Posts

• “1, 2, 3 Talk with Me”: One mother’s story of completing Virtual LENA Start
  Working from home while caring for a baby is an all-too-familiar juggling act these days. A mom in Phoenix tells her story of how LENA Start helped.
• “A soft landing spot, a happy place”: Celebrating early childhood educators
  Just as the early childhood education profession is unique, so is each teacher’s story. This week, Teacher Appreciation Week, we're telling just a few of them.
• “An eye-opening experience”: Survey shows overwhelming positivity for LENA Grow among teachers and coaches
  According to survey data, 99% of teachers would recommend LENA Grow to other teachers, and 93% of coaches say the program has had a positive impact on their relationships with teachers.
• “I probably think about the program every day”: When professional development is more than just a program
  "One of my students, he came in and told me, ‘Auntie, I’d like to read to you.’” A preschool teacher and a family child care provider in Hawaii tell their stories. What keeps them excited and motivated?
• “Mae Mae’s House”: One teacher’s story behind an evaluation of LENA Grow in Milwaukee
  In this video, a long-time preschool teacher in Milwaukee reflects on LENA Grow and what motivates her dedication to the profession.
• “Everyone has their niche, and my niche is little kids”: One teacher’s journey in cultivating her students’ voices
  One veteran teacher’s LENA Grow journey: “It kind of goes back to my childhood. I struggled with learning. I never really had anyone who taught me that as long as I kept trying, I could.”
• 10 Simple Ways To Support Early Literacy: A Guide for Caregivers and Educators
  Whether you're a caregiver or educator, you already have everything you need to nurture early literacy skills.
• 10 Tips for Family Engagement
  We’ve pulled together 10 strategies for connecting with families in your local community.
• 5 steps to successful LENA Grow recruitment
  How to talk with teachers, family child care providers, and center directors about participating in LENA Grow.
• 5 Ways To Build Confidence in Early Childhood Classrooms
  A child's self-esteem is already well formed by age 5! Check out these tips on supporting child confidence in your classroom.
• 5 ways to make data a part of your program success story (or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the data)
  We’ve all heard the saying, “No data, no dollars,” but in the field of early childhood services, collecting objective and reliable data can be uniquely challenging. Learn about how to use your data to share the real story of the great work your program is doing.
• A Message to Early Childhood Educators — We see you!
  We see you washing paint off little fingers for the tenth time today. We see you using silly voices to make shared reading fun. And we see you putting your heart into your work.
• A parent perspective on LENA’s new longitudinal study
  Parent Traci Martin shares strategies for unpacking new research with parents, teachers, and caregivers.
• A renewed emphasis on adult-child interactions in Texas
  A recent change to the Texas Rising Star QRIS assigns more weight to the importance of adult-child interactions in early childhood programs.
• A teacher, a coach, and an administrator on LENA Grow’s impact: Webinar highlights
  Highlights from a webinar where we hear directly from a teacher, coach, and administrator using LENA Grow.
• Amplifying conversations, transforming early childhood
  In 2023, we were thrilled to announce a generous $5 million gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. Here’s what that means for LENA’s future, and for our continued role in reshaping early childhood education.
• Announcing new enhancements to LENA Grow: Easy, inclusive, equitable
  LENA Grow is designed to make every interaction count in early childhood education. The new enhancements make it easy, inclusive, and equitable.
• Atlanta Speech School uses LENA for families of hard of hearing children
  Staff from the Atlanta Speech School share how they use LENA feedback in coaching sessions with families to help increase their awareness and understanding of the audio environment in their home.
• Australia’s LiLO study: Analysis of home language environments from birth to school
  Researchers with the LiLO study have set out to measure children’s home language environments every six months from birth to school entrance.
• Being culturally responsive to families during LENA Start classes and beyond
  Pedro Mendez, birth to three program administrator at Denver Public Library, explains how his team prioritizes and responds to the needs of families in a culturally appropriate way.
• Bridging research and practice in early childhood education: SproutFive’s independent evaluation of LENA Grow
  True to their commitment to bridging research and practice, SproutFive embarked on an independent evaluation of LENA Grow soon after implementing the program.
• Bright Beginnings LENA Grow pilot shows significant change in the language environment of children experiencing homelessness
  A pilot of the professional development program shows that teachers significantly increased the amount of interaction with the children in their classrooms.
• Case Study: How Sound Start Babies uses LENA SP to support parents
  Read about how a nonprofit in New Jersey uses LENA SP to provide targeted feedback and coaching to parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
• Case Study: Teen parent program adopts LENA Start to grow connections between clients, children
  A home-visiting program for teen parents in Boulder County expanded their services to include parent-group classes, to the benefit of clients and their children.
• Case study: Why three organizations pivoted to offer virtual LENA Start classes
  When the pandemic hit, community organizations found their regular programming for families abruptly cut off. Learn why three pivoted to virtual.
• Celebrate Good Times, Come On: Virtual Ways to Acknowledge Your Families, Teachers, and Teams
  It can be easy to plug away at tasks and deadlines without taking time to pause and acknowledge accomplishments. Celebrating the small and big wins within your program is crucial to the health of your community.
• Celebrating AAPI Heritage: Building community and connecting to culture in Hawaiʻi
  In recognition of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we're highlighting two LENA Start programs in Hawaiʻi that are doing amazing work around cultural responsiveness.
• Challenging Behavior in Early Childhood Education: Webinar Highlights
  Challenging behavior is among the most pressing issues facing early childhood educators today.
• Changing the conversation: How we’re thinking about building impact in early childhood
  By year’s end, LENA technology will have measured 20 million conversational turns on 90,000 LENA Days. But that’s only part of the story, and it’s where we go from there that we’re focusing on now.
• Children show elevated language skills one year after LENA Start
  Children whose families participated in LENA Start are showing elevated language skills one year after the program, an analysis of longitudinal data shows.
• Clarke uses LENA technology to bridge home and school environments
  Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech, a listening and spoken language program for children who are deaf or hard of hearing, has recently incorporated LENA technology as a “standard of care” for all children enrolled in their early intervention program.
• CLASS Scores Increase After Using LENA Grow at The Primary School
  Early childhood teachers at The Primary School in East Palo Alto, Calif., used LENA Grow professional development to better understand and improve interactions in their classrooms.
• Classroom interaction and teacher experience: Relationships between conversational turn rates and years of experience in child care
  While more experienced teachers foster more interactive talk in their classrooms, participating in LENA Grow helps less experienced teachers catch up.
• Coaching for impact in Sarasota County: Increased TS GOLD^® and CLASS^® scores
  An organization in Florida saw some amazing results in their very first LENA Grow classrooms. They want those results to have a positive impact on the whole community.
• Connecting the Dots Between Early Childhood Education and Third Grade Reading
  You probably know third grade reading ability is a big deal, but do you really know why? Let's talk about it and how it's connected to ECE!
• COVID-era infants vocalize less and experience fewer conversational turns, says LENA research team
  COVID-era babies may be at greater risk of experiencing language delays.
• Developmental Snapshot analysis shows that LENA Start’s benefits endure for two years
  For children who began LENA Start at risk for language delays, the results are especially encouraging.
• Dual language learners experience less teacher-child interaction in child care and preschool: New data analysis
  Early childhood education classrooms across the U.S. provide significantly fewer conversational turns for children who are dual language learners than for their monolingual peers.
• Dual language learners in early childhood education: Webinar highlights
  "You have it already in your heart. Get rid of your fear. Go for it. Try." Highlights from LENA's webinar about dual language learners in early childhood education.
• Early brain development in infants and toddlers: Six simple strategies
  Early brain development depends so much on having back-and-forth conversations, even for infants and toddlers. Here are six tips to help you talk more!
• Early childhood mental health, dual-language learners, the science of reading, and more: A look back at our most popular content of 2023
  LENA’s journey through 2023 has been marked by revealing insights and transformative discussions. Join us as we take a look back at some of the blog posts, webinars, and resources that gained the most attention over the year.
• Early Head Start centers in Tennessee use LENA programs to improve early literacy
  Porter-Leath uses LENA programs to boost early literacy and connect teachers and families.
• Early Head Start programs use LENA Home to improve language and literacy outcomes
  To help families and home visitors collaborate to improve language outcomes for children, many Early Head Start programs are using LENA technology in tandem with coaching during home visits.
• Early learning classrooms in Fort Worth ISD using LENA Grow increase CLASS® scores
  Classrooms that used LENA Grow, an experiential professional development program for early childhood teachers, increased scores in key CLASS domains compared to classrooms that did not use the program, a pre-post evaluation shows.
• Early literacy and early talk: Webinar highlights featuring author Maya Smart
  In a recent webinar, author Maya Payne Smart shared her vision for our "collective power to raise our readers well."
• Early Literacy is an Open Book: Webinar Highlights
  When does a child start learning to read? Long before they open their first book or write their first letter! In our recent webinar, "Early Literacy Is an Open Book," experts shared how early literacy shapes success in early childhood education and beyond.
• Early pilot results show teacher approval, improvements in child language skills in classrooms using LENA Grow
  A pilot of LENA Grow in nine classrooms in Kansas found that teachers responded well to the program’s data-based coaching and children demonstrated better language skills after participating.
• Engaging families in LENA Grow
  Family engagement is one of the most important parts of any child care professional's job. We've created a Family Engagement Toolkit to help our LENA Grow partners.
• Engaging resilience: How responsive caregiving lays the foundation for children to thrive
  It is imperative for children beginning at a young age have the opportunity for secure, engaging relationships.
• Equitable and inclusive classroom experiences: Your questions answered!
  We’re answering questions submitted during our webinar about how to create equitable and inclusive classroom experiences for children with Dr. Iheoma Iruka of HighScope, Ellen Roche of Trust for Learning, and Lauren Cooper from LENA.
• Evidence-based professional development for early childhood educators: Webinar highlights
  Two independent program evaluations of LENA Grow have established the program as evidence-based professional development. See the highlights from the webinar here.
• Expanding PD hours for early childhood educators participating in LENA Grow
  We’re committed to maximizing LENA Grow’s impact on early educators’ careers. Expanding LENA Grow’s approval for professional development hours is an important part of that equation.
• Family child care provider used LENA Grow to connect with parents, children
  For Pamela Robinson, a family child care provider in Georgia, using LENA Grow was an opportunity to show parents all the brain-building interaction that happens during the day in her home as she watches children.
• First Book Partnership Brings High-quality Books at Lower Cost
  LENA is teaming up with First Book, a nonprofit working exclusively with programs and schools serving children in need to ensure they have access to top-quality books. Through First Book's LENA Marketplace, partners can browse a curated collection of bilingual and wordless books.
• First paper published linking conversational turns with brain structure
  The first research showing a relationship between conversational turns and brain structure has ben published in JNeurosci. The paper investigates how back and forth interaction between children and their adult caregivers relate to white matter connectivity in the brain.
• Five best practices for parent recruitment and retention (virtually or in person)
  Explore key learnings on how community programs can recruit and retain families.
• Five cities will replicate Providence Talks, offering LENA programs for parents and teachers citywide
  Five cities have been selected to replicate Providence Talks — one of the first early language initiatives implemented at the municipal level — with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies.
• Five things to know about LENA and privacy
  At LENA, we take data security and privacy seriously. We meet the highest industry standards for data protection.
• For early childhood education, Women’s History Month must be more than a “Hallmark holiday”
  The American Rescue Plan Act acknowledges an “acute, immediate child care crisis.” Women in early childhood education deserve dignity and prosperity.
• Fostering family engagement and early literacy at Pasco County Schools: Webinar highlights
  One of the largest school districts in the U.S. brought LENA Grow to its Early Head Start and Head Start classrooms. Watch these webinar highlights to hear their story.
• Four strategies one nonprofit uses to boost literacy citywide
  Calgary Reads, a nonprofit in Alberta, Canada, uses LENA Start as a core component of their citywide strategy to boost early literacy in Calgary.
• Frameworks for understanding effective family engagement
  Working with families and communities is at the heart of what we do at LENA. This post provides an overview of well-established definitions of family engagement that inform our programs.
• From Skeptic to Advocate: A Veteran Teacher’s LENA Grow Journey
  Read Teresa's story from being unsure about the power of LENA Grow in her classroom to school board success!
• From the archives: Conversations with adults boost child language development, study finds
  UCLA professor Dr. Frederick Zimmerman explains his 2009 research which indicates conversational turns have unique power to boost child language development.
• Georgia Department of Public Health uses community partnerships and Project LAUNCH funding to scale parent programming county-wide
  The team at the West Central Health District drew on a range of existing community partners to find space to run classes, recruit parents, and scale impact.
• Highlights from a Qualitative Evaluation of LENA Grow in Hartford: Nine Takeaways
  Researchers from the University of Hartford highlight nine key insights from Hartford's qualitative evaluation of the LENA Grow program in Hartford, Conn.
• How coaches can help teachers take a deep dive into LENA data
  Explore ideas and strategies to support teachers get the most out of their LENA reports and drive changes in interactive talk in the classroom.
• How Early Head Start/Head Start grantees use LENA Grow to meet performance standards during federal review
  “The federal review team was impressed that LENA Grow was something we were doing for our teachers in the classroom,” said Jon-Vincent Jamir, PACT’s Head Start Area Manager and LENA Grow coach.
• How LENA Grow teaches a coach to be a better coach
  Seven ways LENA Grow has helped me help teachers take active charge of their own learning.
• How researchers have adapted to continue using LENA SP during the pandemic
  Two teams share how they’ve adapted their data-collection process to continue their studies.
• How to build staff buy-in in early learning environments
  For early childhood education leaders, getting staff buy-in is an essential part of launching a program like LENA Grow or LENA Start.
• How to harness the untapped potential of family child care providers
  We sat down with Jessica Sager, CEO of All Our Kin, to learn how boosting support for family child care providers can help solve America’s child care crisis.
• How to have a conversation with a baby even before they can talk (and how LENA measures it)
  LENA technology measures how much adults talk to infants. What does that mean, and how do you do it effectively?
• How to make video calls more engaging for infants and toddlers
  Explore tips and strategies for making video calls more interactive for young children.
• How To Turn Children’s Books Into Early Literacy Tools
  Are you using children's books and read aloud time to it's fullest potential? Explore how early literacy skills develop through both!
• Implementing statewide PD for ECE teachers in Mississippi: Questions from the webinar
  We had the privilege of hosting a webinar featuring our partners in Mississippi to learn how they implemented LENA Grow at a statewide level. Here, we answer common questions that arose during the webinar.
• Improving early childhood through locally focused philanthropic partnerships
  When it comes to accelerating the growth of LENA programs, place-based philanthropic support is critical.
• Infant and parent brainwaves synchronize during playtime
  Parents’ brainwaves track and respond to changes in their infant’s brain activity when they play together.
• Infant and toddler CLASS assessment: Your questions answered!
  Teachstone’s senior research advisor discusses the state of early childhood classrooms, challenges and opportunities for growth, and answers common questions about CLASS.
• Initial longitudinal evaluation results: Huntsville children whose parents participated in LENA Start have stronger literacy skills two years later
  Promising new data show that children whose families participated in LENA Start, a parent-group program focused on increasing early talk, demonstrated considerably higher early literacy scores and were far more likely to be at an advanced literacy level entering pre-K.
• Inside Early Talk: Our point of greatest leverage for improving children’s futures
  LENA has collected and analyzed its most expansive data set to date through the 10,000 children annually impacted by our programs for families and early childhood teachers.
• It’s never too late for interactive talk! Your questions on conversational turns research answered.
  In 2018, researchers published three studies examining the long- and short-term effects of interactive talk. Here we’ve answered the top questions on the role of conversational turns in child development.
• It’s Time to Shine a Light on Language Isolation in Infant and Toddler Classrooms
  New grant opportunities are making it possible to adopt data-informed strategies for ensuring that we can look forward to a time when every child’s day is filled with wonderful, nourishing conversation.
• Just call us LENA
  We're excited to announce that we're simplifying our name to LENA. This change reflects who we are and the work we’re doing to support parents, educators, and researchers in improving the language environments of children worldwide.
• Justice starts at birth
  In response to recent events, we have made a point to step back and deeply reflect in order to be both authentic and to highlight commitments on which we can and will act.
• Kindergarten readiness, parent education, and conversational turns: A statistically significant correlation in a rural South Carolina school district
  A study out of Cherokee County, S.C., has found a correlation between parent participation in LENA programs and higher scores on the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment.
• Lakeshore^® partnership offers materials to help early educators increase quality interactions in the classroom
  Developed in partnership with Lakeshore®, four kits are available to provide age-appropriate materials that align with the topics teachers explore during LENA Grow’s five-week coaching sequences and beyond.
• Learning to read (and write) starts earlier than you think!
  Dr. Lucy Hart Paulson, co-author of LETRS for Early Childhood Educators, on how learning to talk and learning to read and write happen in parallel. Learning to read starts earlier than you think, and conversational turns are an important piece of the puzzle!
• LENA Grow goes statewide in Tennessee
  “The TN CCR&R sees the LENA Grow program as an important piece of the puzzle in proper language and socio-emotional development for children in Tennessee,” said Heather Hicks, Director of the TN CCR&R.
• LENA Grow may help keep early educators in the profession, new evidence suggests
  There’s strong evidence to suggest that LENA Grow, the evidence-based professional development program that helps early childhood educators create equitable language environments, has a beneficial impact on teacher retention.
• LENA Grow updates are coming…So who’s behind the curtain?!
  These 12 LENA Grow advisors are helping to implement big improvements to the program.
• LENA Grow: Lessons from our learning site
  We launched a learning site to gain hands-on experience implementing our professional development program for early childhood teachers. Read what we learned about establishing trust, engaging staff, and what’s next.
• LENA Launches Local “Learning Site” for LENA Grow
  We’re excited to announce the first LENA Grow site in Colorado in partnership with the Aspen Center for Child Development, and this time LENA staff will be playing an active role in the coaching!
• LENA Programming Aligns with Head Start’s Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework
  Learn more about how LENA’s programs support key aspects of Head Start’s updated Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework.
• LENA researchers’ work featured in new Netflix series
  Research by Dr. Eric Walle and Dr. Anne Warlaumont on the relationship between child language development and movement is featured in a new Netflix documentary, Babies.
• LENA Start Children Nearly Twice as Likely To Be Kindergarten Ready
  Kindergarten readiness starts early, and simple caregiver-child interactions make a big difference!
• LENA’s role in “The Right to Read” documentary: A focus on preliteracy skills
  A documentary film from director Jenny Mackenzie and executive producer LeVar Burton features two LENA Start coordinators and their families.
• Let’s appreciate early childhood educators — truly, loudly, enthusiastically, and materially
  Gather up those flashes of a well-timed hug, a generous smile, or an enthusiastic morning hello, and take more time to appreciate our early childhood teachers.
• Let’s NOT stop talking about talk.
  At LENA, we believe that adult caregivers have the power to make a difference in a child’s life. Helping parents – and early childhood teachers – use that power to boost vocabulary and literacy is a good thing.
• Libraries serve as community catalysts to build pre-literacy skills
  Public libraries around the country are using LENA Start to build children’s early literacy skills, connect families with community, and increase library engagement.
• Lolli and Pops: From the Navy Base to a Family Child Care Home
  Royce Simons served in the navy. Then he worked in a state prison. One day, he turned to his wife, Tonya, and said, “When I retire, we’re going to stay home and do child care, right?”
• Making a difference: We reached our goal to impact 10,000 children in 2019!
  Because of our work, more than 10,000 children experienced 14 million brain-building conversational turns this year.
• Masked up and ready for conversational turns: Helpful hints to maximize interactions in early childhood classrooms
  For early childhood teachers, wearing a mask and nurturing quality interactions may be at odds with each other.
• Measuring LENA Grow’s Impact on Kindergarten Readiness
  LENA Grow increases children's kindergarten readiness assessment scores, according to data from school districts in South Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
• Mom credits pre-teen son’s success to increased interactive talk in early childhood
  Christine Gardy, a mom who gained insights from LENA feedback while her son was just a baby, attributes much of his success 10 years later to increased interactive talk.
• Mom uses LENA technology to advocate for more robust school support for daughter who is hard of hearing
  Lisa Eberlein used LENA technology to investigate the language environment her daughter experienced at school. She used the data to demonstrate the need for her daughter to have an FM system in the classroom.
• New data analysis: One in five children in child care spends most of the day in language isolation
  According to LENA’s recent analysis of day-long audio recordings from 15,820 children, approximately one in five children spent most of the day in language isolation.
• New data reveals virtual LENA Start classes offer same benefits to families as in-person classes
  The virtual participants showed similar gains to pre-pandemic, in-person groups, with lower-talk families increasing conversational turns with their children by 12 percentile points and adult words by 35 percentile points.
• New meta-analysis confirms that LENA’s automated measures significantly predict child language outcomes
  Researchers found a correlation between three of LENA’s measures – adult word count, conversational turns, and child vocalizations — and children’s language and cognitive skills.
• New report from Escambia County on LENA Grow Shows CLASS^® Gains
  Data from the first year of partnership with the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County (ELCEC) shows that classrooms using LENA Grow, our professional development program for early childhood educators, showed gains on CLASS® assessment scores.
• New research links early vocabulary skills to teacher-child interaction in preschool classrooms
  “For all of us who care about the millions of children who spend most of their waking hours in child care, this is a call to action,” said Dr. Jill Gilkerson, Chief Research and Evaluation Officer at LENA.
• New research says how much you talk with babies is linked to their IQ in adolescence
  10-year longitudinal study published in Pediatrics correlates interactive talk in early childhood with later cognitive outcomes.
• New research sheds light on the importance of conversational turns
  New research by a team at Harvard and MIT used LENA technology and brain imaging to measure the relationship between children’s language experience and their brain activity. The study found that conversational turns predicted variance in verbal scores, while the sheer number of adult words did not.
• New research strengthens link between adult-child conversation and brain structure, reading skills
  A new study exploring associations between family socioeconomic background, children’s brain structure, and children’s reading skills indicates that children who experience more conversational turns may have increased brain growth, and in turn, better reading skills.
• New study links conversational turns with increases in children’s verbal and nonverbal abilities using brain imaging and LENA technology
  A study from MIT and Harvard uses LENA technology to investigate how children’s brains changed following an early language intervention.
• Now is the time to support child care providers in building positive interactions
  It’s time we acknowledge that early childhood teachers are brain architects.
• Parent Profile: Kristen Rhodes finds community, concrete feedback in LENA Start program
  A mom who graduated from LENA Start shares how the program helped her to connect with her daughter and her community.
• Parent recruitment for LENA Start and LENA Home: Recognizing and responding to barriers
  A recent Community Conversation among our partners inspired these new ideas about recruiting families for programs like Start and Home.
• Parents as Teachers Affiliates Add an Early-talk Focus
  LENA and multiple affiliates of Parents as Teachers, a MIECHV-approved home visiting organization, are working together to promote optimal early development for children by supporting and training parents and caregivers.
• Parents gain confidence, skills, and awareness through LENA Start classes
  A young couple from Texas share how LENA Start classes helped them gain confidence in their parenting skills after the birth of the first daughter.
• Parents on virtual LENA Start classes: “Now I know 10 families when I drop my kids off at school.”
  The virtual format offered families a powerful opportunity to connect when they otherwise couldn’t during the pandemic.
• Postpartum depression and early talk: My experience
  What can you do to ensure you’re supporting parents experiencing perinatal mood or anxiety disorders?
• Preliminary findings suggest LENA Grow accelerates language development
  Children participating in LENA Grow gained nearly 1.5 months’ worth of language skill acquisition in just one month’s time, achieving developmental milestones at an accelerated rate.
• Providence Talks Replication: A renewed commitment to quality child care in Virginia Beach
  "Investing in our youngest citizens at birth and continuing to do so throughout their school years makes smart economic sense," says Virginia Beach GrowSmart coordinator Barbara Lito.
• Providence Talks Replication: Building city-wide impact one family at a time in Hartford
  Entering its fourth year, Hartford Talks is focusing on families. Here are two families' LENA stories.
• Providence Talks Replication: From participant to program director in Detroit
  Victoria Washington went from LENA Start participant to Director of Brilliant Detroit's 313Speaks program.
• Providence Talks Replication: Sustaining growth and “working toward yes” in Birmingham
  Having nearly quadrupled their reach in just three years' time, Birmingham Talks is focused on a bright future.
• Providence Talks replication: Your questions answered!
  We’re answering questions submitted during last week’s webinar about early childhood innovation at the municipal level.
• Putting a bow on 2018 and looking forward to 2019
  2018 has been an incredible year for LENA with new research, strong partnerships, and 10 million conversational turns! We're thoroughly excited about the road ahead and all that 2019 will bring as we work toward our vision of all children entering school prepared for success.
• Q & A with Elizabeth Szymanski: Supporting family child care providers with business services
  Elizabeth Szymanski shares about how family child care providers could help end America’s child care crisis, the resources and support they need to thrive, and how MyVillage eliminates common challenges.
• Q & A: How a philanthropic investment in LENA advanced the early childhood portfolio of the Overdeck Family Foundation
  We sat down with Carly Roberts, Program Officer, Early Impact at Overdeck Family Foundation, to learn more about why the foundation invested in LENA and what’s surprised them along the way.
• Q & A: How autism researchers are using LENA technology for early detection and intervention
  University researchers who are using LENA technology share their perspectives on current and future autism research.
• Q&A with Charlie Wolfson: Investing in children’s futures by investing in early talk
  Arrow Impact is a private foundation supporting "initiatives that create pathways to economic prosperity for communities that have been marginalized and under-resourced."
• Q&A with Dr. Beate Peter: Researching early speech and language intervention for children with classic galactosemia
  A new clinical trial will use LENA SP to evaluate the effectiveness of a speech-language intervention for infants with a known genetic risk factor for speech and language delays.
• Q&A with Dr. Fred Zimmerman
  Dr. Zimmerman explains his latest research into how environments and external factors affect population health and child development.
• Q&A with Dr. Jim Duggan: Why school districts should prioritize early childhood
  Your questions on school readiness answered by the assistant superintendent of Bourbonnais 53 school district in Illinois.
• Q&A with Dr. Loretta Rudd: How University of Memphis is broadening their collective impact approach to scale early childhood programming
  Through a collective impact model, the University of Memphis is implementing LENA programs to build stronger families, increase teachers’ skills, and support students’ learning in their local community.
• Q&A with Dr. Reem Khamis-Dakwar: Empowering families to reclaim minority languages with LENA Start
  In New York City, LENA Start classes empowered Spanish- and Arabic-speaking families to value their native languages and maintain them across generations.
• Q&A with Elliot Haspel, author of “Crawling Behind: America’s Child Care Crisis and How to Fix It”
  We were delighted to welcome author Elliot Haspel to our staff book club discussion.
• Q&A with Emma Quigan: How COMET Auckland is using LENA with indigenous families in New Zealand
  In New Zealand, LENA is a tool to empower whānau (families) to connect to culture and each other.
• Q&A with Kai-ama Hamer: A discussion of family engagement and parent recruitment
  Family engagement specialist Kai-ama Hamer shares strategies for involving parents in community and school-based programs.
• Q&A with Katherine Bryan: Funding evidence-based programs to improve outcomes for children
  Katherine Bryan is a Program Officer at the Urban Child Institute in Memphis. Here, she shares about why the institute invested in LENA programs and how early investments have the potential to move the needle on kindergarten readiness.
• QRIS and interaction: Do quality rating systems reflect individual experience?
  Data analysis suggests that approximately 1 in 4 children experiences very little adult-child interaction, even within classrooms at centers that have achieved the highest QRIS rating possible.
• Reflections honoring Black History Month
  Two of our partners share their thoughts on the importance of Black History Month and how they integrate their personal beliefs into their professional work.
• Reflections of a former family child care provider
  There's no shortage of resources out there for family child care providers, but extra time in the day is not one of them.
• Reflections on 2021: Data that motivate, stories that inspire
  Last year around this time, we wrote that “2020 wasn’t the year we planned for.” Has 2021 been any different? Has it been any more normal? Well, yes and no.
• Reflective feedback in parenting interventions: Coming back to the “Why”
  Programs like LENA Start and LENA Home can help parents reflect on their hopes and dreams and follow through on their goals.
• Research Roundup: Babies are real conversational partners
  Want to stay up-to-date on happenings in the realm of early childhood education? Our new blog series is designed to keep you in the loop on the latest early childhood education news, research, and updates. Check it out!
• Research Roundup: Brain Waves, Intelligence, and Voter Attitudes
  Did you know your brain waves sync with your baby’s? Read the study and see other exciting new findings in this month’s research roundup.
• Research Roundup: How adult friendship, socioeconomic status, and screen time may affect developing brains
  Read the latest studies exploring how everything from a child’s socioeconomic status to the hours they spend looking at a screen are related to their brain development.
• Research Roundup: How parents can shape children’s early brain development through reading
  Three new studies highlight how reading supports brain growth and cognitive function.
• Research Roundup: How researchers are using LENA technology to make new discoveries
  Read about how LENA technology is facilitating new research breakthroughs.
• Research Roundup: How researchers are using LENA technology to understand child development
  Learn how different scientists are using LENA technology to better understand how children learn and develop and in what type of environment they thrive.
• Research Roundup: How social influences shape a child’s development
  Read new research that sheds light on how children’s peers, caregivers, and social environments may affect their development.
• Research Roundup: How to reduce the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
  Explore research-based strategies for helping children overcome adversity.
• Research Roundup: Learning during the first few years of life
  Three new studies provide insight into how children learn during the first months and years of life.
• Research Roundup: Long-term impacts of early childhood education
  Read about new studies examining the long-term impacts of early childhood education on individuals and society as a whole.
• Research Roundup: Maternal depression and paternal parentese in the context of COVID
  In the context of COVID, two studies put mothers, fathers, and the language environments they nurture in stark relief.
• Research Roundup: New information on infant language acquisition
  Read summaries of three newly-published studies exploring how young children develop and acquire language.
• Research Roundup: NICU interventions enhance interactive talk with premature babies
  Two recent publications from researchers at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island highlight the promise of interventions aimed at increasing preterm infants’ exposure to adult interaction in the NICU.
• Research Roundup: Supporting young children and caregivers during crisis
  As normal caregiving routines are disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak, three research studies provide insight into how to support children and caregivers.
• Research Roundup: The Latest Findings on Reading
  We all know we should read with kids. But why? See the latest research on how reading affects child development.
• Research shows links between LENA Grow participation and social-emotional growth
  Analyses reveal strong evidence that LENA Grow may give children’s social-emotional development a boost. 
• Resources to help support your family and community during COVID-19
  Amidst mounting pressures, we believe the core truths of LENA still apply: early talk is key, and caregivers are the secret sauce.
• Results from parent survey confirm LENA Start is building stronger families
  We analyzed data from 1,700 program participants and found that families report spending more time with children, talking more, and feeling more confident in their parenting abilities.
• Rethinking School Readiness in Early Childhood Education: Webinar Highlights
  What truly prepares a child for kindergarten? Early childhood educators discuss all things school readiness related in this webinar!
• Rural school districts: Challenges, opportunities, and LENA
  Every rural school district has its defining features and challenges, but they all share a common opportunity: boosting early talk and getting a jump start on school readiness.
• Scaling a statewide early childhood quality initiative in Ohio
  In a new case study, we explore the how/why/when/where of Ohio's statewide implementation of the LENA Grow professional development program.
• School districts use LENA programs to improve kindergarten readiness, child outcomes
  School districts around the country are increasingly investing in the early years to give children an equitable start long before kindergarten.
• School readiness team at Huntsville City Schools uses LENA Start to increase children’s kindergarten readiness
  To help prepare children to succeed in kindergarten, one school district in northern Alabama launched an early language intervention to boost cognitive development in children ages 0-3.
• Sequatchie Valley Head Start uses LENA Grow to meet performance standards for professional development
  Sequatchie Valley Head Start uses LENA Grow to meet federal coaching requirements and work with teachers geographically separated over five counties.
• Simple, timely resources to build resilience in child care through talk
  As child care programs navigate disruption this fall, a focus on maintaining positive interactions can help reduce stress and build responsive relationships.
• Social-Emotional Development in Early Childhood: New Evidence of LENA Grow’s Effectiveness
  New data analysis suggests LENA Grow accelerates social-emotional development, a strong sign of kindergarten readiness.
• Some of our favorite books for the 0-5 year olds in your life!
  An assortment of the LENA Team's favorite books, in honor of National Reading Month.
• Sounding the alarm about young children’s language development: A look back at our most viewed content of 2022
  A look back at some of the blog posts and webinars that attracted the most eyes and ears in 2022.
• State leaders on sustaining and scaling quality initiatives in early childhood education: Five lessons learned
  Lesson #1: States can fund quality initiatives without sacrificing their commitment to access. ... What else did we learn from state leaders in Ohio and Tennessee about scalable early childhood initiatives?
• State of Colorado helps FCC providers build confidence, self-esteem, and relationships with children with LENA Grow
  The professional development program has been built into Colorado’s statewide initiative to improve quality in infant and toddler care.
• Study finds causal link between conversational turns and socioemotional development in babies
  Updated with new data insights! Researchers in Santiago, Chile, have used LENA technology to show important connections between conversational turns and social-emotional development in very young children.
• Study finds that families who participate in LENA Start increased adult words, conversational turns, and child vocalizations
  Families who participated in LENA Start provided increasingly rich home language environments for their children, expanding how much they talked to and with them over the duration of the three-month class, compared to families who did not attend, a new study has found.
• Study from University of Minnesota finds LENA Start fits well into community infrastructure
  A new study on LENA Start from the University of Minnesota discovered that the program can be successfully implemented in community-based settings and that families enjoy participating.
• Supporting multilingual learners: Webinar highlights
  Highlights from a LENA webinar: New data analysis on how much interaction dual language learners experience with their teachers in child care settings amplifies a call to action.
• Survey results suggest LENA Grow improves educators’ professional outlook
  Does LENA Grow help early childhood educators increase self-efficacy and job satisfaction as professionals who play a critical role in children’s lives?
• Survey results: How COVID-19 is impacting child care providers
  Our team surveyed hundreds of people working with young children – including teachers, family child care providers, and center directors — to better understand how they have and will continue to adapt to protect the wellbeing of their children and staff during the coronavirus outbreak.
• Talking with infants, structuring community partnerships, and more: A look back at our most popular content of 2021
  A look back at some of the blog posts, webinars, reports, and resources that attracted the most eyes and ears in 2021.
• Teachers and coaches share their experiences with LENA Grow
  We’ve interviewed LENA Grow participants nationwide for an inside look at what it’s like to complete the professional development program for early childhood teachers.
• Teachers, children benefit from LENA Grow Pilot with Teaching Strategies
  During the four-month pilot, LENA technology was used to measure talk and provide objective feedback to early childhood educators in two early childhood classrooms in central Virginia. In one classroom, an impressive 87.5 percent of children experienced an increase in either adult words or conversational turns.
• The Importance of Early Literacy in Early Childhood Programs
  What exactly IS early literacy anyway? And how can early childhood education program decision makers help support these critical skills?
• The positive impact of LENA Grow certification
  LENA’s research team completed an analysis of the impact that certification has on teachers who participate in LENA Grow.
• The power of conversational turns in early childhood education: Head Start is doing it right!
  There’s a lot that goes into creating high-quality early childhood education. One simple yet powerful ingredient is a focus on fostering teacher-child interactions and creating robust language environments. Head Start and Early Head Start One show tremendous promise in that regard.
• The Power of Responsive Interactions in Supporting Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health: Webinar highlights
  What roles do conversational turns and responsive relationships play in infant and early childhood mental health?
• Thoughts on 15 years and the staying power of LENA
  Reflecting on the past 15 years, Judi and I are struck once again by how much the team at LENA has achieved drawing from Terry’s first insights and ideas.
• Three moms share stories of their LENA Start experience
  Survey results tell us that families’ enthusiasm for LENA Start has held steady more than a year into the pandemic. Three personal family stories show us why.
• Tips for organizing early education classrooms to increase conversational turns
  Your room’s arrangement, materials, and how you present them all affect learning, for both the children and you. How can you create a space that lets you focus on strong relationships with the children you care for?
• To improve quality in child care, Dallas nonprofit looks to LENA Grow with virtual coaching sessions
  Coaches have created a new system to ensure teachers are still receiving crucial PD on how to support early brain development.
• To improve quality outcomes, Early Head Start program looks to LENA Grow for timely feedback
  Learn how one of the most successful Early Head Start programs in the country used LENA Grow to improve quality classroom practices.
• Two moms establish new parenting habits through LENA Start classes
  Best friends Kathryn Royse and Samantha Stover enrolled in LENA Start classes in Houston together and began looking for ways to increase conversation at home.
• Understanding Challenging Behavior in Early Childhood Education: A Focus on Communication Skills
  Discover how to identify and respond to challenging behaviors in early childhood education classrooms and explore how LENA can help!
• Understanding how to support early brain development: Four themes that emerged in 2019
  This year, we explored many different aspects of early brain development through special webinars, blog posts, and conversations with experts. Here, we’ve highlighted four themes that emerged during 2019.
• Understanding Kindergarten Readiness as a Pathway to Lifelong Learning
  Kindergarten readiness (sometimes called "school readiness") means a lot of things to a lot of people ... but what exactly is it?
• Universities use LENA to put early childhood research into action
  Universities that use LENA are putting research into action, producing valuable data, and creating hands-on learning opportunities for students and faculty.
• Urban library expands reach and impact through community partnerships
  San Mateo County Libraries has built successful partnerships to boost the reach and impact of their programs. Learn about how they are delivering LENA Start through partnerships with San Mateo County Housing Authority, Ravenswood Family Health Center, and The Primary School.
• Virginia Beach adapts to virtual programming to boost child outcomes, reduce caregiver stress
  When the coronavirus pandemic hit, the team in Virginia Beach knew that they couldn’t afford to wait to transition to virtual programming for families and teachers.
• Virginia Beach family increases two-generation, bilingual engagement with children through LENA Start
  Taking LENA Start classes helped the Ochoa family learn to connect with their children in new ways.
• Virtual LENA Start classes help parents and teachers to connect and collaborate
  At Best Memories Academy in Orlando, parents and teachers are partnering together virtually to create rich early childhood language environments for children.
• Virtual retention: Strategies for keeping families engaged in a community program
  There are intentional methods you can integrate within your virtual communication to cultivate a space that welcomes vulnerability, trust, and collaborative participation.
• Webinar follow-up and reflections: Do COVID babies “talk” less?
  Highlights and topics that emerged from our webinar on caregiver-child interactions during COVID with Dr. Sean Deoni and Dr. Jill Gilkerson.
• What’s new in LENA Start 3.0
  We’re excited to share that we’ve released a new version of our group program for parents and families.
• Why I joined LENA after 25 years in the public school system
  Laura Camp, one of LENA’s most recent hires, joined the team after 25 years in public education. Read about why she left to join the movement to close the talk gap.
• With language and social delays on the rise, here’s one part of the solution
  New data analysis shows that LENA Grow may help boost language and social-emotional Teaching Strategies GOLD® scores.
• With technology uptake, individual circumstance is everything
  A study out of Australia has applied a unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model to LENA, underlining the importance of paying attention to parents’ individual circumstances.
• Year in review: Looking back at progress in the midst of a pandemic
  2020 wasn’t the year we planned for. Yet, we’ve adapted, and the pivots have had impressive outcomes.