Jean Jarrett is a fourth-year PhD student in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the UNC School of Medicine. She is a licensed speech-language pathologist and licensed behavior analyst with more than 10 years of clinical experience working primarily with individuals with autism.
Jarrett earned her bachelor’s degree in communication sciences and disorders from Appalachian State University in 2010 and her master’s degree in speech-language pathology in 2012. She began practicing clinically in 2012 and later earned a master’s degree in applied behavior analysis from Ball State University in 2021.
In the early 1990’s, Jarrett’s mother was a was a speech-language pathologist who specialized in autism care, before autism was widely understood. During middle and high school, Jarrett spent time in clinics observing sessions, helping with social support.
She said she was drawn to autism work because no two days are the same. The science behind applied behavior analysis appealed to her analytical approach, allowing her to bring structure and evidence-based decision-making to complex and often unpredictable situations. Becoming a mother later added a parental perspective to her work when her son was diagnosed with autism at an early age.
Before entering her doctoral program, Jarrett worked as a speech-language pathologist in clinical settings, including private practice. “I’ve worked in a variety of settings, including clinics, schools, and consultative roles, and I continue to work clinically today,” Jarrett said. “Some of the most memorable moments for me have always been first words, the first time a child initiates play, and seeing trainees get excited about learning something new.”
Through her clinical experience, Jarrett began noticing recurring challenges across different environments, which led her to pursue doctoral training. During her time at UNC, she became interested in implementation science, which examines why evidence-based interventions that are known to work are often difficult to implement consistently in real-world settings such as schools, clinics and homes. For her dissertation, Jarrett developed and piloted an observational measure of therapeutic alliance between young autistic children and their service providers. She believes practices must be both effective and acceptable, noting that prioritizing one without the other can limit impact.
“I often say that my training in speech-language pathology taught me what to teach, and my training in applied behavior analysis taught me how to teach.” -Jean Jarrett.
Jarrett has practiced as both an SLP and BCBA in the same clinic, an approach she found especially effective. The intersection of the two has allowed her to teach communication skills during speech sessions while using behavioral principles to structure learning, reinforce progress, and ensure those skills generalize across settings.