THIRTY MILLION WORD GAP INITIATIVE: SUPPORTED BY THE LENA FOUNDATION

LENA Philosophy LENA Research Foundation believes that the more talk and conversational engagements a child experiences in the first four years, the better off he or she will be in academics and society. With its growing list of LENA System products, the foundation is determined to help close the gap between the haves and have nots that frequently divides this country and the world.

What is LENA? LENA stands for "Language ENvironment Analysis." The LENA System provides more than 25 different metrics on the natural language environment of children, including estimates and percentile scores for adult words spoken to the child, conversational turns, and child vocalizations. The system also generates an automatic expressive language developmental age and percentile score based on a child’s voiceprint. Experts on LENA

LENA Start LENA with LENA Mobile™ Single-page feedback reporting, automatic goal setting Integrated text messaging (Spanish/English) Smarter Happier Baby Laser focused on words, turns, and shared book reading Video-based, efficient delivery 14 Talking Tips that are research-based for increasing language interactions Parent center group meetings Integrates two effective developmental assessments Ready for demonstration site deployments 2Q 2015

How LENA Works LENA Digital Language Processor (DLP) Record up to 16 hours of continuous speech data Collect and manage multiple recordings from a variety of clients or groups Process up to 120 audio files per month View reports in five-minute, hourly, daily, or monthly time frames Listen to and view audio files Mark, organize, and find specific audio segments easily and efficiently Add research or clinician notes and comments Export data and audio Conduct advanced analyses using the ADEX data mining tool

LENA System Core Language Metrics Adult Word Count (AWC): The AWC is the number of words a child hears from an adult within a specific period. The LENA System provides breakdowns of AWC in five-minute, hourly, daily, and monthly reports. Conversational Turns (CTs): CTs occur when a child vocalizes (initiates) and an adult responds or an adult speaks (initiates) and a child responds. Each time that happens one turn is counted. CTs are one of the only ways to measure engaged interaction with a child. The LENA System offers breakdowns of CTs in five-minute, hourly, daily, and monthly reports. Child Vocalizations (CVs): A CV is counted when child speech of any length is surrounded by greater than 300 milliseconds of silence or other sound that is not child speech. CVs do not include cries or vegetative sounds. The LENA System provides breakdowns of CVs in five-minute, hourly, daily, and monthly reports.

LENA Pro Data Flow

LENA Start Data Example

LENA Research Findings Parents estimate that they talk more with their children than they actually do. Most language training comes from mothers, with mothers providing 75 percent of the total talk in a child's environment. Mothers talk approximately 9 percent more to their daughters than to their sons. Parents talk more to their firstborn child than to their other children. Most adult talk in a child's environment occurs in the late afternoon or early evening. Children of talkative parents are also talkative. The more television a child watches, the lower his or her language ability scores tend to be. Parents of children with autism tend to talk less the more severe their child's symptoms. Conversely, the stronger their child's language abilities, the more parents talk.

LENA ™ and the Thirty Million Word Gap: The LENA Research Foundation is a non-profit 501c3 charitable organization. The Foundation develops advanced technology for the early screening, research, and treatment of language delays and disorders in young children. Over a five-year period, the foundation created the LENA (Language ENvironment Analysis) System, the world’s first automatic language collection and analysis tool and the foundation’s principal technology. The foundation employs a team of scientists and engineers skilled in computerized speech and speaker recognition, microelectronics, statistical research, and children’s language acquisition and development; they are dedicated to helping the foundation improve language development worldwide. (taken from information provided by the LENA Foundation)

What is the LENA™ START Project? Early childhood language intervention program It consists of five primary components 1. The LENA™ System 2. LENA Mobile™ 3. Smarter Happier Baby™ 4. Efficient parent-group delivery 5. Training, analysis, and support A center based program designed to effectively benefit a large number of families (taken from information provided by the LENA Foundation)

Smarter Happier Baby™ (SHB) Parent program that efficiently teaches parents to increase words and conversational turns with their child. A short series of lessons utilizes succinct instructional videos, video demonstrations, and print materials to teach caregivers how to apply the feedback from the LENA™ System in their daily lives. At the core of SHB: a research-based set of 14 easily- learned behaviors to help parents and caregivers increase language interactions while talking, reading, and singing to the child. (taken from information provided by the LENA foundation)

Efficient Parent Group Delivery Parent group meeting format, with all electronic and print materials prepackaged for easy and standardized delivery by volunteer or peer coordinators. Emphasis on shared book reading – proven to be one of the most powerful ways to increase words, conversational turns, vocabulary, and school readiness. (taken from information provided by the LENA foundation)

LENA™ START LENA™ START wraps video instruction and peer-support sessions around regular use of LENA™ System data in a short series of structured meetings reinforced by follow- up practice and support sessions. LENA™ technology supplies a regular flow of key metrics, like number of words and conversational interactions, throughout the program. This motivates parents, triggers corrective actions, and documents growth, while aggregated statistics guide case and program management and provide transparency to stakeholders. (taken from information provided by the LENA foundation )

Let’s work together to close the thirty million word gap for our at-risk students!