MIGUEL
PEREZ PEREIRA

My main field of research has been Developmental Psychology, and more specifically the study of Language Development. I have investigated language development in Spanish-speaking or Galician-speaking children. For several years I have researched language acquisition in blind children. I have been main researcher of several projects and contracts related to the investigation of this subject, from which several publications have been derived in impact journals, and a book co-authored with Gina Conti-Ramsden published in Psychology Press (1999, 2020), and another in Paidós (1994), as well as several book chapters in national and foreign publishers. I have been requested as an expert for a chapter on Language Development in Blind Children for Elsevier's Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd Ed. (2006). Since 1998 I have developed several projects to elaborate the Galician version of the MacArthur-Bates (CDI) scales. This research has resulted not only in the construction of the scales, but also in obtaining a significant amount of data on language acquisition in Galician children. As a result, I have published several articles in impact journals, as well as book chapters. I belong to the European network EUNM-CDI. I have also used the MacArthur-Bates scales for research linking language development and theory of mind development. Since 2008 we have started a longitudinal project on language acquisition in preterm infants. In order to establish the factors that can act as determinants of developmental ourcomes in the field of language, we have also investigated many other factors (cognitive development, quality of the family and school environment, temperament...). Several publications in impact journals have been derived from these investigations, and it is the main topic of my research at present. This line of research is enabling collaboration with other research teams from other countries, such as those led by Suvi Stolt (Finland) and Alessandra Sansavini and Annalisa Guarini (Italy), two of the reference groups. These last two researchers are part of the team that develops the project project PSI2015-66697-R. Throughout my career I have been involved in organizing conferences in the field of Developmental Psychology and Language Acquisition at an international level. In my personal and professional development, I have also had a purpose to structure the profession and science. I have been the first President of the Official College of Psychologists (COP) in Galicia, and a member of the first Spanish COP Governing Boards. I have also been founder and first President of the Association for the Study of Language Acquisition (AEAL), and I have had a very active participation in the International Association for the Study of Child Language (IASCL) of which I have been a member of the Executive Committee, and Chairman of the Nominating Committee (2005). I have been Associate Editor of Infancia y Aprendizaje (Journal ofEducation and Development) for 13 years, and I belong to the Editorial Board of several journals (First Language...). I have acted as a reviewer for multiple scientific journals such as Child Development, Journal of Language Speech and Hearing Research... I have been named Honorary President of AEAL (09/08/2022) and COPG Honorary Member (06/08/2019).