Education:
Ph.D., CUNY Graduate Center - 2009 (Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences)
M.S., Brooklyn College - 2004 (Speech-Language Pathology)
B.S., Touro College - 2002 (Speech and Communication)
Areas of Expertise:
Behavioral and electrophysiological assessment of language and cognition in typically developing and language impaired children; language-based learning disabilities in school-age children; and psychometric principles and procedures in speech-language evaluations.
Books and Publications
Epstein, B., Hestvik, A., Shafer, V. L., & Schwartz, R. G. (in press). ERPs reveal atypical processing of subject vs. object wh-questions in children with specific language impairment. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2013
Fortunato-Tavares, T., de Andrade, C., Befi-Lopes, D. M., Hestvik, A., Epstein, B., Tornyova, L., & Schwartz, R. (2012). Syntactic structural assignment in Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2012
"Psychometrics for Speech and Language Assessment: Principles and Pitfalls." A Guide to Clinical Assessment and Professional Report Writing in Speech-language Pathology. Eds. C. Stein and R. Fabus. Delmar, N.Y.: Cengage Learning. Expected in 2012. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2011
(Tropper) Epstein, B. and R.G. Schwartz. "Neurobiology of Child Language Disorders." The Handbook of Child Language Disorders. Ed. R.G. Schwartz. New York: Psychology Press: NY. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2009
(Tropper) Epstein, B., A. Hestvik, V.L. Shafer and R.G. Schwartz. "The Processing of Subject and Object Wh-questions in Children With Specific Language Impairment: An ERP Study." Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD) Proceedings 32. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2008
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
William Stewart Travel Award, City University of New York (Awards and Honors) 2012
New Faculty Fund of Brooklyn College, for "Assessment of Error-Monitoring in Children With Specific Language Impairment." Principal investigator. (Awards and Honors) 2011
Salute to Scholars Award, City University of New York (Awards and Honors) 2011
Research Grant for New Investigators, American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation, for "Assessment of Error-Monitoring in Children With Specific Language Impairment." Principal investigator. 2010-11. (Grants and Fellowships) 2010
Doctoral research grant, CUNY Graduate Center, for "Cognitive Control in Children With and Without Specific Language Impairment." Principal investigator. (Grants and Fellowships) 2008
National Institutes of Health Research Travel Award, for attendance at the 28th Annual Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, Madison, Wis. (Awards and Honors) 2007
National Institutes of Health, NIDCD, Grant F31DC009356, for "Cognitive Control in Children With and Without Specific Language Impairment." Principal investigator. 2007-09. (Grants and Fellowships) 2007
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
Epstein, B. Clinical application of Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT). Brooklyn College, CUNY, Master Clinician Series, February, 2013. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Epstein, B., Houy, J., & Goodman, S. Are children with SLI deficient in error monitoring? Abstract for a poster presentation at the New York State Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NYSSLHA) Annual Convention, April, 2012. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
Epstein, B., Houy, J., & Goodman, S. Error detection and compensation by typical children and children with specific language impairment. Abstract accepted for a poster presentation at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, Atlanta, GA, November, 2012. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
Epstein, B. Psychometrics for speech and language assessment: Principles and Pitfalls. Brooklyn College, CUNY, Master Clinician Series, October, 2011. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
Schwartz, R.G., T. Fortunato-Tavares, A. Hestvik, B. Epstein and L. Tornyova. "Eye-Tracking Studies of Structural Assignment and Working Memory in Specific Language Impairment" abstract for poster. Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Biennial Meeting. March-April. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
Epstein, B., A. Anaya, V.L. Shafer and R.G. Schwartz. "Can SLI Children Detect Cognitive Conflict? Behavioral vs. Electrophysiological Evidence" abstract for poster. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention. Philadelphia, November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Schwartz, R.G., T. Tavares, A. Hestvik, B. (Tropper) Epstein and L. Tornyova. "Structural Assignment in SLI: Group Patterns and Individual Differences for Predicates and Reflexives." City University of London Child Language Seminar. London, June. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
(Tropper) Epstein, B., V.L. Shafer and R.G. Schwartz. "Electrophysiological Evidence of Deficient Cognitive Control in Children With Specific Language Impairment" abstract for poster. 15th International Congress on Event-Related Potentials of the Brain. Bloomington, Ind., April. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
(Tropper) Epstein, B., V.L. Shafer and R.G. Schwartz. "Electrophysiological Evidence of Deficient Cognitive Control in Children With Specific Language Impairment" abstract for poster. 30th Annual Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders. Madison, Wis., June. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
(Tropper) Epstein, B., A. Hestvik, V. Shafer and R.G. Schwartz. "Electrophysiological Evidence of a Working Memory Deficit in Children With Specific Language Impairment" abstract. International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association. Istanbul, June. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2008
(Tropper) Epstein, B., K. Marton, K. Russo Victorino, V. Shafer and R.G. Schwartz. "Research on Executive Functions in Children With SLI" abstract for seminar. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention. Chicago, November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2008
(Tropper) Epstein, B., L. Sylvia and R.G. Schwartz. "Auditory and Visual Working Memory in Children With Specific Language Impairment" abstract for a poster. New York State Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention. Saratoga Springs, N.Y., April. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008
(Tropper) Epstein, B., L. Sylvia and R.G. Schwartz. "Updating Working Memory With Auditory and Visual Information in Children With SLI" abstract for poster. International Association for the Study of Child Language. Edinburgh, Scotland, July-August. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008
Fortunato, T., A. Hestvik, B. (Tropper) Epstein and R.G. Schwartz. "Eye-tracking Studies of Structural Assignment in Children With Specific Language Impairment" abstract for seminar. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention. Chicago, November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2008
(Tropper) Epstein, B., A. Hestvik, V. Shafer and R.G. Schwartz. "Child-adult Differences in the Working Memory Left Anterior Negativity" poster. Development and Analysis of Neural Systems Supporting Language. New York, October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2007
(Tropper) Epstein, B., A. Hestvik, V. Shafer and R.G. Schwartz. "ERP Evidence for Impaired Processing of Wh-questions in Children With SLI" poster. Boston University Conference on Language Development. November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
(Tropper) Epstein, B., A. Hestvik, V. Shafer and R.G. Schwartz. "The Processing of Object and Subject Wh-questions in Children With Specific Language Impairment: An ERP Study" poster. 28th Annual Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders. Madison, Wis., June. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
(Tropper) Epstein, B., A. Hestvik, Y. Neumann, H. Yu, V. Shafer and R. Schwartz. "ERP Studies of Sentence Processing in Children With Specific Language Impairment" seminar. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention. Boston, November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2007
Hestvik, A., B. (Tropper) Epstein, R. Schwartz, V. Shafer and L. Tornyova. "ERP Measure of Gap-filling in Children With and Without Specific Language Impairment" poster. CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing. San Diego, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
Hestvik, A., R.G. Schwartz, V. Shafer, Y. Neumann, H. Yu and B. (Tropper) Epstein. "Brain Responses to Contextually Ungrammatical Verb Inflection in Adults, Typically Developing Children, and Children With Specific Language Impairment" poster. Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting. New York, May. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
Hestvik, A., R.G. Schwartz, V. Shafer, Y. Neumann, T. Rinker, H. Yu and (Tropper) B. Epstein. "Event-related Potentials to Ungrammatical Verb Inflection in Children and Adults" poster. Boston University Conference on Language Development. November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2006
Other Professional Activities
Ad-hoc reviewer, Journal of Communication Disorders. 2010
Ad-hoc reviewer, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 2009