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Birmingham Invests $1 Million in Early Childhood Education. What It Means
The City of Birmingham has made its largest investment ever in early childhood education, with a $1 million investment in Birmingham Talks, an initiative that provides curriculum, innovative technology, and personalized coaching to help build language skills in preschool-aged children.
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Overdeck Family Foundation awards LENA $4,605,000 in general operating support
A three-year grant of $4,605,000 in general operating support to LENA to further their work at using coaching to improve the key outcome of early language development.
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‘It is life-changing!’: Virginia Beach TALKS offers free early learning class for parents
Parents and coordinators reflect on the success of Virginia Beach's LENA Start program as it celebrates its third year.
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Podcast: Racing to get kids reading
People Fixing the World: How a race to write books and a gadget that counts words are helping child literacy.
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Quality child care foundational for children’s futures
An investigative television reporter in North Central Wisconsin explores the importance of conversational turns in child care settings.
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Pandemic has made babies and toddlers miss talking and reading milestones
Multiple studies show that infants are talking less because parents haven't been able to engage them in language developing conversations due to COVID.
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Covid-Era Babies Are ‘Talking’ Less, Signaling Future Reading Challenges
We know the pandemic has had a serious negative impact on the academic achievement of school-age children. But recent evidence shows we also need to worry about Covid-era babies and toddlers.
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Do COVID Babies Talk Less
A decline in socializing during COVID could mean less verbalizing for babies born during the pandemic.
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New Research: Babies Born During COVID Talk Less with Caregivers, Slower to Develop Critical Language Skills
Infants born during the pandemic produced significantly fewer vocalizations and had less verbal back-and-forth with their caretakers compared to those born before COVID.
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Pandemic Kids Need Early Language Support. Here’s How Teachers Can Help
To avoid widespread school readiness gaps, experts say teachers and parents need to give children born since the pandemic an immediate language infusion.
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Babies Are Saying Less Since the Pandemic: Why That’s Concerning
Amid the stress and disruption of the pandemic, parents and caregivers have had less time and energy to engage their babies and toddlers in conversation—and the lack of talk already shows in their language skills.
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Can science help poor kids earn more?
In a provocative video, Economist Films explores the role conversational turns may play in what they call "breaking the class ceiling."
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Parents in Delaware Can Improve Their Child’s Literacy Through This Device
"It's a great tool that parents can use that helps them be able to have better conversations for a lack of better terms with their children," said Monica Mandujano, the Spanish coordinator for Lena Start in Delaware.
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Mesquite ISD offering free classes for parents of young kids to help promote verbal development
Outside Dallas, Texas, Mesquite Independent School District is gearing up for LENA Start through its Read, Play, Talk initiative.
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Parenting: It takes a village
In this podcast episode, host Walter Isaacson and guests discuss parenting, how it's evolved from a group activity to something more singular, and how experts and technology are filling in the gaps for new parents.
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Supporting Kindergarten Readiness and Early School Success in a Pandemic Year
While we're still learning about the pandemic's effects on children, it's clear that some learning setbacks have occurred. Overdeck Family Foundation writes about how parents and teachers, with help from organizations like LENA, have stepped up.
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Families find success in LENA Start program
Read Aloud Delaware's LENA Start program, launched in September 2020, has made an impact for families in a short span of time.
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Providing building blocks for lifelong learning and strong communities
In Colorado, LENA Start is one of the many programs Pikes Peak Library District offers so that it “can be a reliable anchor for those with young children in their lives.”
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Bay County Libraries Begin Early Childhood Language Development Program
In Michigan, the Bay County Library System is launching its first LENA Start program.
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Language program for parents and babies offered by Birmingham Talks
After launching its first LENA Start program in the fall of 2020, Birmingham Talks is recruiting families for its next program cycle.
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LIBRARY NEWS: New Early Literacy Program Arrives in Pagosa
In partnership with AmeriCorps and the San Juan BOCES, Archuleta county is launching LENA Start, a talk-based early literacy program focused on children aged birth to three.
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A Look Back on 2020: Supporting Impact in a Year of Challenge and Innovation
The Overdeck Family Foundation reflects on the last year of investments, recognizing the adaptations and challenges that grantees such as LENA have surmounted.
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Invention Opportunity In Early Learning And Development
The pandemic has impacted education at all levels, including early childhood education. As we consider how to rebuild the broken system, LENA programs have emerged as one of several promising, innovative solutions.
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Literacy program looking for new participants
After a successful first group, Read Aloud Delaware is recruiting families to a new virtual LENA Start group.