By age three, it’s estimated children from low-income families hear 30 million fewer words than their more well-off peers. This word gap contributes to children from low-income families being less school-ready. With funding from the Bush Foundation and the Target Foundation, Think Small is first in the nation to implement the LENA Start program with child care providers AND parents. The LENA Start program uses a language pedometer to give parents and child care providers feedback by counting the words a child hears and the number of times the child or adult respond to each other (conversational turns).
