1. LENA: LANGUAGE ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS
Image from LENA Research Foundation. (2011) LENA Every Word Counts. Retrieved from
SARA MARKER, DEBBIE REMLEY, GLENDA SMITH

2. WHAT IS LENA? An automatic language collection and analysis system
Collects data:
Adult-Child Interactions
Adult Words
Turn Taking
Child Utterances
Electronic Sounds
(LENA Foundation, 2011d)

3. WHO CREATED LENA? The LENA Research Foundation
Nonprofit Charity Organization
Created by Judith and Terry Paul
Strives for advancements in technology
Specific to assessments, research and treatment
(LENA Foundation, 2011a)

4. HOW IS LENA USED? MATERIALS NEEDED?
Used for children 2 months to 4.0 years of age
A child wears specialized clothing (LENA clothing)
A LENA Digital Language Processor (DLP) slips into pocket
The DLP gathers data from child’s daily speech and language encounters.
Professionals and researchers use the LENA software to transcribe, interpret and analyze language data.
(LENA Foundation, 2011d)

5. WHERE IS LENA USED? Over 80 Universities 7 Research Institutes
10 Public Schools
13 Organizations for Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
7 Hospitals
3 Non-Profit Agencies
(LENA Foundation, 2011e)

6. BENEFITS OF LENA?
According to The LENA Foundation (2011c), benefits include:
Gathers data from high quality audio to analyze (16 hours)
morphology, phonology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, language acquisition, adult-child and child to child interactions, and code switching (¶1).
Transcribes data
Calculates word and approximate utterance counts, frequencies, and durations
Calculates sound pressures, amount of TV/electronic sounds
Used to study literacy and child development

7. DISADVANTAGES OF LENA? Cost: According to The LENA Foundation (2011f),
LENA Home System (For parents) = $699.00
LENA Digital Processor (DLP) = $ each
LENA PRO: One has to call for a quote $$$$$
Clothing sold separately: $15.00 each
Miscellaneous accessories $$
Analysis is very time consuming (Abbie McCauley, Personal Communication, 2011)
The default analysis program is not as meaningful as ADEX software (Abbie McCauley, Personal Communication, 2011)

8. WHAT OTHERS’ SAY ABOUT LENA?
Dr. Steve Warren (Expert in Autism Spectrum Disorders) discusses how LENA may help researchers and professionals understand ASD:
According to Dr Gina Gomez de la Cuesta from The National Autistic Society: "Any tools which could help to identify speech and language difficulties at a younger age have the potential to help families, when used with professional guidance” (BBC, 2010).
According to Yoshinaga-Itano, Gilkerson, Baca, Beams, and Wiggins (2011), “[LENA] provides an important piece of information about the language environment of the child when not in therapy” (Slide 30).

9. REFERENCES
BBC. (2010). Voice technology ‘could help detect autism’. Retrieved from LENA Foundation. (2011a). About us. Retrieved from LENA Foundation. (2011b). Every word counts. [Image]. Retrieved from LENA Foundation. (2011c). Innovative uses of LENA Pro. Retrieved from LENA Foundation. (2011d). LENA Pro q & a. Retrieved from LENA Foundation. (2011e). List of LENA Pro users. Retrieved from LENA Foundation. (2011f). Welcome to LENA shop. Retrieved from NBCActionNews. (2011). Autism organization honors KU study. [Video File]. Retrieved from Yoshinaga-Itano, C., Gilkerson, J., Baca, R., Beams, D., & Wiggins, M. (2011). Adding the missing link to language assessment: LENA. [PowerPoint Slides]. Retreived from Itano2.pdf