Michelle Pievsky, PhD, is a clinical child psychologist at the Children’s Neurodevelopment Center and Hasbro Children’s Hospital Pediatric Primary Care.
Her research focuses on improving early identification and care pathways for children with developmental concerns, particularly autism spectrum disorder. She leads a collaborative, community-informed initiative to reduce diagnostic wait times and improve access to services - especially for Hispanic families - through tiered screening models and expedited evaluations. Her work integrates behavioral health into pediatric primary care and emphasizes stakeholder engagement, health equity, and quality improvement.
Dr. Pievsky is also investigating Gestalt language learning (GLL) in minimally verbal toddlers, a proposed language acquisition strategy involving echolalia and scripted speech. Her team is developing and validating the Gestalt Language Predictor (GLP), a machine learning–based caregiver-report tool, and seeks to explore behavioral and neurobiological correlates of GLL using MRI and naturalistic speech samples. This work aims to inform individualized interventions for children with autism and language delays.
She welcomes collaboration with faculty and students interested in:
Dr. Pievsky mentors students in hands-on research activities including chart reviews, qualitative interviews, psychometric assessments, and data analysis. Her long-term goal is to build scalable, evidence-based programs and tools that improve developmental outcomes and family experiences across diverse populations.
