Free program helps parents prepare children for kindergarten

LENA Start™ “Talk Pedometer” Can Help Parents Measure Conversation, Response

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. – A free program at your local library can help ensure your baby or toddler is fully prepared to take on kindergarten.

LENA and Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) are pleased to present a series of LENA Start™ classes this fall, designed to help parents improve their child’s kindergarten readiness through increased talk. LENA Start™ features parent classes using “talk pedometer” technology, which measures how much a parent talks with their child, and how much the child is responding.

“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 the LENA Research Foundation. “Focus is extremely important, now more than ever. More than half the children coming into America’s schools today are low income, and the data show that they disproportionately start school under-prepared. Early language is the starting point in turning that around.”

This 10-week program through PPLD will take place virtually, allowing families to participate from home. It will begin Wed., Sept. 9 and last through Wed., Nov. 11. LENA Start™ is designed for parents with children 0 - 32 months, and will help you increase conversational turns by the end of the 10 weeks. Plus, each participating family will receive a free book each week in addition to the LENA “talk pedometer!”

Preregistration for the program is required, and registration is open until Mon., Sept. 7. Learn more and sign up at ppld.org/LENAStart.

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Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) seeks to engage and transform people’s lives by providing equitable access to information, enrichment opportunities, and community connections via 16 facilities, online resources, and mobile library services. It is a nationally recognized system of public libraries serving a population of more than 660,000 across 2,070 square miles in El Paso County, Colo.

LENA is a 501(c)(3) public charity based in Boulder, Colorado. Its mission is to accelerate language development in children birth to three, in order to improve their cognitive, social, and emotional health and to close opportunity gaps. Used by researchers and clinicians all over the world, LENA technology measures a child’s language environment and provides vital feedback to parents and professionals in programs dedicated to close the language, learning, and opportunity gap for children. For more information, please visit LENA.org or contact Jess Simmons at 303-441-9048, or email jsimmons@lena.org.