Research projects

Boosting children's oral narrative abilities

As part of my PhD thesis, we have designed the MultiModal Narrative (MMN) intervention program, which is a multi-tiered intervention that can be applied either at a classroom level (i.e., universal support) or at an individual level with children with linguistic and communicative difficulties (i.e., intensive support). The MMN program trains narrative macrostructure (i.e., structural elements of the narrative) as well as narrative perspective-taking abilities (i.e., understanding characters’ perspectives and emotions) with the aid of multimodal strategies (i.e., embodying the different actions and emotions of the stories).

In collaboration with:

• Dr. Alfonso Igualada (UOC)

• Dr. Pilar Prieto (ICREA/UPF)

Project supported by the Regional Ministry of Education (Generalitat de Catalunya)

A narrative intervention for newcomer students

This project investigates how the MultiModal Narrative intervention designed for newcomer students (MMN-Newcomer) can boost their linguistic, social and academic skills.

In collaboration with:

• Joel Espejo-Álvarez (UPF)

• Jana Folch-Claramunt (UPF)

• Mireia Gómez (University College Cork)

• Dr. Ingrid Vilà-Giménez (UdG)

• Dr. Pilar Prieto (ICREA/UPF)

Project funded by LaCaixa Research Call and supported by the Regional Ministry of Education (Generalitat de Catalunya)

Improving Catalan use and competence in preschoolers 

The goal of this project is to determine whether the MultiModal Narrative (MMN) intervention can also help boost the use of Catalan language and improve Catalan phonology of Spanish-dominant preschoolers.

In collaboration with:

• Joel Espejo-Álvarez (UPF)

• Dr. Alfonso Igualada (UOC)

• Dr. Pilar Prieto (ICREA/UPF)

• Previous collaborators: Mireia Gómez (University College Cork), Claire Luong (UPF), Alba Buendía (UPF), Dr. Josefina Carrera-Sabaté (UB)

Assessing children's multimodal imitation skills

This study compares the development of imitation skills in typically developing children (TD) and children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) of preschool and early school age by focusing on multimodal imitation (sentences, prosody, gesture) and analyzes its link with oral language skills.

In collaboration with:

• Dr. Mariia Pronina (UIB)

• Sara Coego (UPF)

• Dr. Pilar Prieto (ICREA/UPF)

The relation between pragmatic skills, mentalization and language

This longitudinal project has two main aims: 1) to analyze whether early expressive pragmatic skills at 3-4 years of age can be predictive of later linguistic skills at 5-6; and 2) to assess how receptive and expressive pragmatics relate to language and mentalization. 

In collaboration with:

• Dr. Núria Esteve-Gibert (UOC)

• Dr. Mariia Pronina (UIB)

• Dr. Nadia Ahufinger (UOC)

• Dr. Valentina Bambini (University School for Advanced Studies IUSS Pavia)

• Dr. Luca Bischetti (University School for Advanced Studies IUSS Pavia)

• Dr. Paola Del Sette (University of Pavia)

• Dr. Serena Lecce (University of Pavia)

• Dr. Pilar Prieto (ICREA/UPF)