies explore early vocabulary acquisition of deaf children who sign and speak (bilingual bimodal children) early vocabulary characteristics of toddlers with atypical language acquisition (e.g., children with autism, children with DLD) and the effects of social distancing (due to Covid-19) on early lexical development and child well-being.
A link of the ongoing research https://www.firstwords.co.il/
Grants and Awards
2022 The Interdisciplinary Clinical Center, University of Haifa, research grant.
2020 Barnovsky Foundation honor award certification for excellent PhD dissertation, University of Haifa
2019-2022 The MacArthur-Bates CDI Advisory Board, Stanford University. Grant for Hebrew MB-CDI data collection via Web-CDI.
2019 SRCD Graduate Student Travel Award.
2017 Lancaster University, Department of Psychology. Grant for travel and collaborated preparation of Marie Curie fellowship application.
2016 Personal scholarship of excellence from the Herbert and Sharon Glaser Family Foundation, through Doron and Tami Kochavi
2015-2016 Excellence scholarship from Tel Aviv University, School of Education
Publications
Gendler-Shalev, H. & Novogrodsky, R. (in preparation). Word characteristics of the early lexicon of children with autism.
Kartushina, N., …Gendler-Shalev, H., …Mayor, J. (in preparation). The impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown on children’s well-being across countries.
Gendler-Shalev, H., Marchman, V.A., & Dromi, E. (in preparation). Prediction of lexical growth during the second year of life: A short-term follow-up study of TD and LT Hebrew-speaking toddlers.
Gendler-Shalev, H. & Novogrodsky, R. (under review). Word characteristics of late talkers’ early lexicon.
Kartushina, N., Mani, N., Aktan-Erciyes, A., Alaslani, K., Aldrich, N., Almohammadi, A., …Gendler-Shalev, H., … Mayor, J. (2022). COVID-19 first lockdown as a unique window into language acquisition: What you do (with your child) matters. Language Development Research. http://hdl.handle.net/10810/56186
Gendler-Shalev, H., Ben-David, A., & Novogrodsky, R. (2021). The effect of phonological complexity on the order in which words are acquired in early childhood. First Language. https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237211042997
Gendler-Shalev H., & Dromi E (2021). The Hebrew Web Communicative Development Inventory (MB-CDI): Lexical Development Growth Curves. Journal of Child Language 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000921000179
Recent Conferences
Gendler-Shalev, H. & Sadaka, Y. (May 2022). Nationwide Language Development Screening via an accessible Web-based Platform. Invited speaker at the European Network Meeting on Communicative Development Inventories (EUNM-CDI), Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Gendler-Shalev, H. (May 2022). Vocabulary Acquisition of Bilingual Bimodal Children Who Speak Hebrew and Sign Israeli Sign Language. Invited speaker at the European Network Meeting on Communicative Development Inventories (EUNM-CDI), Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Gendler-Shalev, H. (February, 2022). Late talking (LT) or normative variability? The use of standardized questionnaires to identify and characterize LT. Invited speaker presented at the 58th annual conference of the Israeli Speech Hearing and Language Association (ISHLA). (Virtual).
Gendler-Shalev, H., Ofek, H., Breitman, M., Tal-Kayam, M., Omer S., Nir, O. & Novogrodsky, R. (February, 2022). Vocabulary assessment of bimodal children as a tool of parents’ inclusion in intervention. Presented as part of a symposium on Sign Language assessment. Presented at the 58th annual conference of the Israeli Speech Hearing and Language Association (ISHLA). (Virtual).
Gendler-Shalev, H. & Havron, N. (October 2021). The Effect of COVID19 First Lockdown on Child Language Development in Israel and Around the World. Presented at the Israeli Childhood Conference, The Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa.
Gendler-Shalev, H., Ben-David, A. & Novogrodsky, R. (April 2021). The Effect of Phonological Complexity on Word Order Acquisition in Early Childhood. A poster presented at the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD). (Virtual).
Gendler-Shalev, H., Virginia A. Marchman, & Dromi, E. (July 2020). Prediction of Lexical Growth During the Second Year of Life: A short-term follow-up study of TD and LT Hebrew-speaking toddlers. A poster presented at The International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS). (Virtual).
Gendler-Shalev, H. & Dromi, E. (July 2020). Word Comprehension, Word Production and Gesture Use in the Second Year of Life. A poster presented at The International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS). (Virtual).
Gendler-Shalev, H. & Dromi, E. (March 2019). Stability of Hebrew CDI Ranks: Short-Term Longitudinal Lexical Development of Hebrew-Speaking Toddlers. A poster presented at the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD). Maryland, USA.
Gendler-Shalev, H. & Dromi, E. (March 2019). Receptive Vocabulary and Gesture Use by Hebrew Speaking Late Talkers. A poster presented at the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD). Maryland, USA.
Gendler-Shalev, H. & Dromi, E. (January 2019). Late Talking Hebrew Speaking Toddlers’ Receptive Vocabulary and Gesture Use. Invited speaker at the European Group on Child Language Disorders (EUCLDIS), Tel-Aviv, Israel.
