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Joshua Diehl

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Diehl specializes in autism spectrum disorders and dyslexia, and helping children with autism communicate more effectively is the focus of his current research projects and therapies, all of which are behavior-based. In therapy sessions with children with autism, Diehl focuses on breaking down individual behaviors and teaching communication piece by piece. One method is through the use of “Nao,” a robot that is programmed to simplify various communication behaviors like gestures and facial expressions, and teach children with autism how to use and understand them. “The most important part of social interaction is understanding what’s being said and being able to be understood,” Diehl explains. “If we can bridge this social gap, it will open up so many doors for children with autism and help them in all aspects of their lives.” One of Diehl’s studies is geared toward older children and adolescents with high-functioning autism or Asperger syndrome, and focuses on language comprehension. “We are trying to understand how children with autism spectrum disorders perform on a range of tasks measuring language comprehension abilities," Diehl says, “and compare them with typically developing children and adolescents.”

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