A multi-site investigation of outcomes associated with LENA grow coaching

Despite extensive research and investment, persistent disparities in educational achievement continue to be observed for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Public health experts emphasize the significance of early language experience and caregiver talk, also known as “language nutrition,” in improving children's outcomes. A large body of research has demonstrated the effectiveness of Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) technology in conjunction with coaching for parents. LENA software uses audio recordings to automatically compute objective data about the language environment. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of LENA Grow coaching in promoting language nutrition and enhancing language environments in Early Head Start classrooms. We recruited 28 classrooms located in urban, low socioeconomic neighborhoods to participate in the study. Eighteen classrooms implemented LENA Grow and 10 classrooms served as the control group. The results indicated positive effects on language nutrition metrics such as conversational turn count and adult word count per hour, as well as improvements in children's early literacy skills for the LENA Grow classrooms. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.