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LENA Day FAQs

What to do when situations arise on LENA Day

Child won't wear vest

  • Story_ChildDeviceTeachers should encourage, but not force it or get into a power struggle. 
  • Coach can share some strategies LENA has gathered over the years, and help the child try again the next time.

Child is absent

  • No problem! The child can participate in the next scheduled LENA Day.
  • Do not do a make-up day with the child. 

Child leaves early

  • Remove vest, turn off device, and place it in the dock to process and charge.
  • If the child was present for enough time, those hours will show up on the report. If not, the device will be ready for the next LENA Day.

Device is found somewhere in the classroom...not on the child

  • Oops! Teacher should put the device back on the child, note the time in the LENA Log, and tell the coach what happened.
  • If the child's individual report is very low on Child Vocalizations for a large part of the day, the device may have been off the child too long for accurate reporting about his or her language environment. In that case, the coach can help remove that child's data from the reports.

Child has been moved to a new LENA classroom but her device only appears in her old classroom's dock.

  • Coach must move child to new LENA Online group.
  • The new room's dock will assign an available device to the child. 

The child cannot record until the new classroom's dock has assigned her a device. 

Brand new child joins room mid-sequence

  • The coach adds the consented child to the LENA Online group.
  • The dock will assign an available device to the child.

Classrooms combine at the beginning of the day

  • Postpone the LENA Day.
  • Why? Combined classes make LENA reports that do not reflect the reality of the teachers' practice. For example, if two LENA Grow rooms combine and one teacher leaves, each teacher will have a report for only their usual children – even the teacher who was not present. This is not useful for coaching. 
  • If it's a permanent change the coach should reach out to their LENA Partner Success Manager for guidance. What to do will depend on how many sessions have already occurred and whether all children have been through the consent process. 

Classrooms unexpectedly combine partway through the day

  • Remove vests, turn off devices and place them in the dock.
  • Notify the coach that the LENA Day was cut short. If it was too short to be reported for all or most children, plan to record on the next logical day.
  • Why? The report will not reflect reality for the combined portion of the day (see above example).