Pamela Rollins

Dr. Pamela Rollins is a Professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas, specializing in the social underpinnings of language and intervention efficacy for culturally and linguistically diverse autistic children. She holds an Ed.D. in Psycholinguistics from Harvard University (1994), an M.S. in Communication Disorders from the University of Wisconsin (1983), and a B.S. in Speech Pathology and Audiology from Boston University (1981).

Her research focuses on behavioral paradigms to understand social interactions and language development in infants and children, particularly those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). She has pioneered culturally sensitive interventions like the Pathways Early Autism Program, emphasizing mutual gaze and parent-mediated strategies to improve social skills in Hispanic and linguistically diverse populations. Her work has received significant funding, including a $2.7 million grant from the Department of Defense (DoD) to refine interventions for Hispanic autistic children.

Dr. Rollins leads the Social Communication Lab and has authored over 30 publications on early intervention, joint attention, and pragmatic language development. She has held roles such as Founding Director of UTD’s Early Communication, Language, and Social Skills preschool and maintains affiliations with the Callier Center for Communication Disorders.

Her grants include evaluations of Pathways’ efficacy, with a focus on mutual gaze and randomized control trials. She has presented widely, including a keynote on naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions at the Association for Behavioral Analysis International Convention (2024).