Dr. Emily Knight, MD, PhD, will conduct a seminar on attention and speech perception in children with autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on February 19, 2026, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Haring Center Auditorium. Dr. Knight’s research investigates how differences in attention and audiovisual integration impact communication for these children, who often struggle to understand speech in noisy environments. Utilizing electroencephalography and virtual reality, her lab explores the neural mechanisms involved in speech recognition amidst distractions.
In the seminar, Dr. Knight will present findings from her studies on audiovisual speech processing and visuospatial attention in children with ADHD or autism compared to their neurotypical peers. Additionally, she will introduce a virtual reality-based training game aimed at enhancing attention and audiovisual integration while engaging children. These insights may reveal important targets for future interventions. Dr. Knight leads the Spectrum Brain Lab, which focuses on understanding sensory perception, social communication, and attention in autism and related conditions. The seminar is part of a collaborative series by the University of Washington’s Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences and the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center.