Research
documents that parental beliefs influence early investments in children,
which, in turn, determine early human capital and, eventually, other skills
children acquire in later stages of the life cycle, such as literacy. Our
paper reports the results of an experimental evaluation of the LENA Start
Program, a group- and center-based parenting program that teaches the science
of early language development, models verbal interaction behaviors with
children, and provides objective feedback to improve the early language
environment. The intervention changes parental beliefs and affects the
quantity and quality of parental linguistic input.
