Back to Young Children’s Language Development

The Impact of a Language-Based Intervention, a Two-Part Study

Principal Investigator

Study Report 1: Jaclyn Dynia – The Center for Early Childhood Innovation, SproutFive

Study Report 2: John Heilmann – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Maura Moyle – Marquette University

Project Description

This is a small randomized controlled trial of LENA Grow, a language-based coaching program for early childhood teachers designed to improve communication skills. The study randomly assigned 20 early childhood teachers to receive the coaching program or to a usual services control group. This reports on teacher perceptions of language development, job satisfaction, and self-efficacy, and a range of outcomes related to interactive language between teacher and child for the children in the respective teachers’ classrooms across a 10-week follow-up period.

Research Questions

Study Report 1:

  • Did children in classrooms that participated in LENA Grow experience an increase in adult words and conversational turns?
  • After participating in LENA Grow, did LENA Grow teachers change their beliefs about language development, job satisfaction, and self-efficacy compared to non-Grow teachers?
  • After participation in LENA Grow, did children in LENA Grow classrooms make significant gains in developmental domains (language and literacy) compared to children in non-Grow classrooms?

Study Report 2:

  • Do teachers who completed LENA Grow substantially increase the quantity and quality of the language used in their classrooms?
  • Do teachers who completed LENA Grow rate themselves as being more effective teachers when compared to teachers completing business-as-usual coaching?
  • Do children whose teachers completed LENA Grow experience substantially greater academic and language gains when compared to children whose teachers completed business-as-usual coaching?

Key Findings

The current study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of LENA Grow. Results indicated that there were three main findings. First, Grow teachers increased their conversational turns after participating in the LENA Grow program that included individualized coaching. Second, Grow teachers increased their job satisfaction compared to non-Grow teachers. Third, children who participated in LENA Grow significantly increased their language and literacy skills compared to children in non-Grow classrooms.

Study Citation

Study Report 1: Dynia, Jacyln M. (2022). The Impact of a Language-Based Intervention with Individualized Coaching in Early Childhood Education Classrooms [White Paper]. The SproutFive Center for Early Childhood Innovation. https://www.sproutfive.org/whitepapers/language-based-program-impact

Study Report 2: Heilmann, John & Maura Moyle. Evaluation of LENA Grow in Milwaukee Head Start Classrooms: Spring 2022. NextDoor. Retrieved from https://www.nextdoormke.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2022-Evaluation-of-LENA-Grow-in-Milwaukee-Head-Start-Classroom_Research.pdf

The Key Findings above were reproduced from the published report and do not necessarily reflect interpretation of Overdeck Family Foundation staff.

Publication
Year

2022

Status

Completed

Study Type

RCT

Grantee

LENA

Full Study Report 1 Full Study Report 2
Back to Young Children’s Language Development

More from Young Children’s Language Development

Completed

Dual-MEG Interbrain Synchronization During Turn-Taking Verbal Interactions Between Mothers and Children

This is a correlational study of brain activity of 23 mother-child pairs as measured by dual MEG (magnetoencephalography) machines during various verbal interactions.

Completed

LENA Grow’s Impact on Children’s Kindergarten Readiness

This white paper summarizes evidence from three quasi-experimental studies of LENA Grow, a professional development program for early educators designed to increase the number of interactions between teachers and children, in three different school districts.

Completed

Heart-To-Heart: Infant Heart Rate at 3 Months Is Linked To Infant-Directed Speech, Mother–Infant Interaction, and Later Language Outcomes

Using a sample of 31 three-month-olds, the research team assessed infant heart rate during mother-infant face-to-face interaction in a laboratory setting.

Completed

Infants’ Brain Responses to Social Interaction Predict Future Language Growth

The research team used infant magnetoencephalography (MEG) technology to measure five-month-old infants’ neural responses during live verbal face-to-face interactions with adults (treatment).

Completed

Mother-Infant Social and Language Interactions at Three Months Are Associated With Infants’ Productive Language Development in the Third Year of Life

This is a descriptive study examining associations between adult-child social interactions in the first three months of life—specifically maternal sensitivity, infant-directed speech (IDS), and conversational turn-taking (CT)—and children’s later language development.

Completed

Measuring LENA Grow’s Impact on Kindergarten Readiness

This study examined the impact of LENA Grow on young children’s school readiness outcomes in three school districts in South Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Completed

Language Experience During Infancy Predicts White Matter Myelination at Age Two

This is a correlational study of parent and child language skills and youth brain development in early childhood for 22 parent-child pairs, as measured by home recordings of parent-child verbal interactions and estimates of white matter myelination as derived from quantitative MRI when the children were two years old.

Completed

The Effect of Exposure to Reach Out and Read on Shared Reading Behaviors

This is a correlational study that aims to leverage existing survey data from parents of children ages six months to five years old who had brought their child to a well visit at one of 427 pediatric clinics in North and South Carolina.

Completed

Language Input in Late Infancy Scaffolds Emergent Literacy Skills and Predicts Reading-Related White Matter Development

This is a correlational study of parent and child language- and reading-related skills in early childhood for 53 parent-child pairs, as measured by the Language ENvironment Analysis System (LENA) and other measures of language development.

Completed

The Relationship Between Conversational Turns and Student Achievement

This is a secondary correlational analysis of data derived from a randomized controlled trial of a 13-week parenting course that was designed to encourage verbal interactions between parents and their young children, with the goal of improving kindergarten readiness.

In Progress

Evaluating the Impact of Reach Out and Read on Caregiver-Clinician Relationships and Pediatric Care Satisfaction

This study evaluates the impact of Reach Out and Read on caregiver-clinician relationships and parent satisfaction with pediatric care, and explores effects on well-child visit attendance and vaccine adherence.

Completed

Evaluation of NBA Math Hoops: Impacts on Middle School Students’ Math Outcomes and Engagement

This randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluates the impact of NBA Math Hoops, a basketball-themed board game, on middle school students’ math achievement, engagement, and attitudes toward math.

Back to Young Children’s Language Development
Young boy sits in desk at school

Courtesy of TalkingPoints

Follow us

Sign up for our newsletter.

Subscribe to Overdeck Family Foundation’s newsletter to stay up-to-date on our latest news and resources.