Walton-Katie

Katherine Walton

Program Director, Associate Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry

Early Learning Program


Katherine.Walton@osumc.edu

Biography:

Katherine Walton, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Department of Psychiatry and Behavior Health at The Ohio State University. She is also the Director of the Nisonger Early Learning Program, which provides early education and early intervention services to young children with and without disabilities. Dr. Walton’s research and clinical interests focus on understanding, assessing, and improving early social communication skills in children with autism. She is also interested in supporting and understanding the experiences of family members of children with autism. Throughout her work, Dr. Walton focuses on integration of stakeholder perspectives and experiences, including actively involving autistic stakeholders and parents as research collaborators.

Current Graduate Students/Advisees:

  • Rebecca Kircher, MA (joint IDD/Clinical psychology graduate program)
  • Gabrielle Tiede, MA (graduate program in IDD psychology)
  • Riane Ramsey, MS (joint IDD/Clinical psychology graduate program)
  • Oyindamola (Dee) Adedipe, BS (graduate program in IDD psychology)

Current Projects:

Dr. Walton’s current research projects focus on:

  1. Developing measurement tools for assessing change in social communication skills of young children with autism (funded by NIH/NIDCD; https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R21-DC016980-02)
  2. Collaborating with stakeholders to set an early autism intervention research agenda and design effective researcher-stakeholder consultation methods (funded by PCORI; https://www.pcori.org/research-results/2019/rethinking-stakeholder-roles-asc-interventions-moving-participants-engaged)
  3. Adapting measures of mental health for self-report by adults with IDD (funded by ACL; https://www.rrtcnisonger.org/)

Publications (* indicates student co-author)

Kirchner, R.*, & Walton, K. (2021). Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder in individuals with Down syndrome or Williams syndrome. American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 126(1), 58-74.

Dynia, J., Walton, K., Brock, M., & Tiede, G.* (2020). Early childhood special education teachers’ use of evidence-based practices with children with autism. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 77, 101606.

Tiede, G.*, & Walton, K. (2020). Social endophenotypes in autism spectrum disorder: a scoping review. Development and Psychopathology, 20, 1-29.

Walton, K., & Tiede, G.* (2020). Brief report: Does “healthy” family functioning look different for families who have a child with autism? Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 72.

Kamara, D.*, Walton, K., & Witwer, A. (2020). Socioemotional and ASD screening for toddlers in early intervention: agreement among measures. Journal of Early Intervention, 42(4), 359-380.

Tiede, G.*, & Walton, K. (2019). Meta-analysis of Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism, 23(8), 2080-2095.

Walton, K. (2019). Leisure time and family functioning in families living with autism spectrum disorder. Autism, 23(6), 1384-1397.

Jacoby, E.*, Walton, K., & Guada, J. (2019). Community perspectives on autism spectrum disorder. Occupational Therapy in Mental Health, 35, 72-91.

Ingersoll, B., Wainer, A., Berger, N., & Walton, K. (2017). Efficacy of low intensity, therapist-implemented Project ImPACT for increasing social communication skills in young children with ASD. Developmental Neurorehabilitation, 20(8), 502-510.

Walton, K. (2016). Risk factors for behavioral and emotional difficulties in siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder. AJIDD-American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 121 (6), 533-549.

Walton, K., & Ingersoll, B. (2016). The utility of Thin Slice ratings for predicting language growth in children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism, 20 (3), 374-380.

Walton, K., & Ingersoll, B. (2015). Psychosocial adjustment and sibling relationships in siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder: risk and protective factors. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45 (9), 2764-2778.

Walton, K., & Ingersoll B. (2015). The influence of maternal language responsiveness of the expressive speech production of children with autism: A microanalysis of mother-child play interactions, Autism, 19 (4), 421-432.

Ingersoll, B., Walton, K., Carlsen, D., & Hamlin, T. (2013). Social intervention for adolescents with autism and significant intellectual disability:  Initial efficacy of Reciprocal Imitation Training, AJIDD-American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 118 (4), 247-261.

Walton, K., & Ingersoll, B. (2013). Expressive and receptive fast-mapping in children with autism and typical development: the influence of orienting cues, Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7 (6), 687-698.

Walton, K., & Ingersoll, B. (2013). Improving social skills in adolescents and adults with autism and severe to profound intellectual disability: a review of the literature. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43 (3), 594-615.

Suanda, S., Walton, K., Broesch, T., Kolkin, L., & Namy, L. (2013). Why two-year-olds fail to learn gestures as object labels: evidence from looking time and forced choice measures. Language Learning and Development, 9 (1), 50-65.

Ingersoll, B., Meyer, K., Bonter, N., & Jelinek, S. (2012). A comparison of developmental, social-pragmatic and naturalistic behavioral interventions on language use and social engagement in children with autism. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 55 (5), 1301-1313.

Walton, K., & Ingersoll, B. (2012). Evaluation of a sibling-mediated imitation intervention for young children with autism. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 14 (4), 241-253.

Ingersoll, B., & Meyer, K. (2011). Do object and gesture imitation skills represent independent dimensions in autism? Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 23 (5), 421-431.

Meyer, K., Ingersoll, B., & Hambrick, D. (2011). Factors influencing adjustment in siblings of children with autism. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5 (4), 1413-1420.

Ingersoll, B., & Meyer, K. (2011). Examination of correlates of different imitative functions in young children with autism spectrum disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5 (3), 1078-1085.

Ingersoll, B., Meyer, K., & Becker, M. (2010). Increased rates of depressed mood in mothers of children with ASD associated with the presence of the broader autism phenotype. Autism Research, 4 (2), 143-148.

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