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Interested in learning more about bringing LENA Start to your community?

Continue to Readiness Assessment

Build school readiness and strengthen families with parent-group classes.

Build school readiness and strengthen families with parent-group classes.

Measurable outcomes delivered through a scalable, ready-to-launch community program.

LENA Start is an evidence-based community program designed to engage families and help them learn how to increase conversation with their children during the first few years of life. Interactive talk — specifically back-and-forth conversation — has been proven to be a key factor in healthy early brain development. Yet most families don’t know how much they’re talking to or with their children.

During LENA Start, families use LENA’s patented “talk pedometer” technology to measure their child’s language environment. Over the course of 10 weekly sessions that can be delivered virtually or in person, families explore this data in the form of personalized, actionable feedback reports, discussing research-based strategies with their peers to increase the quantity of talk at home.

LENA Start helps communities reach parents and caregivers of young children through five integrated elements:

English/Spanish book icon

An engaging, bilingual curriculum

teaches parents brain-building talk skills by leveraging instructional videos, peer-group sharing, printed resources, and self reflection.
Explore the curriculum.

14 Talking Tips icon

The 14 Talking Tips

integrate easily into daily routines and help participants boost interactive talk throughout the day.
Download a copy.

LENA technology icon

LENA technology

accurately measures the amount of talk in a child’s environment and creates easy-to-understand feedback reports for caregivers. 
Learn more.

The LENA Online™ portal

simplifies program administration and provides real-time insight into each family’s progress, supporting individualized coaching.

Training, data analysis, and ongoing support

are provided by dedicated LENA staff to help ensure successful implementations with high fidelity.

English/Spanish book icon

An engaging, bilingual curriculum teaches parents brain-building talk skills by leveraging instructional videos, peer-group sharing, printed resources, and self reflection. Explore the curriculum.

14 Talking Tips icon

The 14 Talking Tips integrate easily into daily routines and help  participants boost interactive talk throughout the day. Download a copy.

LENA technology icon

LENA technology accurately measures the amount of talk in a child’s environment and creates easy-to-understand feedback reports for caregivers. Learn more.

The LENA Online™ portal simplifies program administration and provides real-time insight into each family’s progress, supporting individualized coaching.

Training, data analysis, and ongoing support are provided by dedicated LENA staff to help ensure successful implementations with high fidelity.

Meet families where they are, virtually or in person.


LENA Start can be delivered virtually, in person, or through a combination of in-person and virtual sessions. The virtual classes offer a unique opportunity for families to connect safely during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, providing an antidote to the increased stress, tension, and social isolation many are experiencing. Whether you choose to go fully virtual or utilize a hybrid approach, LENA’s Partner Success team will be available to help you determine which option is the perfect fit for your community.


“When I listened to the parents I serve, I realized that I needed to do more, especially in this time of crisis. Right now we have families at home, not knowing what to do, not knowing if they are giving their children the right tools to be successful in school.”

Lyana Vázquez, Center Director of Best Memories Academy in Orlando, Florida

What kinds of organizations implement LENA Start?


School districts, libraries, healthcare systems, and community- based nonprofits across the country have reached more than 4,500 children and families through LENA Start. Check out our interactive map of program partners and explore some of their unique impact stories:



Proven impacts


LENA Start is a catalyst for positive change in individual families and entire communities alike.
Read more on the Effectiveness page.

LENA Locations

Reach

10k+ families

across

50+ partner
organizations.


Interaction

11-point percentile
gain in conversational
turns between
children and their
caregivers.

Language

Children gain nearly two
months of developmental
skill every month, and the
gains endure for 2+
years.

Literacy

Children are 3x more likely
to achieve “Late Emergent
Reader” on the Star Early
Literacy® assessment than
a matched control group.

Reading

On average, parents
increase the time they
spend reading with
their children every
day by 63%.

What the research says


Inside Early Talk, the latest report from LENA's research team, takes a close look at how the highest-talk caregivers accomplish so many conversational turns with their children. It turns out they aren't talking nonstop! That's good news for the rest of us, because it means creating higher-quality language environments is an attainable goal.

Download Inside Early Talk

Still looking for more info? Here a few places to get started: read our five-step guide to launching a new LENA program, schedule a time to talk with our partnerships team, or complete a readiness assessment.