We find ourselves in the unprecedented position to understand the early language environments of very young children and answer questions we’ve been hearing from the early childhood education field for years.
Virtual Family Engagement: Ingredients for Success
How have our partners adapted to the pandemic’s challenges? Learn about practical strategies that worked for them, and get your creative, problem-solving juices flowing as you design your family engagement strategy for 2021.
Supporting teachers in building a responsive caregiving environment
There’s a wide variability of interactions across child care settings. What makes an interaction a quality interaction, and how do we reduce teacher stress while supporting their drive for quality interactions?
Supporting young children and families during COVID: Launching new programs and adapting to virtual family engagement
We hear from an organization that has recently launched a new LENA Start program and another that has shifted their existing program from in-person to virtual. What are their go-to strategies for effective family engagement in a virtual context?
LENA for Libraries
Learn more about how libraries can incorporate LENA programs into their offerings for patrons. How have our current library partners achieved positive results?
Funding a Head Start Model that Will Change the Course of Children’s Lives: Strategies for a Winning Head Start Application
In September 2020, the Office of Head Start released over $1 billion in Head Start funding competitions. How do you develop a vision and strategy for writing a compelling Head Start application?
Introduction to LENA for Head Start Association Staff
Learn about how we partner with Head Start programs to promote language and literacy skill development in both center- and home-based programs.
Head Start Funding Opportunities
How can we leverage funding opportunities to integrate a trauma-informed approach to accelerating language and literacy skills?
A conversation with Black Family Development on culturally responsive programming through a racial equity lens
Black Family Development, based in Detroit, implements programming to improve outcomes for children and communities. Learn how they do this through a racial equity lens.
Building culturally responsive, strengths-based programming across languages: Approaches from Denver and New Zealand
We talk with program implementers in both the United States and New Zealand who are building culturally and linguistically responsive programming. Learn how they’re succeeding.
Connecting Cradle to Career: Why Universities Need to Care About Early Childhood
Learn how Adelphi University and the University of the Pacific have taken on innovative roles in their communities’ cradle-to-career (C2C) pipelines.
Mitigating the Academic and Social Impacts of COVID-19 in Child Care
COVID-19 recommendations have changed the way child care providers are able to interact with children and support their early academic and social development. How can we continue to adapt while creating a positive learning environment?
Introduction to LENA Start
Learn more about LENA Start — its effectiveness, its ease of implementation, and more. LENA Start is a parent group model designed to support increased early language development and interaction.
Every child ready by kindergarten: A case study in one school district’s vision of early childhood
New neuroscience research shows us that the first five years of a child’s life are the most critical period for brain development. What are school districts doing to give all children an equitable start?
Integrating LENA Home into Early Head Start Programs
Learn how Early Head Start programs can integrate LENA into their supports for families. LENA Home, which embraces a trauma-informed approach, helps home visitors individualize their coaching and meet families where they are.
Integrating Innovative Professional Development for EHS/HS classrooms into Statewide Systems
Mississippi is piloting a systems-level approach to supporting Early Head Start/Head Start providers in order to meet their school readiness goals. Learn how they’re rolling out job-embedded professional development designed to increase the quality of caregiver-child engagement.
Integrating Professional Development for Family Child Care Providers into Statewide Systems
Family child care providers face unique challenges. Colorado is trying to combat these challenges with job-embedded professional development. Learn more about the initiative and its early results.
Introduction to LENA Grow
Find out how LENA Grow is helping teachers increase interactive conversations in early childhood classrooms, and learn about the impacts we’ve seen with the program so far.
Family Resiliency and Early Language: Leveraging a Public Health Lens With Interactive-Talk Initiatives to Improve Child Outcomes
In this webinar, medical practitioners help us understand early language development through a public health lens. How does interactive talk build family resiliency?
Implementing a new community program: What we’ve learned in the first five years of LENA Start
Learn more about LENA Start, 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.
Creating Inclusive and Equitable Classroom Experiences
What does equity look like in early childhood classrooms? Learn concrete strategies for supporting coaches, teachers, and administrators in fostering more equitable classroom environments.
Providence Talks Replication: Early Childhood Innovation at the Municipal Level
Providence Talks was one of the first early language initiatives implemented at the municipal level, with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies. Learn how the program is being replicated in five more cities.
How to Implement LENA Start with Parents Younger than 20
With LENA Start, families can use “talk pedometer” technology to measure and improve their child’s language environment. How does LENA Start work with groups of teenage parents specifically? What are the unique challenges and opportunities that come with serving this age range?
Building Classroom Quality Through Language
How can organizations support teachers in building classroom quality through interactive language? See where we stand and learn about the challenges and opportunities associated with increasing interactions.
Introduction to LENA SP
Learn more about LENA SP, a tool for researchers, clinicians, language professionals, and others who need detailed, scientifically reliable speech-language measurements of children 2 months to 48 months old.
Introduction to LENA Home
Learn about LENA Home, an add-on to existing home visiting programs that combines a flexible, research-based curriculum with evidence-based feedback from LENA’s “talk pedometer” technology. How is LENA helping parents and home visitors collaborate to improve children’s language environments?
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.
Maximizing Coaching Sessions with LENA Grow Data
How do we support teachers in making strong connections between data and action? Join us as we talk through the insights embedded in LENA metrics and strategies for using them to foster a strengths-based dialogue with teachers that builds enthusiasm for classroom talk.
Field notes: LENA Start implementers on building community partnerships
Forming partnerships is one of the most effective ways to supercharge your program’s reach and impact. In this webinar, hear from a panel of representatives from LENA Start sites on how they’ve identified and engaged key partners.
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.
