please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message this article includes a list of references but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations . please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations . january 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . january 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message lena foundation industry language technology founded 2009 headquarters boulder colorado area served international key people terrance and judith paul founders products lena start lena pro lena pro pilot version lena pro graduate student version lena language and autism screen llas and lena developmental snapshot website http www.lenafoundation.org the lena research foundation is a developer of advanced technology to accelerate language development of children 0 5 and to close opportunity gaps . the nonprofit organization was created in 2009 through a donation of assets of infoture inc. by terrance terry and judith judi paul who are also majority owners of renaissance learning inc. rli . the foundation s principal product is the lena system . the lena system comprises the lena recorder patented processing software and secure cloud based data access . 1 lena research foundation customers include institutions of higher education such as brown university and stanford university hospitals other research institutions and a number of schools for children who are deaf or hard of hearing . 2 contents 1 history 2 philosophy 3 lena system 3.1 core language metrics 4 how lena works 5 lena system product line 5.1 lena start 5.2 lena pro 5.3 lena pro pilot version 5.4 lena pro graduate student version 5.5 lena language and autism screen 5.6 lena developmental snapshot 6 lena research foundation findings 7 references 8 external links history edit as the founder of renaissance learning terry paul became familiar with the achievement gap caused by differences in home language environments . in 1998 he read meaningful differences in the everyday lives of young american children by betty hart ph.d. and todd risley ph.d. based on data gathered through an intensive longitudinal study meaningful differences revealed that the number of adult words spoken to children from birth to three predicted almost all of the variance in the children s language ability and iq at age three . terry realized that with the help of advanced speech recognition technology he could streamline the data acquisition process and provide parents with a tool that was easy to use and could thoroughly chart a child s natural language environment . he called it lena for language environment analysis . in 2004 terry started infoture inc. and hired a team of scientists engineers and scientific advisors to conduct the research and development work for the lena system . infoture launched a pilot version of the lena system in february 2006 . in february 2009 the pauls donated the assets from infoture and a gift of 2 million to create the lena research foundation a nonprofit organization . 3 philosophy edit lena research foundation believes that the more talk and conversational engagements a child experiences in the first four years the better off he or she will be in academics and society . with its growing list of lena system products the foundation is determined to help close the gap between the haves and have nots that frequently divides this country and the world . 3 lena system edit lena stands for language environment analysis . the lena system provides more than 25 different metrics on the natural language environment of children including estimates and percentile scores for adult words spoken to the child conversational turns and child vocalizations . the system also generates an automatic expressive language developmental age and percentile score based on a child s voiceprint . 3 core language metrics edit adult word count awc the awc is the number of words a child hears from an adult within a specific period . the lena system provides breakdowns of awc in five minute hourly daily and monthly reports . conversational turns cts cts occur when a child vocalizes initiates and an adult responds or an adult speaks initiates and a child responds . each time that happens one turn is counted . cts are one of the only ways to measure engaged interaction with a child . the lena system offers breakdowns of cts in five minute hourly daily and monthly reports . child vocalizations cvs a cv is counted when child speech of any length is surrounded by greater than 300 milliseconds of silence or other sound that is not child speech . cvs do not include cries or vegetative sounds . the lena system provides breakdowns of cvs in five minute hourly daily and monthly reports . 4 how lena works edit lena digital language processor dlp lena clothing a parent places a lena recorder also known as a digital language processor or dlp in his or her children s lena clothing and records an entire day of the child s sound environment . the recorder is then connected to a computer with special software that processes the recording into data metrics including the child s exposure to verbal stimulation the number of child utterances and other information . as pediatricians do with a child s height and weight the system also generates percentile scores comparing the child s vocalizations with those of other children the same age . 5 lena system product line edit lena start edit lena start is a program for parents that uses regular feedback from the lena system plus eight weekly group sessions to help improve the home language environment . 6 since its introduction in 2015 lena start has been implemented by school districts library systems and other types of organizations in huntsville ala. san mateo county calif. ames iowa and minneapolis minn. 7 texas children s hospital is the first regional healthcare center to adopt the model . 8 lena pro edit lena pro is designed to enable researchers speech language pathologists audiologists and pediatricians to collect process and analyze language environment and development data easily . 9 lena pro enables users to record up to 16 hours of continuous speech data collect and manage multiple recordings from a variety of clients or groups process up to 120 audio files per month view reports in five minute hourly daily or monthly time frames listen to and view audio files mark organize and find specific audio segments easily and efficiently add research or clinician notes and comments export data and audio conduct advanced analyses using the adex data mining tool 10 lena pro pilot version edit lena pro pilot version provides a limited one year lena pro software license including training support and maintenance services . 11 lena pro graduate student version edit lena pro graduate student version is a version of lena pro that is available for two years and for a client management pool of up to 25 research subjects . 9 lena language and autism screen edit lena language and autism screen llas analyzes child vocalizations to automatically and objectively calculate the risk of autism identify the presence of language delays and assess the quality of a child s language environment . 12 lena developmental snapshot edit the lena developmental snapshot based on a 52 question parent survey assesses both expressive and receptive language skills and provides an estimate of a child s developmental age from 2 months to 36 months . 13 lena research foundation findings edit parents estimate that they talk more with their children than they actually do . most language training comes from mothers with mothers providing 75 percent of the total talk in a child s environment . mothers talk approximately 9 percent more to their daughters than to their sons . parents talk more to their firstborn child than to their other children . most adult talk in a child s environment occurs in the late afternoon or early evening . children of talkative parents are also talkative . the more television a child watches the lower his or her language ability scores tend to be . parents of children with autism tend to talk less the more severe their child s symptoms . conversely the stronger their child s language abilities the more parents talk . 14 references edit lena start . www.lenafoundation.org . retrieved 2016 06 17 . lena pro . www.lenafoundation.org . retrieved 2016 06 17 . a b c 1 archived february 17 2009 at the wayback machine . https web.archive.org web 20090216015226 http www.lenafoundation.org resources glossary.aspx . archived from the original on february 16 2009 . retrieved april 15 2009 . missing or empty title help baby talk show . the new york times . retrieved 2016 01 16 . http www.lenafoundation.org lena start . retrieved june 17 2016 . missing or empty title help west metro program helps parents build babies and toddlers vocabularies . star tribune . retrieved 2016 06 17 . texas children s hospital becomes first healthcare organization to launch lena start . prweb . retrieved 2016 06 17 . a b search thousands of slp jobs all jobs . speechpathology.com . 2015 06 17 . retrieved 2016 01 16 . https web.archive.org web 20090923023552 http www.lenafoundation.org prosystem overview.aspx . archived from the original on september 23 2009 . retrieved april 16 2009 . missing or empty title help https web.archive.org web 20111007040236 http www.lenafoundation.org lenapro pilot.aspx . archived from the original on october 7 2011 . retrieved september 15 2010 . missing or empty title help lena research foundation nurturing minds changing lives . lenababy.com . 2014 06 20 . retrieved 2016 01 16 . 2 dead link https web.archive.org web 20090223104856 http www.lenafoundation.org research technicalreports.aspx . archived from the original on february 23 2009 . retrieved april 24 2009 . missing or empty title help external links edit lena research foundation speechpathology.com youtube video new york times article forbes article ucla lena study npr story mit article on autism screen cnet article on autism screen bbc world broadcast on autism screen abc news article on autism screen 7news story on autism screen boulder daily camera article on autism screen new york times chart on parenting and technology pnas study nature article on pnas study bbc news article on pnas study abc news article on pnas study nova online article on pnas study bbc radio scotland broadcast on pnas study v t e pervasive developmental disorders and autism spectrum f84 299 main causes comorbid conditions epidemiology heritability sociological and cultural aspects medical model therapies diagnoses autism spectrum high functioning autism classic autism asperger syndrome pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified childhood disintegrative disorder rett syndrome related conditions attention deficit hyperactivity disorder anxiety disorder obsessive compulsive disorder einstein syndrome epilepsy fragile x syndrome hyperlexia savant syndrome schizotypal autism sensory processing disorder intellectual disability developmental coordination disorder multiple complex developmental disorder controversies autism rights movement autistic enterocolitis facilitated communication mmr vaccine thiomersal chelation diagnostic scales gilliam asperger s disorder scale autism diagnostic observation schedule revised autism diagnostic interview autism spectrum quotient childhood autism rating scale lists autism related topics fictional characters schools v t e autism resources autism outline spectrum awareness autism friendly autism sunday communication shutdown world autism awareness day culture autistic art autism spectrum disorders in the media circle of friends neurodiversity sociological and cultural aspects of autism films about autism medical model of autism therapies psychotropic