What Impacts the Data in LENA Reports?

People often hope LENA reports show steady weekly growth (it’s exciting when conversational turns go up)! But in reality, the data will likely rise and fall over time.

These factors are helpful to keep in mind and to discuss during coaching conversations: 

Attendance, staffing and ratios

Changes in attendance, enrollment, or staffing can cause big shifts in the data. For example, if several children are absent on a LENA Day, the data might not compare well to a day when everyone was there. Even one child or teacher being present or absent can change the room’s dynamic and affect turn-taking.

The number of children and adult-child ratio also matter. For example, in an infant room with fewer children and more adults, it is usually easier to engage each child. In a preschool room with more children and fewer adults, it can be more challenging to have frequent turns with everyone.

What to do:

• Encourage center directors to avoid moving staff or children to new classrooms during a LENA Grow sequence.
• Try to ensure all participating children are reflected on the reports starting with the first LENA Day (although it’s okay to add children if they enroll later in a sequence).
• Compare attendance to previous weeks' reports before drawing conclusions about significant decreases or increases in turns.
• Use the Interaction Chart to guide deeper discussions about how these changes can impact talk.
• If you think ratios are affecting turn-taking, look for patterns in the LENA data that support this. Share those findings with teachers and center directors so they can use the information to inform policies and coverage decisions.

Substitutes

Since substitutes may not be as familiar with or focused on talking more with the children, data might be lower.

What to do:

• Make sure at least one teacher who participates in coaching is in the room for each LENA Day. If no participating teachers are present, hold off until they return.
• Encourage LENA Grow teachers to share information about conversational turns and guide substitutes on the importance of interactions. 
• If possible, invite ALL staff who work in a LENA Grow classroom (including floaters and possible substitutes) attend Orientation so that they have information about the goals of the program.

Special events

Out-of-the-ordinary events on a LENA Day can cause excess variability. For example, children on a field trip may have fewer opportunities to interact with teachers but might hear more adult words than usual. If a LENA Day takes place on a day with one of these unusual events, the data may not represent a child’s typical language experience.

What to do:

• If the schedule allows, try to shift the LENA Day to a more typical day during the same week.

Day of the week

In many cases, one day of the week may not be comparable to another because of different routines and activities or the state of mind of the children and teachers.

What to do:

• Try to schedule LENA Days for the same day each week, or on days that are similar with respect to attendance and activities.
• Consider avoiding scheduling LENA Days on Mondays or Fridays. Many programs find the transition back into the week and fluctuations in attendance make these days inconsistent.

Noise

Think of the LENA device like a stand-in for the human ear. When background noise is too loud, it’s harder for LENA to pick up voices and turns. Some noise is normal in classrooms, but if it’s too loud for LENA, it’s likely too loud for children to clearly hear speech, too.

What to do:

• If data seems lower than expected, conduct a classroom observation to get an idea of the noise level.
• In coaching sessions, discuss classroom set up and proximity between teachers and children when they are interacting. LENA picks up words and turns most accurately within about 6-10 feet.
• For further tips on reducing classroom noise levels, see LENA Grow Noise Recommendations.

Health/Mood

A child’s mood can really affect how much they interact. The same goes for teachers: if they’re dealing with stress or personal challenges, they might talk less that day. Illness can also lower interaction levels.

What to do:

• Use coaching sessions to reflect on how things are going, in general, for teachers and talk about how that is reflected in the data. We all have “off days,” and it’s important to see how that might change the way we interact.

The Hawthorne effect

 The “Hawthorne effect,” also known as the observer effect,  is a term used to describe how the act of being observed unintentionally changes our behavior. This effect often shows up as high numbers on the first LENA Day with large drops on subsequent LENA Days.

What to do:

• In coaching sessions, talk about the importance of building sustainable behavior change that lasts beyond a single LENA Day or coaching sequence.

Developmental delays

Children with language or developmental delays may take longer to respond to teachers’ attempts at engagement or may respond in non-verbal ways that LENA cannot detect (e.g., gestures, smiles, etc).

What to do:

• Be mindful of the child’s needs and the challenges that might prevent them from experiencing the same level of conversational turns as other children.
• Celebrate small increases or focus on how many adult words that child is experiencing. Even if the child has difficulty participating in a conversational turn, there is nothing to prevent teachers from providing great language models!

 

LENA Grow data reflects the real-life classroom environment each LENA Day. Understanding the factors that impact teachers and child experiences is just as important as meeting goals and reaching benchmarks.