LENA and the Public Libraries of Saginaw are pleased to announce an initiative to improve kindergarten readiness by encouraging families to talk more with their children. LENA Start features classes for caregivers that employ LENA "talk pedometer" technology to measure how much parents are talking with their children and how much children are responding.
The program will launch at Butman-Fish Library, 1716 Hancock Street in Saginaw, with an informational orientation session on September 24 at 2 p.m.
Interactive talk - specifically back-and-forth conversation - has been proven to be a key factor in healthy early brain development. Yet most families don't know how much they're talking to or with their children. During LENA Start, families use LENA's patented "talk pedometer" technology to measure their child's language environment.
Over the course of the 10 weekly sessions, families will explore this 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. These practices increase the amount of interactive talk children experience, supporting healthy brain development during the critical early years when babies' brains are building more than one million neural connections every second.
The Public Libraries of Saginaw is partnering with the Bay County Library System to offer LENA Start. BCLS received generous grants from Hemlock Semiconductor Community and Regional Empowerment (CARE) Grant Program and the Bay Area Community Foundation to run the program.
This initiative is one of many LENA Start sites launching around the country this year. Since its introduction in 2015, LENA Start has been implemented by school districts, hospitals, library systems, and social service organizations. Results from initial implementations show a 73 percent graduation rate, with improvements in key areas:
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Nearly 70 percent of families are having more conversations with their babies
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Families reported reading 69 percent more with their babies than before
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Children's language scores are growing almost twice as fast as comparison groups
"The LENA Start model is laser-focused on simple, practical ways to help parents improve talk with their babies," said Dr. Stephen Hannon, president of LENA.
Interested caregivers can contact the Butman-Fish Library's Children's Department at (989) 799-9160 or register for the LENA Start Orientation online at www.saginawlibrary.org/event/lena-orientation.
The free 10-week LENA Start class will begin October 10 and run Mondays (except for October 31) at Butman-Fish at 5:30 p.m. A weekly meal and on-site childcare are included with registration in the 10-week class.