Neila J. Donovan, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Neila J. Donovan, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is currently Associate Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (COMD) at Louisiana State University. Dr. Donovan completed her undergraduate degree in Speech Pathology, and Masters Degree in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Kansas. She matriculated at the University of Florida, where she completed a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Science. Dr. Donovan joined COMD in 2007. She is the Director of the Communication Outcomes Research (COR) Laboratory, and Director of Community Outreach for the LSU Life Course and Aging Center. Her research interests include developing treatments and treatment outcome measures for adults with acquired neurologic communication disorders, such as those with traumatic brain injury, stroke, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease; and translating evidence-based treatments into treatments clinicians can use in their day-to-day practice. The COR Lab is funded by the LSU Council on Research Faculty Research Grant to study how well individuals with Parkinson’s disease respond to attention training. Dr. Donovan serves on several national committees including the: Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences, American Heart Association Stroke Council Office of Federal Advocacy Advisory Group on the Delivery of Post-acute Stroke Care, American Heart Association Stroke Council and Communication Committee, and American Speech-Language-Hearing Program Committee for Acquired Language Disorders. Dr. Donovan has mentored and trained many graduate and undergraduate students

LSU The COR Lab: www.thecorlab.info

Representative Publications

Donovan, N. J. (2018). Examining the item-level psychometric properties of the Communicative Effectiveness Survey-Revised for people with Parkinson’s disease and dysarthria. Clinical Archives in Communication Disorders, 3(1): 42-51.

Mazumdar, B., Donovan, N.J., Narang, V. (2018). Sociolinguistic adaptation process of the Bangla Western Aphasia Battery-Revised. Journal of the Indian Speech Language Hearing Association, 32, 23-33

Donovan, N. J. (2017). People with Parkinson’s disease and dysarthria benefit equally from Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT LOUD) delivered via tele-rehabilitation compared with conventional face-to-face (FTF) version of the treatment. Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention, 11(3-4), 124-129. DOI: 10.1080/17489539.2017.1339764

Savage, M. C., Donovan, N. J. (2017). Comparing linguistic complexity and efficiency in conversations from stimulation and conversation therapy in aphasia. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 52(1), 21-29.

Barker, B. A., Donovan, N. J., Schubert, A. D., Walker, E. A. (2016). Using Rasch analysis to examine the item-level psychometrics of the Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scales. Speech, Language and Hearing, 1–14.

Stead, A., Donovan, N.J., Hoffman, P. (2015). Time of day effects on language discourse in healthy aging and dementia. Nursing Older People, 27(3), 31-38.

Cohen, Alex S., Dinzeo, Thomas J., Donovan, N.J., Brown, Caitlin, Morrison, Sean C. (2015). Vocal acoustic analysis as a biometric indicator of information processing: implications for neurological and psychiatric disorders. Psychiatry Research, 226, 235-241.

Donovan, N.J., Boudreaux, D., Savage, M.C. (2015). Objective measurement of vocal parameters in older people with and without Parkinson’s disease in their natural environments – a pilot study. Current Concepts in Communication Disorders, 42, 100-109.

Savage, M.C., Donovan, N.J., Hoffman, P. (2014). Preliminary results from conversation therapy in two cases of Aphasia. Aphasiology, 28(5), 616-636.

Edmonds, L.A. & Donovan, N.J. (2013). Research applications for An Object and Action Naming Battery to assess naming skills in Spanish/English bilingual speakers. Behavior Research Methods, DOI 10.3758/s13428-013-0381-7.

Donovan, N.J., Daniels, S.K., Edmiaston, J., Weinhardt, J., Summers, D., Mitchell, P.H. On behalf of the American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and Stroke Council. (2013). Dysphagia Screening: State of the art nursing symposium, International Stroke Conference 2012. Stroke, 44, e24-e31.

Donovan, N.J. (2012). Patient-Reported Outcomes for Acquired Dysarthria. American Speech Language Hearing Association Perspectives on Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders, 22(4), 152-159.

Waid-Ebbs, J.K., Wen, P-S., Velozo, C.A., Heaton, S.C., Donovan, N.J. (2012). The item level psychometrics of the Behavior Rating Index of Executive Function-Adult (BRIEF-A) in a TBI sample. Brain Injury, 26, 1646-1657.

Edmonds, L.A., & Donovan, N.J. (2012). Item level psychometrics and predictors of performance for Spanish/English bilingual speakers on An Object and Action Naming Battery. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 55, 359-381.

Baylor, C., Hula, W., Donovan, N.J., Kendall, D.L., Doyle, P.J., Yorkston, K.M. (2011). An introduction to item response theory for speech-language pathologists [Tutorial]. American Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 20, 243-259.

Donovan, N.J., Heaton, S.C., Kimberg, C., Velozo, C.A. (2011). Conceptualizing functional cognitive domains for the computer adaptive measure of functional cognition for traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury, 25(4), 348-364.

Hula, W., Donovan, N.J., Kendall, D.L., Rothi, L.J.G. (2010). Item response theory analysis of the Western Aphasia Battery. Aphasiology, 24(1), 1326-1341.

Donovan, N.J., Juengling-Sudkamp, J., Kunduk, M. (2010). A review of health behavior theories and their applicability to dysphagia treatment [Review]. Journal of Medical Speech Pathology, 18(1), 1-12.

Donovan, N.J., Kendall, D.K., Young, M.E., & Rosenbek, J.C. (2008). The Communicative Effectiveness Survey: Preliminary evidence of construct validity. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 17(4), 335-347.

Ketterson, T.U., Glueckauf, R.L., Blonder, L.X., Gustafson, D.J., Donovan, N.J., Rodriquez, A.D., Pekich, D., Ley, C., & Gonzalez Rothi, L.J. (2008). Reliability and validity of the functional outcome questionnaire for aphasia (FOQ-A). Rehabilitation Psychology, 53(2), 215-223.

Donovan, N.J., Kendall, D.L., Heaton, S.D., Kwon, S., Velozo, C.A., & Duncan, P.W. (2008). Conceptualizing functional cognition in stroke. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, 22(2), 122-35.

Donovan, N.J., Velozo, C.A., & Rosenbek, J.C. (2007). The Communicative Effectiveness Survey: Investigating its item-level psychometrics. Journal of Medical Speech Pathology, 15(4), 433-447.

Donovan, N.J., Kendall, D.L., Moore, A.B., Rosenbek, & Rothi, L. J. G. (2007). Why consider impaired social language usage in a case of corticobasal degeneration? The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 21(1), 190-203.

Jones, H.N, Donovan, N.J., Sapienza, C.M., Shrivastav, R., Fernandez, H., & Rosenbek, J.C. (2006) Expiratory muscle strength training in the rehabilitation of mixed dysarthria. Journal of Medical Speech Pathology, 14(3), 207-217.

Donovan, N.J., Rosenbek, J.C., Ketterson, T.U., & Velozo, C.A. (2006). Adding meaning to measurement: Initial Rasch analysis of the ASHA FACS Social Communication Subtest. Aphasiology, 20(2, 3, 4), 362-373.

Stickler, D., Gilmore, R., Rosenbek, J.C., & Donovan, N.J. (2003). Dysphagia with bilateral lesions of the insular cortex. Dysphagia, 18, 179-181.