Katharine Beals

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Contact

bealskp@upenn.edu

Education

Ph.D. (Linguistics) University of Chicago, 1995
B.A. (History) Yale University, 1987

Areas of Expertise

Autism
Language acquisition
Linguistics
Literacy
Evidence-based instruction

Programs

Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development Ph.D.

Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development M.S.Ed.

More Information

Katharine Beals's website

Bio Nav

Biography

Professional Biography

Katharine Beals received a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Chicago, specializing in syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and computational linguistics. She worked for five years as a senior software engineer at the Natural Language Group at Unisys. After the birth of her autistic child, she pivoted to language acquisition in autism, cognitive differences in autism, and evidence-based therapies and instruction. In addition to teaching the Autism, Language, and Reasoning course at Penn GSE, she teaches courses on autism and language acquisition at Drexel, and courses on language, literacy, and evidence-based instruction at Temple. She is the author of several books and numerous articles on linguistic and academic interventions for students with autism and is the designer of the SentenceWeaver language program, which is in use in three autism-support classrooms in Philadelphia schools. She recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation to explore unmet needs for language teaching tools as experienced by autism parents, autistic support teachers, autism therapists, and speech and language therapists. She is a co-founder of the website FacilitatedCommunication.org.

Research Interests and Current Projects

Developing a Bill of Communication Rights for people with complex communication challenges
Combatting pseudoscience in autism language interventions
Investigating the efficacy of computerized grammar instruction in boosting communication skills in autism
Exploring large language models and writing instruction

Publications

Selected Publications

Beals, K. (2024). Can message-passing anecdotes tell us anything about the validity of RPM and S2C? Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/17489539.2023.2290298

Beals, K. (2024). Illusions of literacy in nonspeaking autistic people: A response to Jaswal, Lampi, & Stockwell, 2024. Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/17489539.2024.2381445

Sarfatti-Larson, M., & Beals, K. (2024). La profesión docente en Estados Unidos: Consideraciones sobre la carencia de un sistema educativo y sus efectos. In H. Monarca (Ed.), Profesionalización docente: Discursos, políticas y prácticas (pp. 162–193). Dykinson.

Beals, K. (2023). Sit down, shut up: A popular treatment in many countries in the world threatens the communication rights of autistic non-speakers. Index on Censorship 52(2), 60–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/03064220231183821

Beals, K. (2022). Cutting-edge language and literacy tools for students on the autism spectrum. IGI Global.

Beals, K. (2022). Students with autism: How to improve language, literacy and academic success. John Catt.

Beals, K. (2022). Why we should not presume competence and reframe facilitated communication: A critique of Heyworth, Chan & Lawson. Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention, 16(2), 66–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/17489539.2022.2097872

Beals, K. (2021). A recent eye-tracking study fails to reveal agency in assisted autistic communication. Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention, 15(1), 46–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/17489539.2021.1918890

Beals, K. (2020). Remediation and assistive technologies for communication deficits in autistic spectrum disorders. In Y. Kats (Ed.), Education and technology support of children and young adults with ASD and learning disabilities (pp. 246–274). IGI Global.

Johnson, C., & Beals, K. (2020). Writing history. In A. Belzer and J. Perry (Eds.), Sources for Europe in the modern world with guided writing exercises. Oxford University Press.

Beals, K., & Garelick, B. (2016). Explaining your math. In M. Petici (Ed.), The best writing on mathematics (pp. 196–202). Princeton University Press.

Beals K., Dahl, D., Fink, R., & Linebarger, M. (2015). Speech and language technology for language disorders. De Gruyter.

Beals K. & Hurewitz, F. (2013). Language software for teaching semantics, grammar, and pragmatics to students with autism. In K. Boser, M. Goodwin, & S. Wayland (Eds.), Technology tools for students with autism: Innovations that enhance independence and learning (pp. 107–124). Brooks Publishers.

Beals K. (2011). Conventionalization in indirect speech acts: Evidence from autism. In E. Yuasa, T. Bagchi, & K. Beals (Eds.), Pragmatics and autolexical grammar: In honor of Jerry Sadock (pp. 77–92). John Benjamins Publishers.

Beals K. (2009). Raising a left-brain child in a right-brain world: Strategies for helping bright, quirky, socially awkward children to thrive at home and at school. Trumpeter.

Hurewitz, F., & Beals, K. (2008). A role for grammar in autism CAIs. In J. Cassell (Ed.), Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Interaction design and children (pp. 73–76). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/1463689.1463722

Beals, K. (2005). Everything that linguists have always wanted to know about ironic presuppositions and implicatures* *but were ashamed to ask. In S. Mufwene, E. Francis, & R. Wheeler (Eds.), Polymorphous linguistics: Jim McCawley’s legacy (pp. 411–430). MIT Press.

Beals, K. (2004). Early intervention in deafness and autism: One family's experiences, reflections and recommendations. Infants and Young Children, 17(4), 284–290.

Beals, K. (2003). The ethics of autism: What’s wrong with the dominant paradigms and how to fix them. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 9(1) , 32–39. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrdd.10058

Courses

EDUC 5588: Autism, Language, and Reasoning