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LENA Start

Category

Family Support

Child's Age

0-1 years, 1-2 years, 2-3 years, 3-4 years

Participant

Children, Parents/Guardian

Languages

English, Spanish

Brief Description

Engages families and helps them learn how to increase conversation with their children during the first few years of life. Families use LENA technology (“talk pedometer”) to measure the child’s language environment, explore data through personalized, actionable feedback reports, and discuss research-based strategies with their peers to increase the quality and quantity of talk at home.

Expected Impact

  • Greater gains in LENA Developmental Snapshot percentile ranks, adult word count, and conversational turns
  • Greater increases in SPEAK scores
  • More likely to receive higher scores on the Star Early Literacy assessment (almost three times as likely to achieve the advanced stage of “Late Emergent Reader”)
  • Average graduation rate of 71% based on attending a minimum of 7 sessions (core sessions 1-4 and 3 remaining sessions) and submitting 6 valid LENA Day recordings.

Core Components for Model Fidelity

The core components can be explored in more detail here. 

  • LENA Day: Families complete one LENA Day each week. A child wears the LENA Device, a “talk pedometer,” that measures their talk environment for a full day. Families must submit 6 valid LENA Day recordings.
  • Parent Group Classes: Over the course of 10 weekly sessions, families explore LENA data in the form of personalized, actionable feedback reports, discussing research-based strategies with their peers to increase the quality and quantity of talk at home. Group size varies depending on program need, typically ranging from 8-15 families.
  • Coordinator Notes: LENA provides coordinators with detailed week-by-week guidance including slide notes and an activity guide.

Languages Materials are Available in

English, Spanish

Delivery Mode

LENA Day: In-person at home.

Parent Group Classes: Virtual, in-person, or hybrid.

Dosage

LENA Day: 6 valid LENA Days, one per week.

Parent Group Classes: 10 weekly 60-minute sessions. Graduation requires attendance at core sessions 1-4 and at least 3 of the remaining sessions (7 of the 10 sessions total).

LENA’s Developmental Snapshot is sent via email/text three times during the program and is not required for graduation.

Infrastructure for Implementation

Materials: Materials purchased through LENA include the Start Coordinator Guides, Parent Resource Bag (which includes the parent workbook), child vests, LENA devices, device dock, Hub Software, and LENA Online subscription. Materials provided by the partner organization outside of their contract with LENA include Windows Laptops (for coordinator use during LENA sessions), 10 age-appropriate books given to each family served (1 per week, with the intention of fostering reading with the child), labels, and storage of LENA devices, child vests, and family materials (such as books).

Space: Partner organizations cover the cost of storage space for materials.

Staffing Requirements

No specific credentials or degrees are required to facilitate LENA Start groups, beyond LENA training. Qualities and skills that make for strong facilitators include comfort with public speaking, passion for working with families, computer skills, and an ability to build relationships. 

LENA staffing requires a session coordinator and recommends a program director. Additional support staff may be necessary depending on the partner site’s needs (may be paid, volunteer, or a hybrid of methods). Caseloads are determined by the partner.

NCPC strongly recommends staff receive training in the Standards of Quality for Family Support and Strengthening. Contact Positive Childhood Alliance North Carolina (PCANC) or National Family Support Network (NFSN) for more information, training, and certification. 

Training for Model Fidelity

LENA provides all training virtually. Training is a combination of asynchronous and synchronous sessions for a total of 5 hours. Each partner will be assigned a LENA Implementation Specialist who delivers training and supports program implementation. 

Ongoing guidance and support are provided to both Program Directors and Program Coordinators. 

More information about training can be found on the LENA Start training site or the LENA Start Staffing and Training PDF.

Contact Information

https://www.lena.org/lena-start/

Jodi Whiteman: Director of Partnerships and Growth; JodiWhiteman@lena.org; 919-426-5271

Cost Estimates

The LENA Start Proposal provides detailed information about the LENA program and its requirements. Pricing is based on the implementation size and the contract length. For information regarding pricing terms, request a quote through info@lena.org. LENA can provide additional resources to support securing funding and presenting LENA Start to internal teams and potential community partners.

Purpose Service Code (PSC)

5505 – Parent Education

Program Identifier (PID)

LENA Start

Minimal Outputs for NCPC Reporting

FY 24-25:

  • Number of children participating
  • Number of parents/guardians participating†

†Select Family Support Programs data collection will include basic demographic data for parent/guardian participants including Race, Ethnicity. Data on interpretation and transportation will be collected when appropriate.

Minimal Outcomes for NCPC Reporting

FY 24-25:

  • Increase in positive parenting practices

Minimal Measures for NCPC Reporting

FY 24-25:

  • LENA Report
  • LENA Online
  • LENA Performance Report

NCPC Evidence Categorization

Evidence Informed- 3 program evaluations. All studies used comparison groups, but only 1 study used propensity matched samples. The other evaluations used nonrandom assignment to comparison or intervention groups.

Research Summary

Three of the most relevant publications on LENA Start include a longitudinal evaluation of LENA Start1 and evaluations of its effectiveness.2 3 Populations sampled in these publications include low-income families, children attending Head Start, and both English- and Spanish-speaking children. Results indicated that LENA Start participants had greater gains in LENA Developmental Snapshot percentile ranks, adult word count, conversational turns, child vocalization count, and SPEAK scores compared to their peers who did not participate in the program. Additionally, program evaluations of LENA Start have shown correlations between LENA Start participation and higher scores on the Star Early Literacy assessment. 

For more information, visit LENA’s webpages dedicated to program effectiveness and research publications.

  1. ^ See Huntsville City Schools and LENA (2019). This report shares findings from a longitudinal evaluation of LENA Start in Huntsville, Alabama. The sample consisted of the first group of English- and Spanish-speaking children whose parents participated in LENA Start (n = 35) and their peers whose parents did not. Assessment occurred at the beginning of pre-k, approximately two and a half years after families completed LENA Start. Research measures including the Star Early Literacy Assessment. Results indicated that LENA Start participant children were more likely to receive higher scores on the Star Early Literacy assessment. Specifically, they were almost three times as likely to achieve the advanced stage of “Late Emergent Reader” compared to their non-participant peers. 
  2. ^ See Elmquist et al. (2021). This study used a non-equivalent groups design to compare outcomes for LENA participants and their non-participant peers. Caregiver-child dyads were recruited from Minnesota’s Early Childhood Family Education programs across two school districts. Families were assigned to the treatment group (LENA Start classes; n = 39) or the comparison group (regular parent education classes; n = 17) based on their selected enrollment in these classes. Statistically significant differences between these non-equivalent groups include a greater percentage of LENA Start families being at or below 185% of the federal poverty line and LENA Start children being an average of 5 months younger than their peers in the comparison group. Research measures included the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (MB-CDI), LENA Developmental Snapshot, LENA Day recordings, LENA Reports, and the LENA Start treatment evaluation survey. Results indicated that LENA Start participants had greater gains in LENA Developmental Snapshot percentile ranks, adult word count, and conversational turns.
  3. ^ See Beecher & Van Pay (2020). This quasi-experimental study sampled 28 caregivers and their children ages 0 to 36 months who were recruited from local libraries in a Midwestern town (intervention group) and 28 propensity-matched caregiver-child dyads who did not participate in the intervention (comparison group). The comparison and intervention groups both completed LENA Day recordings each week, but only the intervention group received feedback, reports, facilitator-led meetings, and other supports. Research measures included the LENA Digital Language Processor, parent demographics survey, and the Survey of Parental Expectations and Knowledge about Language Learning (SPEAK). Participants completed the SPEAK at orientation and at completion/graduation. Results indicated greater increases in adult word count, conversational turns, child vocalization count, and SPEAK scores for the intervention group.

Researched Population

  • Families from urban and rural communities
  • Families identified as low socioeconomic status
  • English-speaking and Spanish-speaking families 
  • Families from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds 
  • Children ages 0-4 years

Beecher, C. C., & Van Pay, C. K. (2020). Investigation of the effectiveness of a community-based parent education program to engage families in increasing language interactions with their children. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 53, 453-463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2020.04.001

Elmquist, M., Finestack, L. H., Kriese, A., Lease, E. M., & McConnell, S. R. (2021). Parent education to improve early language development: A preliminary evaluation of LENA StartTM. Journal of child language, 48(4), 670–698. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000920000458

Huntsville City Schools and LENA. (2019). Initial longitudinal evaluation results: Huntsville children whose parents participated in LENA Start have stronger literacy skills two years later. Huntsville City Schools and LENA (2019).pdf (hubspotusercontent-na1.net)

  • LENA Launch funds may be able to offset costs, depending on philanthropic support. LENA Launch funds open in January/February each year. Philanthropic partners are especially interested in underserved communities. However, LENA Launch funds are not frequently used for LENA Home. 
  • Initial costs for LENA are higher during the first year as affiliate sites invest in the technology. Some organizations in other states have coordinated efforts to share devices among neighboring providers (e.g., LPs in nearby counties could negotiate to share devices).
  • LENA devices can be used for all programs. The device itself is not unique to either LENA Grow, Home, or Start. However, affiliates may need to buy more devices to meet the needs of the community and reach their intended audience.
  • LENA is SOC 2 compliant and has data sharing agreements/contracts that would allow for easy sharing of data while respecting the families’ privacy.


Local Partnerships Currently Implementing

Local Partnerships in purple have adopted LENA Start. Local Partnership contact information can be found here.