Susan M. Bruce’s research concentrations are in assessment, communication intervention, and collaborative action research for learners with severe and multiple disabilities, including children who are congenitally deafblind. She is especially interested in the period of communicative development between intentionality and early language. Her action, descriptive, and intervention research has spanned literacy, assessment, teacher preparation, special education, and rare syndromes. Bruce has published dozens of scholarly articles, and in 2010 she was invited to become a member of the National Joint Committee on the Communication Needs of Individuals with Severe Disabilities, an interdisciplinary advocacy organization.