Her research interests center around the development and evaluation of effective educational practices for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Sparapani practiced as a certified speech-language pathologist on an interdisciplinary team serving preschool children with ASD for several years before pursuing her Ph.D. in Communication Science and Disorders at Florida State University and postdoctoral training at Arizona State University. Her approach to research emphasizes the important influence of the dynamic classroom learning environment. She has developed and been involved in the development of several classroom observation tools that measure teacher, child, and environmental characteristics that relate to learning and development in students with ASD and diverse learning needs.