LENA Start Program for Children's Language Development
This study is looking at whether the LENA Start Program can help improve how children develop language, which may prepare them better for school. The LENA Start Program is a community program that helps families learn how to have more conversations with their young children. You might be able to join if you are a parent aged 18 or older, have a child between 16 and 30 months old, speak English or Spanish, and live in the Alief Independent School District in Houston, Texas. Researchers will measure the quality of your child's language environment and home environment to see if the program is successful. The current status of this study is unclear.
- Study design
- This is an interventional study planning to enroll 600 participants. Participants will be randomly assigned to either receive usual care or participate in the LENA Start Program sessions.
- What's involved
- If you join, you will attend two meetings for data collection before and after the program. If assigned to the LENA Start Program, you will also attend program sessions.
- Compensation
- Not stated in the trial record.
- Follow-up
- Your child's language environment and home environment will be measured when they are 16 to 30 months old.
AI-generated from the public study record. Only the study team can confirm whether you're eligible — confirm details with them before making decisions.
Can the Language Environment Analysis Start Program Improve Children's Readiness for School? LENA Program Evaluation
At a glance
Conditions
NCT04905381
Where you'd take part
This study runs at 1 site. They're the same protocol — you choose where, and that choice sets who your contact draft is addressed to.
Alief ISD
Houston, Texasno site contact published
Recruiting
Sites open and close at different times, so the status above is per site — it can differ from the study's overall status.
Study leadership
- Snejana Nihtaianova, PhD · STUDY_DIRECTOR · William Marsh Rice University
Who to contact
Opens a ready-to-send draft in your own email app — review before sending.
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Exclusion
What this trial measures
- Quality of the Language Environment: Language Environment Analysis (LENA System)Measured at 16 to 30 months of age
The quality of the language environment at home will be measured by using the LENA System. LENA is an integrated processing and cloud-based software package that enables researchers to collect, manage, and analyze multiple recordings of children ages 2 months to 48 months.LENA device estimates adult words spoken to and around the key child, adult-child conversational interactions, child vocalizations, and language from Television and/or electronics
- Measurement of the Child's Home EnvironmentMeasured at 16 to 30 months of age
StimQ Availability of Learning Materials Scale (ALM). The availability of learning materials will be measured by using the StimQ ALM scale. The StimQ is a structured interview. Individual items are summed, and scores range ranges from 0 to 7. Higher scores are correlated with better parental behavior.
- Measurement of the Child's Home EnvironmentMeasured at 16 to 30 months of age
StimQ READ Scale: Reading activity will be measured by using the StimQ Reading Scale. The StimQ is a structured interview. Individual items are summed, and scores range ranges from 0 to 19. Higher scores reflect higher reading activities.
- Measurement of the Child's Home EnvironmentMeasured at 16 to 30 months of age
StimQ Parental Involvement in the Developmental Advance scale (PIDA). The prenatal involvement in child development will be measured by using the StimQ PIDA scale. The StimQ is a structured interview. Individual items are summed, and scores range ranges from 0 to 10. Higher scores reflect higher parent involvement.
- Measurement of the Child's Home EnvironmentMeasured at 16 to 30 months of age
StimQ Parental Verbal Responsivity Scale (PVR). Parent verbal responsiveness will be measured using the StimQ Parental Verbal Responsivity Scale. The StimQ is a structured interview. Individual items are summed, and scores range ranges from 0 to 4. Higher scores reflect higher parent verbal responsiveness.
- Parent beliefs questionnaireMeasured at 16 to 30 months of age
Adult-child interaction quality assessment. The questioner elicits parental beliefs about the importance of language environment for language development and parental self-efficacy.
- Language Development Snapshot (LDS) reportMeasured at 16 to 30 months of age
The Language Developmental Snapshot is a parent report that provides an estimate of child's developmental age with respect to receptive and expressive language skills.
- Fidelity of implementationThrough study completion, an average of 1 year
At each of the 10 LENA program sessions, a member of the Rice research team will attend (either virtually or in person) and collect data about Fidelity of Implementation of the LENA program, including liaison adherence to the material in the session, parental behavior at the session, liaison workload and preparation, as well as other measures of fidelity.
- MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI)Measured at 16 to 30 months of age
Parent questionnaire of receptive and expressive language skills. The inventory will be used to capture important information about children's developing abilities in early language. The Words and Sentences version is are appropriate for children 16-30 months. It contains a 100-word productive vocabulary checklist and a question about combining words. Standard scores are based on percentiles for age and sex and range from \<1 to 99th percentile. Raw scores range from 0 to 680. Both higher standard scores and raw scores indicate better performance.