Alisa Ruggiero

Dr. Alisa Ruggiero, Senior Scholar-in-Residence in Communication Sciences and Disorders, is a speech/language pathologist and teacher with expertise in neurogenic communication disorders.  She has also worked extensively as a clinican with people who have aphasia, as well as other neurogenic communication disorders. 

Dr. Ruggiero completed post-doctoral training with Dr. Nancy Helm Estabrooks at the Harold Goodglass Aphasia Research Center in Boston.  Her research while there included development of a treatment protocal for people with non-fluent aphasia as well as extensive work on the development of and co-authoring the widely utilized assessment tool for people with severe aphasia (Boston Assessment for Severe Aphasia).  In addition to clinical research, she has completed work investigating the existence of an auditory Stroop effect.  Her research has been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals including Brain and Language, Aphasiology, and Neurology.

Dr. Ruggiero teaches at the graduate level in the area of neurogenic communication disorders, including aphasia and motor speech disorders, and at the undergraduate level covering an array of speech and language disorders, as well as anatomy and physiology for speech and hearing.  Most recently, she has developed and taught one of the first online courses for the new Speech at Emerson graduate program.