Curriculum Vitae
Olga Solomon, Ph.D.
Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
University of Southern California
1540 East Alcazar Street, CHP 133
Los Angeles, Ca 90089-9003
Office: (323) 442 - 2154
Fax: (323) 442 - 1540
Email: olga.solomon@usc.edu
Academic Record:
2001 Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles (Applied Linguistics)
1995 M. A. Antioch University, Santa Barbara (Clinical Psychology)
1987 B.S. Northwestern Polytechnic Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia
(Electrical Engineering)
Positions Held:
2005- Present Assistant Professor of Research
University of Southern California,
Department of Occupational Science and Occupational
Therapy; Project: Boundary Crossings: Re-Situating Cultural
Competence (Mary Lawlor, P.I.)
2003 –2007 Lecturer
University of California, Los Angeles,
Department of Anthropology
Courses:
‘Autism: an Anthropological Perspective’,
‘Diversity and Disruption in Human Communication’,
‘Language and Culture’, ‘Ethnography of Everyday Talk”
2004- 2006 Post-Doctoral Fellow
National Academy of Education
Project: The “Rapid Prompting” Method of Communicating with
Severely Autistic Children: A Language Socialization Study
2001 - 2006 Research Director
Ethnography of Autism Project (Elinor Ochs, P.I.)
University of California, Los Angeles,
Department of Anthropology
1997-2001 Graduate Student-Researcher,
Ethnography of Autism Project (Elinor Ochs, P.I.)
University Of California Los Angeles
Department Of Applied Linguistics
1995 - 1997 Clinical Speech and Language Fellow,
Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital (NPI&H),
University of California, Los Angeles,
Department of Communication Disorders
PUBLICATIONS
Journal Articles
Solomon, O. (2004) Narrative introductions: discourse competence of children
with autistic spectrum disorders. Discourse Studies 6(2), 253- 276
Solomon, O. (1999) Casting the Future: Discourse and Temporality in Russian
Toast Performances. Crossroads of Language, Interaction and Culture, 1, 3-23.
Ochs, E.and Solomon, O. (2004) Introduction: Discourse and Autism. Discourse
Studies 6(2), 139-146
Ochs, E., Solomon, O.and Sterponi, L.(2005) Limitations and Transformations of
Habitus in Child-Ditected Communication. Discourse Studies, Special Issue:
Theories and Models of Language, Interaction and Culture (A. Browning and
A. Duranti, eds.), 7 ( 4-5) : 547-584
Ochs, E., Kremer-Sadlik, T., Solomon, O. and Sirota, K. (2001) Inclusion as a
social practice: Views from children with autism. Social Development. Special
Issue. Social interaction: The dual development of communication and social
relationships.(A. Imbens-Bailey, ed.)
Ochs, E., Kremer-Sadlik, T., Sirota, K., and Solomon, O. (2004) Autism and the
social world: An anthropological perspective. Discourse Studies 6(2), 147-183
Refereed Book Chapters
Ochs, E. and Solomon, O. (2004) Practical Logic and Autism In R. Edgerton and
C. Casey (Eds.) A Companion to Psychological Anthropology: Modernity and
Psychocultural Change. pp. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Journal Special Guest-Edited Issues
Ochs, E. and Solomon, O. (eds.)(2004) Discourse and Autism. Discourse Studies,
Special Issue 6(2)
Refereed Book Reviews
Solomon, O. (in press) Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism.
(by R. R. Grinker) Current Anthropology
Solomon, O. (2004) Understanding Williams Syndrome: Behavioral
Patterns and interventions (by Eleanor Semel & Sue R. Rosner). Book Review.
Language in Society, 33: 612-616
Solomon, O.(1996) Ethnography, Linguistics, Narrative Inequality: Toward an
Understanding of Voice (by Dell Hymes). Book Review. Issues in Applied
Linguistics, 7 (2): 321-324.
Refereed Published Abstracts
Solomon, O. (2005) Pointing as Display of Interactional Co-Presence in Children
Functioning at the Extremes of Autism Spectrum. International Meeting
for Autism Research, Abstracts, p. 163
Ochs, E. and Solomon, O. (2006) An Anthropological Approach to Autistic
Sociality.105th Annual Meeting of American Anthropological Association,
Abstracts, p.400
Journal Guest-Edited Special Issues
Bagatell, N., and Solomon, O. (eds.) (in progress) Ethos. Special Issue: Cultural
Perspectives on Autism
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
Invited Presentations:
2007 Autism and the Limits of Culture. Paper Presented at the 4th International
Epidemiology Meeting, Seattle, WA, May 2, 2007.
2007 Culture and Autism. (with E. Ochs) Invited Lecture presented at
the Society for Psychological Anthropology Biennial Meeting, Manhattan
Beach, CA, March 10, 2007.
2006 An Anthropological Approach to Autistic Sociality (with E. Ochs). Paper
Presented at the Wenner-Gren Foundation Panel “The Human Sociality
and the Four Fields”, AAA Presidential Session, Annual Meeting of the
American Anthropological Association Meeting, November 18, 2006, San
Jose, CA
2003 Children with Autism in Elementary School Classrooms. Paper Presented
at the Annual Journey to Solutions Conference, Pasadena, CA
Refereed Presentations:
2007 What a Dog Can Do: Service and Therapy Dogs as Agents of
Healing for Children with Autism and Their Families. Paper presented at
the Society for Psychological Anthropology Biennial Meeting, Manhattan
Beach, CA, March 9, 2007
2007 The Fourth Developmental Story: Language Socialization in a Community
of Practice of Middle-class Euro-American Families with Children
Diagnosed with Autism. Paper presented at the Symposium on Language
Socialization, Interaction and Culture, University of California,
Los Angeles, February 23, 2007
2006 Service Dogs as Mediators of Autistic Children’s Sociability: What Can
We Learn about Autism from “Going to the Dogs”? (with S. Kraft,
A. Horowitz, and N. Bagatell), Paper Presented at the 12th Annual
Conference on Language, Interaction and Culture, May 2006, UCLA
2005 The “Rapid Prompting” Method Of Communicating with Severely
Autistic Children as an Educational Approach and a Communicative
Practice. Paper Presented at the National Academy of Education Annual
Meeting, October 2005, Columbia University Teachers College
2005 Organization of Participation in the “Rapid Prompting” Method of
Communicating with Severely Autistic Children. Paper Presented at the
Annual National Academy of Education Fellows Meeting, March 2005,
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
2005 Body in Autism: A View from Social Interaction. Paper Presented at
the Symposium “Autism And Social Interaction” (Olga Solomon,
Organizer) the 14th World Congress for Applied Linguistics, July 24-29,
Madison, WI
2005 The UCLA Ethnography of Autism Project: A Progress Report.
Innovative Technology for Autism Work Group Meeting, Cure Autism
Now Foundation, July 8-10, Redondo Beach, CA
2005 Pointing as Display of Interactional Co-Presence of Children Functioning
at the Extremes of the Autism Spectrum, (With M. McKinley)
International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), May 4-6, Boston.
2004 The UCLA Ethnography of Autism Project: Implications for the
Innovative Technology for Autism Initiative. Cure Autism Now
Foundation, 1st Annual Innovative Technology For Autism Think Tank,
June 9-14, San Francisco, CA
2004 The UCLA Ethnography of Autism Project. Paper Presented at the
Language, Interaction, and Social Organization (LISO) Colloquia,
UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA
2002 Narrative Introduction Practices of Children with Autism and
Asperger Syndrome. Paper Presented at The Annual Meeting
of American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana
2002 “ I Am Not Good At Being A Kid”: Participant Organization of
Dinnertime Narrative Activity in Families with High-Functioning
Autistic Children. Paper Presented at The Annual Conference of American
Association For Applied Linguistics, Salt Lake City, UT
2001 Ethnographically Informed Perspective on Autism and the Social World,
(with E. Ochs, T. Kremer-Sadlik, A. Nonaka, Karen Sirota, and
L. Sterponi). Annual Meeting of American Anthropological Association,
Washington, D.C.
Honors:
2000 Chancellor’s Dissertation Year Fellowship Award
Other Experience And Professional Memberships:
Board Member, Innovative Technology For Autism Initiative (ITA)
Cure Autism Now Foundation
Member, American Educational Research Association (AERA)
Member, American Anthropological Association (AAA)
Member, American Association For Applied Linguistic (AAAL)
Member, National Communications Association (NCA)
Member, International Society For Autism Research (INSAR)
Member, International Pragmatics Association (IpRA)