Meet the new LENA Grow, redesigned for even greater impact!

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On February 1, we are excited to officially launch the next iteration of LENA Grow, our professional development program for early childhood teachers. Through a streamlined coaching schedule and fully redesigned materials, there has never been a better time to incorporate a focus on early language to your PD initiative.

(Want to skip right to the good stuff? Check out an interactive demo of the new curriculum.)

Why the update?

LENA Grow has dramatically surpassed our expectations, and it was time to take what we’ve learned from the past two years (and 20+ implementations) and roll it into a new curriculum to better serve our partners, the teachers they work with, and ultimately, the 50 percent of American children who spend more than half of their waking hours in early childhood classrooms.

LENA Grow addresses the recognized need for more professional education for early childhood teachers, especially in the birth to three age range. It provides objective measurement of children’s language environments without introducing additional assessments into the classroom. It can also help improve parent and family engagement by making parents more aware of the power of early talk.

Informed by feedback from our partners, the teachers they work with, in-person observations, and, of course, LENA data, we’ve updated every aspect of the curriculum to better support teachers in building early language in the classroom.

What’s new?

  • New tools for implementation, including a complete (but concise) reference guide on how to implement, binders for coaches and teachers to store all program materials, and a newly-created Teacher Workbook that minimizes printing and prep time for coaches and provides an all-in-one resource for teachers.
  • Simplified reports now fit on one page, and highlight the importance of conversational turns and teacher achievements. A new ‘At-a-Glance’ Report that shows you an overview of the progress in each classroom throughout the program.
  • Thanks to our partners at the Early Learning Coalition of Orange County, new Talking Tips videos featuring LENA Grow teachers from Orlando have been added to our library of video vignettes showing interaction in the classroom during daily care routines.
  • Updated fidelity requirements help ensure consistent program outcomes through clear checklists and discussion guides.
  • LENA Certification: Upon completion of a LENA Grow sequence, teachers and coaches can now submit an application to become a certified LENA teacher or coach!

Ready to see it in action?

Explore the curriculum demo!


How is it structured?

An updated coaching sequence builds a strong base with core content and two practice LENA Days. Content is deliberately front-loaded, so that after the first two hour long sessions, the rest of the program can be delivered in coaching sessions that take only about 20 minutes to easily fit into a teacher’s busy day.

Interested in learning more?

Watch a short webinar presented by Jess Simmons, LENA’s Chief Growth Officer, about how LENA Grow works and steps for planning and implementing the program.

LENA Team

The LENA Team is a dedicated group of professionals who are passionate about increasing awareness of the importance of early interactive talk. We are statisticians, speech-language pathologists, curriculum specialists, engineers, and linguists.

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One Comment on “Meet the new LENA Grow, redesigned for even greater impact!”

  1. Oh my!!! Are you “hooked” up with Colorado Shines to be able to have coaching hours, trainings etc. be credited for the
    PDIS? This would benefit centers and teachers greatly!!!

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