Johanna Price

Johanna Price is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Western Carolina University (WCU), part of the College of Health and Human Sciences. She is also a speech-language pathologist specializing in language and literacy development for children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disabilities, autism, and culturally diverse backgrounds. Her work emphasizes evidence-based practice and interprofessional education. Dr. Price serves as co-Principal Investigator of Project INTERACT, a U.S. Department of Education grant training graduate students in Psychology, Speech-Language Pathology, and Special Education to work with autistic children with intellectual disabilities.

Education: Dr. Price holds a Ph.D. in Child Language and Literacy from the University of Memphis, and both an MS and BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Research Interests: Her work focuses on child language and literacy disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders (including autism), evidence-based clinical practices, and interprofessional collaboration. She has authored/co-authored over 25 publications and 60 presentations, frequently involving student co-authors.

Community Engagement: She leads initiatives like Literacy Camp at Cullowhee Valley School and Camp LEAD, a summer program for children with language/literacy disorders, supported by NC RiteCare. Her research emphasizes practical applications of clinical findings in real-world settings.

Professional Background: Prior to WCU, she held roles as an assistant professor at Mississippi University for Women and Oklahoma State University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill.