LENA - Building brains through early talk
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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!
A documentary film from director Jenny Mackenzie and executive producer LeVar Burton features two LENA Start coordinators and their families.
New data analysis shows that LENA Grow may help boost language and social-emotional Teaching Strategies GOLD® scores.
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?
Researchers from the University of Hartford highlight nine key insights from Hartford’s qualitative evaluation of the LENA Grow program in Hartford, Conn.
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.
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.
What roles do conversational turns and responsive relationships play in infant and early childhood mental health?
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
“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.
Toddler and preschool classrooms across the U.S. provide significantly fewer conversational turns for dual language learners than for their monolingual, English-speaking peers. “[P]romoting language development for children who use heritage languages is among the most important things we can do,” said Dr. Jill Gilkerson, Chief Research and Evaluation Officer at LENA.
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.
“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.
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.
For children who began LENA Start at risk for language delays, the results are especially encouraging.
“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?
Does LENA Grow help early childhood educators increase self-efficacy and job satisfaction as professionals who play a critical role in children’s lives?
Two independent program evaluations of LENA Grow have established the program as evidence-based professional development. See the highlights from the webinar here.
In this video, a long-time preschool teacher in Milwaukee reflects on LENA Grow and what motivates her dedication to the profession.
True to their commitment to bridging research and practice, SproutFive embarked on an independent evaluation of LENA Grow soon after implementing the program.
