Assistant Professor
Montclair State University
Dr. Lesley Sylvan is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Montclair State University. Dr. Sylvan is a certified speech-language pathologist (SLP) with extensive clinical experience working with school-aged children both in public school and private clinical settings. She completed a Master's degree in educational policy and management as well as a Doctorate degree in human development and education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Broadly, Dr. Sylvan's scholarly interests center on the intersection between the field of education and the field of speech-language pathology. Within the intersection of education and speech-language pathology, she pursues research related to both the K-12 educational sector as well as issues related to higher education. Related to K-12 settings, Dr. Sylvan’s research involves closely examining the work of school-based SLPs in public school settings with an emphasis on educational policies and educational reforms. Related to higher education, Dr. Sylvan’s scholarly work encompasses issues related to the training and preparation of SLPs in higher educational settings. Within this area, she studies the implications of both program-level decisions (e.g. admissions requirements, coursework) and classroom-level pedagogical choices (e.g., course design, assignment selection) in departments offering degrees in speech-language pathology. At Montclair State University, she teaches courses focused on language acquisition in children, language disorders in school-aged children, and research methodology.