Learn how LENA technology supports positive outcomes for social-emotional, language, and cognitive development, delivering equity-minded insights into how children experience interactions on an individual level. Hosted by Smart Start.
LENA - Building brains through early talk
Webinars (7)
“Reading for Our Lives”: A conversation about early talk and early literacy with Maya Smart
In her book Reading for Our Lives: A Literacy Action Plan from Birth to Six, Maya Smart uses the analogy of a road trip to describe the “road to reading” for parents of young children. Early talk can jumpstart the journey.
Kindergarten readiness and conversational turns: Study results point to a boost from LENA Start
A study out of South Carolina has found a correlation between increased conversational turns and higher scores on the state’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment.
What the Texas Rising Star QRIS can tell us about quality child care interactions
In Texas, the most recent review of the early childhood QRIS called for a greater emphasis to be placed on caregiver-child interactions. How is Workforce Solutions for North Central Texas using LENA Grow to help child care providers increase quality adult-child interactions?
The link between language and socioemotional development
Many previous studies have drawn connections between the quantity of back-and-forth interactions in early childhood and later linguistic and cognitive skills. Importantly, newly published research conducted in Chile has taken a novel direction, determining that infants’ language environments predict their socioemotional skills one year later.
The Power of Conversational Turns
Three studies published in 2018 show the relationship between conversational turns and brain development. Join us for a discussion with the lead researchers, Drs. Jill Gilkerson and Rachel Romeo, moderated by Shannon Rudisill of the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative.
Beyond the 30 Million Word Gap: A Conversation with Dr. Rachel Romeo
Join LENA’s president and chief operating officer, Dr. Steve Hannon, as he hosts a conversation with Dr. Rachel Romeo, lead author on a study from Harvard and MIT that sheds light on the underlying neural mechanism that makes conversational turns so critical for brain development.
Blog Posts (24)
“1, 2, 3 Talk with Me”: One mother’s story of completing Virtual LENA Start
Working from home while caring for a baby is an all-too-familiar juggling act these days. A mom in Phoenix tells her story of how LENA Start helped.
Postpartum depression and early talk: My experience
What can you do to ensure you’re supporting parents experiencing perinatal mood or anxiety disorders?
Webinar follow-up and reflections: Do COVID babies “talk” less?
Highlights and topics that emerged from our webinar on caregiver-child interactions during COVID with Dr. Sean Deoni and Dr. Jill Gilkerson.
COVID-era infants vocalize less and experience fewer conversational turns, says LENA research team
COVID-era babies may be at greater risk of experiencing language delays.
A teacher, a coach, and an administrator on LENA Grow’s impact: Webinar highlights
Highlights from a webinar where we hear directly from a teacher, coach, and administrator using LENA Grow.
Kindergarten readiness, parent education, and conversational turns: A statistically significant correlation in a rural South Carolina school district
A study out of Cherokee County, S.C., has found a correlation between parent participation in LENA programs and higher scores on the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment.
Masked up and ready for conversational turns: Helpful hints to maximize interactions in early childhood classrooms
For early childhood teachers, wearing a mask and nurturing quality interactions may be at odds with each other.
Research Roundup: Maternal depression and paternal parentese in the context of COVID
In the context of COVID, two studies put mothers, fathers, and the language environments they nurture in stark relief.
Australia’s LiLO study: Analysis of home language environments from birth to school
Researchers with the LiLO study have set out to measure children’s home language environments every six months from birth to school entrance.
New study links conversational turns with increases in children’s verbal and nonverbal abilities using brain imaging and LENA technology
A study from MIT and Harvard uses LENA technology to investigate how children’s brains changed following an early language intervention.
How to have a conversation with a baby even before they can talk (and how LENA measures it)
LENA technology measures how much adults talk to infants. What does that mean, and how do you do it effectively?
How to build staff buy-in in early learning environments
For early childhood education leaders, getting staff buy-in is an essential part of launching a program like LENA Grow or LENA Start.
Turning children’s books into conversation starters
Here are some tips for turning read-aloud time into interactive conversation time for the young children in your life.
Early brain development in infants and toddlers: Six simple strategies
Early brain development depends so much on having back-and-forth conversations, even for infants and toddlers. Here are six tips to help you talk more!
Inside Early Talk: Our point of greatest leverage for improving children’s futures
LENA has collected and analyzed its most expansive data set to date through the 10,000 children annually impacted by our programs for families and early childhood teachers.
Simple, timely resources to build resilience in child care through talk
As child care programs navigate disruption this fall, a focus on maintaining positive interactions can help reduce stress and build responsive relationships.
New meta-analysis confirms that LENA’s automated measures significantly predict child language outcomes
Researchers found a correlation between three of LENA’s measures – adult word count, conversational turns, and child vocalizations — and children’s language and cognitive skills.
Survey results: How COVID-19 is impacting child care providers
Our team surveyed hundreds of people working with young children – including teachers, family child care providers, and center directors — to better understand how they have and will continue to adapt to protect the wellbeing of their children and staff during the coronavirus outbreak.
LENA researchers’ work featured in new Netflix series
Research by Dr. Eric Walle and Dr. Anne Warlaumont on the relationship between child language development and movement is featured in a new Netflix documentary, Babies.
Study finds that families who participate in LENA Start increased adult words, conversational turns, and child vocalizations
Families who participated in LENA Start provided increasingly rich home language environments for their children, expanding how much they talked to and with them over the duration of the three-month class, compared to families who did not attend, a new study has found.
Let’s NOT stop talking about talk.
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.
Articles (25)
What’s behind a spike in childhood speech development delays across the U.S.
PBS Wisconsin's Zac Schultz reports on what's behind the delays and whether schools have the resources to help teachers, students and caregivers.
In Babies’ Brains, White Matter Is Crucial—and Conversational Turns Make It Grow
A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience uses MRI and LENA technology to show that conversational turns as early as six months of age uniquely predict brain development at two years of age.
‘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.
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.
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.
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.
Do COVID Babies Talk Less
A decline in socializing during COVID could mean less verbalizing for babies born during the pandemic.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
Southwest Colorado program helps parents grow child’s literacy
Families are invited to enroll in a new program to boost language development in infants and toddlers in southwestern Colorado.
Deploying the Power of Talk for Toddlers Reaps Academic and Social Rewards As They Become Adolescents
Conversation with children is a free, powerful, proven tool to boost children’s IQ, language development, and vocabulary into adolescence.
Read Aloud launches initiative to close literacy and talk gap
A statewide nonprofit in Delaware will launch LENA Start to connect with families during the pandemic.
Roberts: Parent Coaching Can Relieve Stress, Bolster Babies’ Language Skills and Create a Deeper Sense of Community
Carly Roberts, a senior program officer at the Overdeck Family Foundation, explains why it is crucial to coach and support parents to benefit children.
Read Aloud Delaware Launches New Partnership to Close Literacy and Talk Gap in Children
Read Aloud Delaware is partnering with a national nonprofit, LENA, to close the talk and literacy gap in children.
The More You Talk to Your Babies, the Smarter They’ll Be as Teens, New Study Finds
Conversations with babies are vital to early growth and development, a 10-year study suggests.
Sioux City recognized for work in supporting early school success
The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading has recognized Sioux City with Pacesetter Honors for its work in 2019, including using LENA Home to boost school readiness for infants and toddlers.
‘Word pedometer’ aims to improve language development for children in Southwest Colorado
LENA Grow and LENA Home encourage teachers and parents to converse more with infants and toddlers in Southwest Colorado.
This Powerful Activity Can Change Your Child’s Brain
Back-and-forth conversations have a significant impact on language development and are important for social, emotional, and cognitive development.
Wyndham Vale Childcare Centre in Australian First to Use Technology to Boost Language Development in Early Childhood
For the first time, an Australian child care center is using LENA Grow professional development with early childhood teachers.
Video: Beyond babble, back-and-forth conversations are critical for baby brains
A video spotlight showcases how early childhood teachers use LENA Grow.