Play and Learn Groups with LENA® Feedback

Ready to Read is an innovative program designed to increase early literacy skills among low-income children from birth to age three in Denver. Play and Learn Groups (PLGs) are structured play groups for young children and their caregiver(s) led by a trained facilitator. The Language Environment Analysis system (LENA®) is an audio-recording device that children wear for 10 to 16 hours to record the home literacy environment. Facilitators then present the LENA results to parents (referred to as LENA Feedback) and discuss ways to increase meaningful adult-child interactions that support the development of oral language and communication skills.

Study Goals:

The evaluation included an implementation study that focused on observing how the program was implemented and operated. It also included an impact study that sought to determine the extent to which the feedback influenced participants’ language-rich interactions, book reading, and oral language and communication skills relative to those who did not receive feedback.

Research Questions:

The research questions were:

• Implementation Questions:
  • How many individuals were trained on Dialogic Reading (DR)?
  • How many PLG and DR coaching sessions were received by facilitators?
  • How frequently did parents in the DR plus LENA Feedback group receive LENA Feedback?
  • What were parents’ perceptions of the LENA Feedback? Did they find it useful? Did they understand the LENA reports?
  • What are the characteristics of the LENA intervention as it is being implemented?
  • What is the consistency of program delivery?
  • What is the quality of program delivery?
• Impact Questions:
  • Do parents in the DR plus LENA Feedback group show greater gains in their support of their child’s language and literacy development than parents in the DR Only group?
  • Do children in the DR plus LENA Feedback group demonstrate greater increases in their oral language and communication skills than children in the DR Only group?
  • Do parents who receive more LENA Feedback show greater gains in their support of their child’s language and literacy development than those who do not receive feedback?
  • Do children whose parents receive more LENA Feedback demonstrate greater increases in their oral language and communication skills than children whose parents do not receive feedback?

Findings:

The study found the following:

• Parents in the intervention group (who received LENA® Feedback and DR) made statistically significant gains over time in support of their child(ren)’s language and literacy skills, while comparison parents (in the DR-only group) remained stable or showed more modest gains.

For more information, download the full report and report brief.