Research-Based from the Beginning!
Laureate was founded by two pioneering speech-language pathologists, Dr. Mary Sweig Wilson and Bernard J. Fox, who were among the first to recognize the important contributions that computer technology could make to the lives of persons with disabilities.
In 1980, Wilson and Fox completed research which demonstrated that microcomputer-based programs could provide a cost-efficient delivery system for effective individualized language intervention. The scientific exhibit of their software and research at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention won First Award for Excellence of Presentation and Second Award for Scientific Merit.
Two years later, they founded Laureate Learning Systems, and began to realize their common dream of expanding the use of technology to assist people with disabilities. All Laureate software is based on current theory and research. The programs incorporate treatment strategies that have been documented in research as effective in teaching new concepts.
Over the years, Dr. Wilson and Mr. Fox have worked with many renowned expert consultants to develop programs that provide effective well-designed intervention. For over ten years, psycholinguist Jill de Villiers, Smith College, and linguist Tom Roeper, University of Massachusetts, have served as consultants on a series of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop Laureate’s new Sterling Edition programs. More recently they have been joined by Peter de Villiers, Smith College, and Helen Tager-Flusberg, Boston University.
The Laureate team and its consultants are currently working on a Phase II SBIR grant entitled “Theory of Mind Software for Autism and Other Communication Disorders” from the NIH National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD).
To learn more about the research bases behind our new Sterling Editions, please read our monograph, Laureate’s Language Development Programs: Theory and Research.