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THE LANGUAGE ENVIRONMENT

ANALYSIS (LENA) SYSTEM:

CLINICAL AND RESEARCH

APPLICATIONS

SAC Conference 2014

Ottawa, Ontario

Dr. Alice Eriks-Brophy, PhD

Hillary Ganek, MA, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT

Leah Radziwon, BA

- Hardware

- Software

- Norms & Reliability

What is the LENA System?

Hardware: Digital Language Processor

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Software: LENA System Analysis

Norms

The Natural Language Study (NLS) (Gilkerson & Richards,

2008)

329 families

2-48 months old

Typically developing monolingual English speakers from

Denver

Recorded once a month over two years (in two phases)

To ensure a representative sample, children were

recruited across an even age distribution and were

matched to the 2004 US census for SES

Reliability

Reliability testing (Xu et al., 2008)

The LENA correctly identified 82% of adult words and

76% of child vocalizations compared to human

transcribers (Christakis et al., 2009; Warren et al., 2009; Xu et al.,

2008; Zimmerman et al., 2009)

Cohen’s Kappa showed good fidelity of agreement

with a range of .43-.70 (Christakis et al., 2009)

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- Hearing loss

- Television

- Activities

LENA Published Research

Hearing Loss & LENA

Children with hearing loss have similar CTCs and

AWCs to typically developing children (Caskey & Vohr,

2013; Van Dam, Ambrose, Moeller, 2012)

Children with hearing loss who are exposed to

higher percentages of silence in their day have

lower language scores (Caskey & Vohr, 2013)

CTC for children with hearing loss correlates with

language scores (Van Dam et al., 2012)

Hearing Loss & AVT

Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT)

Parent-guided

Early intervention

Listening & Spoken Language

Audition alone

Certification required

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Television & LENA

One hour of TV viewing caused a 2.68 decrease in

PLS-4 score (Zimmerman et al., 2009)

High percentages of TV exposure correlate with

lower CVC, CTC, and AWC (Christakis et al., 2009)

The more TV a child watched, the more severe

behavioral problems they displayed (Caskey and Vohr,

2013)

Activities & LENA

There is a link between patterns in parent-child talk

and activities (Greenwood et al., 2011)

Structured activities, like story time and playtime,

have the greatest effect on CVC and AWC (Soderstrom

and Wittebolle, 2013)

- What is language socialization?

- How does this relate to clinical work?

Language Socialization

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Language Socialization

The process of becoming a competent member of

society through language learning (Sheiffelin & Ochs,

1986)

(van Kleek, 1994)

Relationship to Clinical Work

White, female, monolingual English speaking,

Judaeo-Christians with university educations (Marshall, 2000; Rhoades, Price, & Perigoe, 2004)

Less likely to work in areas of high poverty (Boyer & Mainzer, 2003)

Train professionals in non-western countries (Marshall, 2000)

Relationship to Clinical Work

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Relationship to Clinical Work

Negatively affect the parent-child relationship (Crago, 1992)

Negatively affect the natural of communication in the home (Crago, 1992)

Negatively affect the willingness of the parent to follow through on recommendations at home (Crago,

1992)

Speech and language delays may be misdiagnosed (Gould, 2008; Lowell, 2013)

Children may be penalized or punished (Lovelace &

Wheeler, 2006)

- Cultural Issues in Approaches to Auditory-Oral

Therapy

- Identifying Differences in Conversational Turn-Taking

Projects

Cultural Issues in Approaches to

Auditory-Oral Therapy

Recruitment

Creating Together, Toronto Public Libraries

Infant Hearing Program (IHP), VOICE for Hearing

Impaired Children

Inclusion Criteria

Under the age of 4, permanent bilateral sensorineural

hearing loss, wearing hearing technology during all

waking hours, speaking English or a non-European

language at home (i.e.: Tamil, Mandarin, Tibetan, Urdu,

etc.)

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Cultural Issues in Approaches to

Auditory-Oral Therapy

Methodology

Consent signed, demographic information collected,

Nipissing District Developmental Screen (NDDS)

Wear LENA System for one day, keep a daily log of

activities & people with whom the child interacted

Interview/Questionnaire completed

Identifying Differences in

Conversational Turn-Taking

Recruitment

Creating Together, Toronto Public Libraries

Infant Hearing Program (IHP), VOICE for Hearing

Impaired Children

Vietnam: Global Foundation for Children with Hearing

Loss, Thuan An Centre for Disabled Children, Hoa Lan

Private Kindergarten

Identifying Differences in

Conversational Turn-Taking

Inclusion Criteria

Under the age of 18-48 months

Children with hearing loss have moderate-profound

sensorineural hearing loss, wearing appropriate

hearing technology, enrolled in therapy for at least 1

year

Euro-Canadian children speak English at home

Vietnamese children speak Vietnamese at home

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Identifying Differences in

Conversational Turn-Taking

Methodology

Consent signed, demographic information collected,

Nipissing District Developmental Screen (NDDS)

Hearing Screening

Wear LENA System for three days, keep a daily log of

activities & people with whom the child interacted

Interview/Questionnaire completed

Interpreting LENA Data

Demonstration #1

What stands

out to you?

What do you

think

happened at

each of those

spikes?

What are

ways that you

could use

these results in

your therapy?

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Demonstration #2

What stands

out to you?

What do you

think

happened at

each of those

spikes?

What are

ways that you

could use

these results in

your therapy?

Case Studies

Fam1Tam1

35 month old male

Tamil speaker

Profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss

Has cochlear implants

Enrolled in AV Therapy

Recorder ran for 13 hours 36 minutes

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Fam1Tam1

“So, he has a cousin, my

husband’s elder brother, he has a son who is 3 days

elder than him. Same age. So he’s in India with his parents. His brother’s family and his mom and

dad, everybody’s there. They are taking no effort,

nothing, not even 20 percent of the effort I’m putting with him, but he talks very well.”

“All the time I talk to him.

I’m very conscious. Behind my head, I’m very

conscious about how to talk to him. So should it be clear to him. Whenever we go out or wherever we

go, I keep in mind.”

Fam1Tam1

LENA Analysis Scores

CTC 1,320 99th

AWC 30,089 99th

CVC 4,542 96th

AVA 98.66 46th

Meaningful 30%

TV/Electronic 1%

Silence 30%

Distant 32%

Noise 7%

Fam5Tag2

25 month old female

Tagalog speaker

Moderate-severe bilateral sensorineural hearing

loss

Wears hearing aids

Enrolled in AV Therapy

Recorder ran for 12 hours 45 minutes

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Fam5Tag2

“We’re reading books… Saying the pictures, saying the names…Teaching her what is the sound, what is the name, like that song. She was learning them and we’re talking to her and saying “Do you want more?” or “Do you want this?”, she has to answer. So we’re teaching her to copy us like saying “yes” or “more” like that song she was still learning about that.”

“As a parent, um we’re involved in her situation because we are part of it and we will try to do our best to help her in everything that we can and hopefully when she grows that she can eventually talk and speak regular.”

Fam5Tag2

LENA Analysis Scores

CTC 352 24th

AWC 8,358 15th

CVC 2,083 50th

AVA 86.57 18th

Meaningful 15%

TV/Electronic 5%

Silence 35%

Distant 36%

Noise 10%

CNDTD3

22 month old male

English speaker

Typical hearing

Recruited through Creating Together (drop in centre)

Recorder ran for 15 hours 57 minutes

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CNDTD3-Abilities & Observations

Audio file

from Interview

Follows multiple step directions

Understands where, what, who questions

Identifies multiple body parts

Recognizes familiar words in running

speech not directed towards him

Uses appropriate intonation, eye

contact, and gestures

Passed a hearing screening

CNDTD3

LENA Analysis Scores

CTC 385 37th

AWC 10,658 35th

CVC 1,727 43th

AVA 68.73 1st

Meaningful 12%

TV/Electronic 15%

Silence 27%

Distant 44%

Noise 2%

Fam8Mand3

15 month old male

Mandarin speaker

Moderate-Severe bilateral sensorineural hearing

loss

Wearing hearing aids

Recorder ran for 14 hours 10 minutes

Interpreter needed

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Fam8Mand3 & CNDHL1

“What kids are thinking…it’s important. We have to know what exactly they’re thinking, if they thinking incorrectly, right…their thoughts, if they’re, they’re good or not good…we want to know how they’re thinking, whether how they’re thinking is um good or bad”

“Children have a very unique perspective on things and they pick up on things that are different than adults would and they’re exploring the world in a different, in a, you know, they’re exploring the world as they go and it gives you a unique perspective on things but I think it gives you a unique clue on on on how your kids are developing and it’s extremely important to listen to your kids.”

Fam8Mand3

LENA Analysis Scores

CTC 554 83rd

AWC 14,881 74th

CVC 2,840 97th

AVA 104.03 60th

Meaningful 21%

TV/Electronic 1%

Silence 45%

Distant 26%

Noise 7%

- Continued recruitment

- Data collection in Vietnam

- Building LENA Community

Future Directions

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Works cited

Boyer, T. & Mainzer, R. (2003). Who’s teaching students with disabilities? Teaching Exceptional Children, 35(6), 8-11.

Caskey , M. & Vohr, B. (2013). Assessing language and language environment of high-risk infants and children: A new approach. Acta Paediatrica, 102(3), 451-61.

Christakis, D., Gilkerson, J., R ichards, J., Zimmerman, F., Garrison, M., Xu, D., Gray, S ., & Yapanel, U. (2009). Audible te levision and decreased adult words, infant vocalizations, and conversational turns. Archive of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, 163(6), 554-58.

Crago, M. (1992). Ethnography and language socialization: A cross -cultural perspective. Topics in Language Disorders , 12(3), 28-39.

Gilkerson, J. & Richards, J. (2008). The LENA natural language study (Technical Report LTR-02-2). Boulder, CO: LENA Foundation.

Gould , J . (2008) . Non-standard assessment practices in the evaluation of communication in Australian Aboriginal children. Clinica l Linguistics and Phonetics , 22 , 643 – 657 .

Greenwood, C., Thiemann-Bourque, K., Walker, D., Buzhardt, J., & Gilkerson, J. (2011). Assessing children’s home language environments using automatic speech recognition technology. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 32(2), 83-92.

Lovelace, S. & Wheeler, T. (2006). Cultural discontinuity between home and school language socialization patterns: Implications for teachers. Education, 127(2), 303-309.

Lowell, A. (2013). “From your own thinking you can’t he lp us”: Intercultural collaboration to address inequities in services for Indigenous Australians in response to the World Report on Disability. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 15(1), 101-105.

Marshall, J. (2000). Critical reflections on the cultural influences in identification and habilitation of children with speech and language difficulties. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 47(4), 355-369.

Works cited (continued)

Rhoades, E., Price, F., & Perigoe, C. (2004). The changing American family & ethnically diverse children with hearing loss and

multiple needs. The Volta Review, 104(4), 285-305.

Schieffe lin, B . & Ochs, E. (1986). Language socialization. Annual Review of Anthropology, 15, 163-191.

Soderstrom, M. & Wittebolle, K. (2013). When do caregivers talk? The influences of activity and time of day on caregiver speech and child vocalizations in two childcare environments. PLOS ONE, 8(11), 1-12.

Statistics Canada. “World P lace of B irth of Recent Immigrants to Canada, 2006” [Map]. Immigration in Canada: A Portrait of the Foreign-born Population, 2006 Census: Immigrants Came from Many Countries . http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-

recensement/2006/as-sa/97-557/maps-cartes/world/World_RecentImmig_ec.pdf.

VanDam, M., Ambrose, S., & Moeller, M. (2012). Quantity of parental language in the home environments of hard-of-hearing

2-Year-Olds. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education Advanced Access, 1-19.

van Kleeck, A. (1994). Potential cultural bias in training parents as conversational partners with the ir children who have

delays in language development. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 3(1), 67-78.

Warren, S , Gilkerson, J., R ichards, J., Oller, D., Xu, D., Yapanel, U., & Gray, S . (2009). What automated vocal analysis reveals

about the vocal production and language learning environment of young children with autism. Journal of Autism Developmenta l Disorders, 1-15.

Xu, D., Yapanel, U., Gray, S ., Gilkerson, J. R ichards, J., & Hansen, J. (2008). Signal processing for young child speech language

development. Presented at The 1 st Workshop of Child, Computer and Interaction, Chania, Crete, Greece.

Zimmerman, F., Gilkerson, J., Richards, J., Christakis, D., Xu, D., Gray, S., & Yapanel, U. (2009). Teaching by listening: The

importance of adult-child conversations to language development. Pediatrics, 124, 342–349.