home site map our company advisory board contact us update profile
| 
| 
| 
| 
| |
| News & Information » News » Articles » Interviews » Ask the Expert » Submissions |
| » 800.242.5183» Email Us |
| Home | News & Information | News Details | |
  |
|
| Revolutionary Product Is Breakthrough in Early Detection and Treatment of Language Delay 1/10/2008 |
|
| Infoture Launches LENA Pro and LENA Research at ASHA Boston (Nov. 15, 2007) The world's largest database of child and adult speech ever collected from within home environments is the foundation of a groundbreaking study and breakthrough intervention product for clinicians and researchers. LENA (Language ENvironment Analysis) Pro and the LENA Research software together comprise an advanced tool that provides a microscopic view into the language development of young children between 2 months and 36 months. Launched today at the annual convention for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, LENA uses revolutionary technology to measure the quality of a child's natural language environment and development at home, at day care and during routine activities by accurately estimating the number of adult words, child vocalizations and conversational turns between adult and child. Targeted to speech and language pathologists (SLPs), pediatricians and language researchers, this revolutionary software includes extensive reporting and data management capabilities and updates that are easy-to-use and offers at-home data that, until now, has been unattainable. "The LENA System offers to speech and language pathologists what the MRI provides to medicine. ItĄŻs a visual, microscopic snapshot of vocabulary development to help determine intervention and track progress," said Judy Montgomery, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, former president of ASHA, professor of special education and literacy at Chapman University in Orange, Calif., and an Infoture scientific advisory board member. "This tool is a valid and reliable way for SLPs and researchers to determine if an intervention strategy is working. As clinicians, we know what we observe in the school or clinic; but until now, we have never been able to indirectly experience language and conversation at home. This is a breakthrough." The LENA Pro system is specifically designed for SLPs and pediatricians; the LENA Research system, for university researchers. The LENA Pro and LENA Research versions will be available in early 2008. Prototypes were displayed in the ASHA Convention's Exhibitor Hall. Both versions allow consultants to easily collect and process language environment data from subjects 2 months to 36 months old, using the LENA Digital Language Processor (DLP) and a new, advanced version of the LENA software. Specially designed children's clothing provides a pocket for the DLP. One to four times per month, parents put the DLP in their childĄŻs pocket and go about their normal day. An SLP, pediatrician or researcher tracks the data for feedback and analysis. The LENA Pro and the LENA Research systems include a unique client management feature that allows collection and management of multiple recordings from multiple subjects. The LENA software runs on a single PC and can process between 30 and 120, 16-hour audio recording files per month. The following reports can be viewed in summary or five-minute, one-hour, daily and monthly intervals:
"This technology is truly like opening a window into the home for a natural view of the child's language in his or her own environment," said D. Kimbrough Oller, Ph.D., fellow of ASHA, professor and Plough Chair of Excellence at the School of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Memphis, and Infoture scientific advisory board member. "The LENA Research and tools are going to be extremely important in our university-based research as well as in many other universities, because these tools open the door to enormously expanded and more naturalistic information about talk. And this measurement system provides a basis for parents to adjust their own language behavior, just as it provides scientists and clinicians a basis for offering better counsel to parents about their interaction with their children." Last month, Infoture shared the results of two language studies with its scientific advisory board and other nationally recognized researchers at a scientific symposium at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The database on which the current research was based consisted of 410 participating families and 46,000 hours of in-home, naturalistic recordings - including nearly 1,000 hours of recordings contributed from Spanish-speaking households - and the research has implications for SLPs, pediatricians and researchers. A full copy of the research is available at www.infoture.org. Following are a few highlights:
About Infoture Founded in 2004, Infoture, Inc. is the Boulder-based developer of LENA, (Language ENvironment Analysis system). Infoture's goal is to help SLPs, researchers and parents accelerate children's language, cognitive and social development by providing an improved method for detection of language delay and treatment by measuring the natural home language environment, so professionals can help parents provide the richest language environment possible. Infoture comprises a team of world-class scientists skilled in computerized speech and speaker recognition, microelectronics, statistical research, and children's language acquisition and development. For more information, visit www.infoture.org. |