At LENA, we believe that adult caregivers have the power to make a difference in a child’s life. Helping parents – and early childhood teachers – use that power to boost vocabulary and literacy is a good thing.
New research strengthens link between adult-child conversation and brain structure, reading skills
A new study exploring associations between family socioeconomic background, children’s brain structure, and children’s reading skills indicates that children who experience more conversational turns may have increased brain growth, and in turn, better reading skills.
Q&A with Dr. Fred Zimmerman
Dr. Zimmerman explains his latest research into how environments and external factors affect population health and child development.
From the archives: Conversations with adults boost child language development, study finds
UCLA professor Dr. Frederick Zimmerman explains his 2009 research which indicates conversational turns have unique power to boost child language development.
It’s never too late for interactive talk! Your questions on conversational turns research answered.
In 2018, researchers published three studies examining the long- and short-term effects of interactive talk. Here we’ve answered the top questions on the role of conversational turns in child development.
Research Roundup: How researchers are using LENA technology to make new discoveries
Read about how LENA technology is facilitating new research breakthroughs.
Mom credits pre-teen son’s success to increased interactive talk in early childhood
Christine Gardy, a mom who gained insights from LENA feedback while her son was just a baby, attributes much of his success 10 years later to increased interactive talk.
A parent perspective on LENA’s new longitudinal study
Parent Traci Martin shares strategies for unpacking new research with parents, teachers, and caregivers.
Harnessing the power of toddler talk for long-term child outcomes
Megan Carolan, Director of Policy Research at the Institute for Child Success, shares how families, schools, and communities can all play a role in driving child language development.
New research says how much you talk with babies is linked to their IQ in adolescence
10-year longitudinal study published in Pediatrics correlates interactive talk in early childhood with later cognitive outcomes.
First paper published linking conversational turns with brain structure
The first research showing a relationship between conversational turns and brain structure has ben published in JNeurosci. The paper investigates how back and forth interaction between children and their adult caregivers relate to white matter connectivity in the brain.
New research sheds light on the importance of conversational turns
New research by a team at Harvard and MIT used LENA technology and brain imaging to measure the relationship between children’s language experience and their brain activity. The study found that conversational turns predicted variance in verbal scores, while the sheer number of adult words did not.