At a recent basketball game, the Maroon Minute recognized the outstanding work of Dr. Julie Masterson, dean of the Graduate College.

As a speech-language pathologist, Dr. Julie Masterson has long been curious about the relationship between reading, spelling and speaking.

To better understand what kids need to learn and how best to teach them, Masterson designed tailored interventions based on how children spell various types of words. She and her collaborators, including many MSU students, developed software to analyze spellings, indicate goals and suggest methods for treatment. This software also serves as a metric to monitor student progress.

The team conducted treatment studies and found that the children’s spelling did get better, but their reading improved to an even greater extent.

Her expertise on the subject and the publication of the second edition of her book, “Beyond Baby Talk,” led to her being featured in articles for NBC’s “Today Show. ” Topics included how to tell the difference between normal developmental variation and potential disorders, gender differences in language development, and how to teach young children to be kind.

To better understand what kids need to learn and how best to teach them, Masterson designed tailored interventions based on how children spell various types of words. She and her collaborators, including many MSU students, developed software to analyze spellings, indicate goals and suggest methods for treatment. This software also serves as a metric to monitor student progress.

The team conducted treatment studies and found that the children’s spelling did get better, but their reading improved to an even greater extent.

Her expertise on the subject and the publication of the second edition of her book, “Beyond Baby Talk,” led to her being featured in articles for NBC’s “Today Show. ” Topics included how to tell the difference between normal developmental variation and potential disorders, gender differences in language development, and how to teach young children to be kind.