Clinical & research services for organizations
Does your group need clinical or research support?
You can contract direct services, such as clinical assessments, intervention sessions, research visits, and behavioral coding, or simply request a consultation to receive guidance on your project. If your organization is interested in contracting services, please contact us to discuss your individualized needs. Services are offered in person in Cary, North Carolina and surrounding areas, as well as virtually. See below for examples of contracted services that are available.
Clinical assessments
Organizations such as clinical groups, schools, and research teams may request a contract for the Kinard Center to administer assessments, or to provide training on assessment procedures. In-person and virtual options available, as well as in English or Spanish. Examples include:
Adaptive behavior (e.g., Vineland Behavior Scales-3)
Articulation and phonology
Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)
Autism (e.g., Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2)
Developmental overview (e.g., Mullen Scales of Early Learning)
Dynamic language assessment
Functional communication and “challenging” behavior
Literacy
Parent interviews and questionnaires
Receptive and expressive language
Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT)
Social pragmatic skills
Intervention sessions
Organizations such as clinical groups, schools, and research teams may request a contract for the Kinard Center to deliver therapy or intervention sessions, or to provide training on intervention procedures. In-person and virtual options available, as well as in English or Spanish. Examples include:
Articulation and phonology
Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)
Autism-focused interventions
Functional communication and “challenging” behavior
Literacy
Parent/caregiver coaching (e.g., for children with known or anticipated communication needs)
Receptive and expressive language (e.g., vocabulary, grammar)
Social pragmatic skills
Research visits
Along with clinical assessments and intervention sessions, research teams may request that the Kinard Center administer research-specific tasks. Specialized equipment may need to be provided by the research team. In-person and virtual options available, as well as in English or Spanish. Examples include:
Behavioral coding
Computer-based tasks
Eye-tracking
Neuroimaging
Qualitative interviews or focus groups
Surveys and questionnaires
Video-recorded observations (e.g., parent-child interactions; peer interactions)
Other assessment or intervention protocols designed or selected by the research team
Program Adaptation
Organizations of almost any kind (e.g., schools, clinics, research groups, universities, libraries, religious institutions, employers) may wish to adapt their program offerings to be more accessible to individuals and families with communication needs. Communication needs could stem from medical or learning conditions, or from cultural or linguistic differences, such as if participants speak a different language. To help with program adaptation, organizations may request support from the Kinard Center. Examples of these supports include:
Reviewing the program
Conducting interviews and focus groups with sample participants to determine communication needs
Offering recommendations for program adaptations based on program review and focus group findings
Creating adaptations for the program, such as developing materials and content
Training personnel on adapted programs
For additional cultures and languages: Translation and cultural adaptation guidance*
*Note: The Kinard Center does not offer translation services, but can provide guidance on the translation process that will most effectively meet the needs of additional cultures and languages
Research design
Your organization may request consultation on study design, whether your group includes professional researchers (e.g., through a university) or personnel with limited research experience (e.g., community organizations conducting internal research). For example, which study method best matches your research questions? Who should you recruit and how? Which variables should you measure and how? Examples of topics that could be discussed in a consultation include:
Autism and other developmental conditions
Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)
Behavioral coding
Bilingualism
Communication development and disorders
Cultural and linguistic adaptation and translation
Eye-tracking
Gestures and nonverbal communication
Hispanic/Latino populations
Inclusion
Intervention research
Language sampling
Parent-child interactions
Parent coaching
Participant recruitment
Qualitative research (e.g., interviews, focus groups)
Quantitative research (e.g., randomized control trials, single-case design)
Rare neurogenetic conditions
Research ethics
Spanish language
Virtual visits
Research analysis
Your organization may request support in analyzing your research findings. Examples of data analysis offered by the Kinard Center include:
Behavioral coding (e.g., from video, such as parent-child interactions, gesture use)
Language sample analysis (e.g., from audio files and/or language transcripts)
Qualitative data analysis (e.g., analysis of interviews, focus groups)
Quantitative data analysis on case-by-case basis (e.g., group comparisons, correlations, predictors, analysis of single-case design results)
Clinical & research expertise
Jessica Kinard, PhD CCC-SLP, has over 15 years of experience as a bilingual (English/Spanish) speech-language pathologist and researcher, with over 20 peer-reviewed scientific articles in the field of communication and neurodevelopmental disabilities. She received her PhD in Speech and Hearing Sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, followed by a T32 postdoctoral fellowship in neurodevelopmental disabilities at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities at UNC Chapel Hill.
Collaborations
Examples of organizations who may wish to request contracted services include:
Clinics
Schools
Childcare organizations
Research groups
Universities
Libraries
Religious institutions
Employers
Dr. Kinard has collaborated with a wide variety of disciplines in her clinical work and research, such as speech-language pathology, psychology, neuroscience, genetics, occupational therapy, audiology, special education, linguistics, and maternal and child health. As part of these collaborations, Dr. Kinard has provided services in many settings, such as preschool and elementary schools, homes, daycares, religious institutions, clinics, university, and research settings.