LENA GROW PROJECT 2026

FOREST HILLS, NY | FEBRUARY 2026

Queens Community House – Childcare Network (QCCN) is grateful for our continued partnership with LENA Grow in tandem with the support from the Viking Global Investors Foundation.

Since 2022, QCCN providers and children have been enjoying the many benefits of LENA Grow’s innovative talk-pedometer technology and practice-based coaching. This data-driven approach has proven to measurably improve early language development of participating children and enhance the professional development of our participating providers.

To date, 40 QCCN-affiliated childcare providers and over 600 children have successfully participated in our LENA Grow initiative.

LENA technology collects objective data on children’s communication. Specifically, it counts the number of “conversational turns” between a child and caregiver. Conversational turns are simple back-and-forth alternations between a child and an adult. LENA technology counts each turn that occurs when an adult speaks and a child follows, or vice versa, with no more than five seconds in between. This data allows for customized coaching tailored to the needs of each child and provider.

The 5-week project includes:

• LENA Day: During a LENA Day, children will wear a light-weight vest with an unobtrusive LENA recording device that safely and securely captures their language input and output.
• feedback: The data will be translated into easy-to-read feedback reports. With guidance from LENA and QCCN’s Education Specialists, teachers reflect on the reports to reach their own insights and form their own goals for the following week.
• Practice: The days between coaching sessions and on the next LENA Day, caregivers practice what they’ve learned and work toward achieving their goal so that they will show measurable improvements.
• COACHING: Caregivers will have weekly 30-minute one-on-one coaching sessions focused on reflection, review of reports, discussion around strategies for increasing interaction and goal setting. LENA Grow is designed for caregivers to tap into their own insights and to arrive at their own “a-ha” moments.
• LEARN & EARN: Participating providers will receive a stipend for their participation of up to $1,000.00/program.
• TRAINING: A two-hour LENA orientation is provided by QCCN to each cohort of new providers.
• PARTICIPATION: QCCN-affiliated providers can apply to participate in this project. Simply email us at [email protected].
• ONLINE RESOURCES: Watch the LENA Grow video: https://www.lena.org/programs/lena-grow/#video and visit: https://www.lena.org/lena-grow/.