Picture of Dr. Zellner standing outside in a red sweater

Matt Zellner

Assistant Professor, Speech Language Pathology and Audiology
School: School of Health Sciences and Human Performance
Specialty: Social Communication, Autism, Early Intervention, Research Methods

About Dr. Zellner

Dr. Matt Zellner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at Ithaca College and a licensed speech-language pathologist. He teaches courses related to pediatric speech and language disorders at the graduate and undergraduate levels. and provides clinical supervision in the Ewing Clinic.

Dr. Zellner's research is centered around expanding access to diagnosis and communication intervention for autistic children. His primary line of research involves leveraging state and national datasets to explore community and geographic factors influencing access to and utilization of diagnostic and early intervention services, as well as the influence of COVID-19 on these services.

His broader research interests include developing and evaluating interventions that leverage theatre and drama methods (including improv) to support the communication skills and community participation of both autistic children and adults, as well as exploring new approaches for teaching counseling skills to speech-language pathology graduate clinicians.

Ithaca Social Communication Lab

Dr. Zellner is the Director of the Ithaca Social Communication Lab (ISCL). Current projects in the lab include using geographic information systems (GIS) software to examine access how families' access to early intervention differs between rural and urban areas, developing new adult and pediatric social communication intervention programs for the Ewing Clinic, and surveying SLPs about factors influencing their use of evidence-based practice. 

To learn more about what we're working on right now, visit the ISCL website (coming soon).

For students: Dr. Zellner works with undergraduate and graduate students from SLPA and across the College on a variety of projects. If you're interested in conducting research in the ISCL (whether as a volunteer research assistant or as part of an independent study/thesis), send Dr. Zellner an email.

For community members: The ISCL is frequently looking for research participants, including autistic children and adults, parents/caregivers, and SLPs/other allied health professionals. Many studies involve free services provided at the Ewing Clinic. To stay informed about opportunities to participate, follow us on Instagram (coming soon).

Education

  • PhD, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University
  • MA, Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Texas at Austin
  • BA, Psychology and Radio/Television/Film, Northwestern University

Courses Taught

Undergraduate

  • SLPA 21600 - Child Language and Literacy Development
  • SLPA 23500 - Language and Speech Sound Disorders in Children

Graduate

  • SLPG 55900 - Speech Sound Disorders in Children
  • SLPG 61000 - Early Intervention for Children with Communication Disorders
  • SLPG 62200 - Counseling in Speech-Language Pathology
  • SLPG 65200 - Language Disorders in Children 3-21

Selected Publications