<\/p>\n
Language defines how we communicate with one another, how we interact with the world. But language development is just as vital, impacting our learning abilities and shaping how we think.<\/p>\n
That is why a team of education and language experts is working to create the most language-rich environment possible for young children in Southwest Colorado, through a word-tracking program called LENA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that every parent wants to do the best they can for their children,\u201d said Vangi McCoy, coordinator of the Montelores Early Childhood Council, which supports young children and their families in Montezuma and Dolores counties. \u201cAnd they just need the tools and the knowledge and the strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n
LENA pushes parents and caregivers to converse constantly and responsively with toddlers by using a recording device that tracks the number of words and conversational turns a child hears or says. The data can help parents learn strategies to strengthen children\u2019s language development, later literacy skills and even life outcomes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re not reading by the time you hit fourth grade, you have a much higher likelihood of high school dropout, prison, etc.,\u201d McCoy said. \u201cThose first eight, nine years are crucial. And by giving kiddos those early literacy skills, that\u2019s going to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
The program kicked off locally in September, growing out of an initiative called \u201cTalk-Grow-Learn,\u201d said Cayce Hamerschlag, a speech language pathologist with the San Juan Board of Cooperative Educational Services. Several years ago, her colleague Stacey Baxter read the book \u201cThirty Million Words: Building a Child\u2019s Brain,\u201d written by Dana Suskind.<\/p>\n
The book looks at the critical value of early child language development and existing language gaps. The title refers to research showing by the age of 3 \u2014 when the human brain has finished about 85% of its physical growth \u2014 children from lower-income households hear about 30 million fewer words than those from more affluent homes.<\/p>\n
The reasons for this particular gap vary. A big one, McCoy said, is that parents working multiple jobs might have less time to speak with children, or be exhausted by the time they get home.<\/p>\n
But because language development significantly influences later learning, the gap can lead to disparities when kids enter kindergarten and beyond.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe realized this was what she was seeing when she read the book,\u201d Hamerschlag said of Baxter. \u201cSo we wanted to find a way to engage with parents and family and the community to let them know that these first three years of life are the most important, and it\u2019s all really based in the language that they\u2019re exposed to, and it builds success for the rest of their life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The San Juan BOCES staffers formed the \u201cTalk-Grow-Learn\u201d task force along with MECC, local school districts and AmeriCorps TeamUP. They wanted to find a program accessible to all families and caregivers.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s when they found LENA.<\/p>\n
Kanto McPherson and her husband were a little wary at first of enrolling in LENA Home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re wearing this device, with this kind of uncertainty of what it\u2019s doing,\u201d said McPherson, a family and consumer science teacher at Montezuma-Cortez High School.<\/p>\n
But she\u2019s a \u201clifelong learner,\u201d McPherson said, and was curious about speech development in young children. Her older son, 5-year-old Stone, is speech delayed, and Hamerschlag, Stone\u2019s speech therapist, suggested the program to McPherson for her younger son, Flint.<\/p>\n
\u201cParenting is a lifelong adventure, and whatever I can do to be better, I was excited for,\u201d McPherson said.<\/p>\n
The LENA Home program for free for any child up through age 3 in Montezuma and Dolores counties. So it fit the bill for Flint, a \u201cchill and easygoing\u201d 2-year-old.<\/p>\n
The program takes place over 13 weeks, though it\u2019s often condensed into 10.<\/p>\n
Beginning in January, one day a week \u2014 usually Sunday \u2014 Flint would wear a blue vest holding the LENA recording device in a pocket. After a recording day, McPherson would then turn the device in for data analysis.<\/p>\n
Jamie Jones, of AmeriCorps TeamUP, collected and analyzed the data through the LENA programming system. She then went over it in coaching sessions with parents.<\/p>\n
The device counts words and conversational turns but doesn\u2019t record the words themselves. \u201cIt\u2019s like a \u201cpedometer,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt only counts words,\u201d Jones said. \u201cSo it will give us data back about how many words a day the child heard from adults, and how many times there was a conversational turn throughout the day. That means any time an adult responded to the child, or the child responded back to the adult.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the device doesn\u2019t capture specific words, it can differentiate between adult and child voices, and it operates in any language, not just English.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s set to pick up certain frequencies that are adult speech frequency,\u201d Hamerschlag said. \u201cIt differentiates between that or any electronic media. It actually measures that as well, to see how much media the child is exposed to in the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Jones holds coaching sessions with families, they discuss a variety of strategies, like narrating, reading and tuning into children\u2019s interests. A big focus right now is conversation turns \u2014 recent research has shown that the interactivity of talk is even more important than the number of words heard by a child, according to the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor every 11 turns children heard between the ages of 18 and 24 months, their verbal comprehension IQ and language scores went up by one point in adolescence,\u201d Hamerschlag said.<\/p>\n
McPherson said the first time she looked over the data, she was surprised.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was lower than I thought, the first time we did it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But this motivated her, and in weeks the word count and conversational turns shot up. She added reading time in the mornings, created reminders for her to talk more and made time to sit down and talk with her sons.<\/p>\n
She became empowered by improving the data, McPherson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe process of what you\u2019re doing to get that data is what\u2019s really cool,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Wednesday is \u201cSuperhero Day\u201d at Treehouse Early Learning Center in Cortez. That\u2019s the day many students strap on their \u201csuperhero\u201d blue vests, which encase the counting recorder in a pocket, and participate in the LENA program.<\/p>\n
Treehouse is the pilot site for LENA Grow, which takes the language program to schools. Initially, the Ute Mountain Ute Head Start program in Towaoc was supposed to be the test site for LENA Grow, but when COVID-19 hit, they had to shift course. So Treehouse received the devices first.<\/p>\n
The preschool is just over halfway through the 10-12-week program, and all classes are participating.<\/p>\n
Shelby Caughey teaches a toddler class at Treehouse. Four of her seven students participate in LENA Grow, and though Caughey was at first nervous about recording their words, the students\u2019 ease with the program increased her confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more of a helpful tool than a judgment tool,\u201d Caughey said.<\/p>\n
The program has helped her converse energetically with her students and make take time for one-on-one interactions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve improved so much from Day 1 to now,\u201d she said. \u201cI had 25 conversational turns (at first), and I\u2019m up to 51.\u201d<\/p>\n
The data identify the students who might need more talk time, and reveal more conversational times of day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can also see what times of day are most language-rich, and which ones are not,\u201d McCoy said. \u201cIf mealtimes aren\u2019t, then they really need to think about sitting and really taking advantage of that, because mealtimes can be one of the richest language (times) there are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caughey has the most conversational turns at 8 a.m., when she welcomes students into her classroom, although their family-style breakfast time also is ripe for interactive talk.<\/p>\n
After the Treehouse program wraps up, the devices will be rotated to another school. The plan is for all local preschools take part in LENA Grow, McCoy said.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, they want to obtain more devices to allow for multiple sites to participate simultaneously.<\/p>\n
This fall, the team is expanding the LENA Home program to include Archuleta County, along with Montezuma and Dolores counties. They also will add a parent group component called LENA Start, also available for free. LENA Start will start as an online group, operating in both communities.<\/p>\n
For more information, contact chamerschlag@sjboces.org<\/a>, jamiej@unitedway-swco.org<\/a>, or vangim@monteloresecc.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n