Barbara Culatta

Dr. Barbara Culatta is a Professor of Communication Disorders and Associate Dean of the McKay School of Education at Brigham Young University. She received her PhD from the University of Pittsburgh and completed a postdoctoral fellowship from Johns Hopkins University. She has written a book entitled Language and Literacy Instruction in the Classroom and numerous book chapters and publications on language and literacy instruction. She has directed early literacy and intermediate grade literacy instructional projects. Dr. Culatta has conducted federally-funded literacy projects in Spanish and English in Head Start and public school settings and was awarded research and training grants in early language intervention and collaborative-based language and literacy instruction. Her research evaluates the effectiveness of language intervention procedures for improving children's academic functioning. She relies on play, story enactment, hands-on experiences, and instructional conversations as contexts for enhancing language and literacy skills in young children.