About
Associate Professor in Special Needs Education
About Me
My academic profile is situated at the interdisciplinary intersection of Special Needs Education, Clinical Linguistics, and Speech and Language Pathology. I represent a research-based and practice-oriented perspective on learning, communication, and social inclusion.
I am a certified Speech and Language Pathologist and Clinical Linguist with a Master’s degree from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. I hold a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Linguistics from the University of Oslo (UiO). My doctoral dissertation focused on participation in conversations by persons with aphasia.
I am motivated by the question of how communication and social interaction can contribute to learning, mastery, and social inclusion in everyday life. Through detailed micro-analytic studies, rooted in Conversation Analysis, my research provides unique insight into the dynamic social interaction that creates the conditions for societal participation. My goal is to disseminate practice-relevant and theoretically robust knowledge that strengthens inclusive practices.
Research Areas
My research has a particular focus on inclusive communication and participation for individuals with speech, language, and communication difficulties, with a methodological approach based on Conversation Analysis and linguistic detail.
Key thematic areas include:
- Communicative Participation and Social Inclusion
- User Involvement and Co-Creation in Research
- Development of Inclusive Tools and Interventions
Teaching and Supervision
I teach Special Needs Education and serve as the course coordinator for continuing education programs in the field. My teaching areas include, among others, the intervention chain, the Individual Education Plan (IEP), speech and communication difficulties, and special needs education in the context of illness.
I have capacity to take on supervision for Master's and PhD students within my fields of expertise, and I emphasize supervision that promotes critical reflection and research-driven learning.
Collaboration in Research Projects
I have long and comprehensive international experience in research, teaching, and practice from various countries, including the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, South Africa, and Norway, and I am always open to collaboration on new research projects.
Field of study
Communication disorders Aphasia Speech and language therapy Special Needs Education Interaction analysis Conversation Analysis User involvement Inclusion Clinical linguistics
Research groups
Publications and research
Scientific publications
Dorland, Heleen;
Killmer, Helene
; VandenBorre, Dorien; Groenewold, Rimke
(2025).
CommunicatieStijl Vóór het ontstaan van Afasie (CSVA)—Vertaling en bewerking [Communication Style Before the Onset of Aphasia (CSVA) — Translation and Adaptation].
Nederlands tijdschrift voor logopedie.
Vol. 97.
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/5488651
Killmer-Rumpf, Helene
(2023).
How parents with aphasia deal with children’s resistance to requests.
Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2023.2226303
Fyndanis, Valantis; Miceli, Gabriele; Capasso, Rita;
Killmer, Helene
; Malefaki, Sonia; Grohmann, Kleanthes K.
(2022).
Production of Sentential Negation in German and Italian Non-fluent Aphasia.
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-022-09894-4
Killmer, Helene
; Svennevig, Jan; Beeke, Suzanne
(2022).
Requests to children by parents with aphasia.
Aphasiology.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2022.2094335
Killmer, Helene
; Svennevig, Jan; Beeke, Suzanne
(2021).
Joint planning in conversations with a person with aphasia.
Journal of Pragmatics.
Vol. 187.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.10.021
Killmer, Helene
; Beeke, Suzanne; Svennevig, Jan
(2021).
Collaborative storytelling with a person with aphasia: Promoting agency in a multiparty interaction.
Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders.
Vol. 11.
https://doi.org/10.1558/jircd.20902
Noiray, Aude; Popescu, Anisia;
Killmer, Helene
; Rubertus, Elina; Krüger, Stella; Hintermeier, Lisa
(2019).
Spoken Language Development and the Challenge of Skill Integration.
Frontiers in Psychology.
Vol. 10.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02777
