In collaboration with the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL), around 10 BLC families have participated LENA: Say & Play with Words! 🤗
After two years of the program being offered virtually, LENA was offered in-person at our auxiliary location!
LENA: Say & Play with Words is an early childhood development program specifically for families with children between 2 and 32 months, to help parents be proactive about reading and talking with their babies. The focus is early brain development and preparing children for later academic success!
Every week for 10 weeks, we hosted a reading and play group for parents and babies. Each week, participants received a toy and a book to read with their child. In addition, they were given a small recording device that measures how much the parent and baby are talking to each other and how many words are being used. The parents then received weekly progress reports along the way!
“At the beginning of the program, interactions were extremely low, with less than 1,000 words said between parent and child each day” said Adult Programs Manager Alma Aldana.
We are pleased to say towards the end, 2,000 to 3,000 words were exchanged each day, and some interactions tripled, or even quadrupled!
“The mothers switched from handing the kids electronics to books!” said Alma. “It helped the moms open up and be more receptive, too.”
We are so excited for our families and their babies to have grown through this program and thankful for the partnership with NCFL!
