LENA (Language ENvironment Analysis) is a national nonprofit on a mission to transform children's futures through early talk technology and data-driven programs. LENA works with a wide range of partner organizations to boost early brain development and improve kindergarten readiness for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
Since 2019, LENA has served 650 children and 110 early childhood educators in North Carolina, and LENA technology has recorded over 810,000 conversational turns. Put your community on the map!
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LENA Grow
offers evidence-based professional development for infant, toddler, and preschool teachers.
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LENA Start
builds school readiness and strengthens families with parent-group classes.
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LENA SP
offers reliable, detailed language environment data in research and clinical applications.
📂 Download the LENA Grow Crosswalk with North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development.
LENA also has crosswalks with Head Start, CLASS, The Pyramid Model, ZERO TO THREE, and more!
LENA is scaling quickly and has a goal to impact over 100,000 children annually worldwide by 2025. Whether you're with a library, school district, CCR&R, state agency, university-community partnership, public health initiative, or any other organization interested in improving early childhood outcomes, we invite you to learn more about bringing LENA to your community.
Connect with
Jodi Whiteman,
Director of Partnerships and Growth
JodiWhiteman@LENA.org
Read these and other stories about partner success stories and research findings in North Carolina and beyond.
Approximately one in four children experiences very little adult-child interaction, even within classrooms at centers that have achieved the highest QRIS rating possible.
LENA Grow is designed to make every interaction count in early childhood education. The new enhancements make it easy, inclusive, and equitable.
Highlights from a webinar where we hear directly from a teacher, coach, and administrator using LENA Grow.
Learn how library systems have reconceptualized early learning in their communities and how they’ve incorporated LENA Start into their visions as early learning innovators.
Many previous studies have drawn connections between the quantity of back-and-forth interactions in early childhood and later linguistic and cognitive skills. Importantly, newly published research conducted in Chile has taken a novel direction, determining that infants’ language environments predict their socioemotional skills one year later.
While we’ve long known about the importance of early adult-child interactions, a research focus on children’s language experiences in child care classrooms has been long overdue.
