Using the LENA System in Early Intervention - b

Summary

This project will determine whether an intervention to enhance communication between infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities and their depressed mothers can be integrated into federally-funded Early Intervention (EI) services. Participants will be mothers with depressive symptoms whose children are receiving EI services, along with their EI service providers.

The investigators will conduct a small feasibility trial using the Language ENhancement Assessment/intervention system (LENA), a technology-supported language monitoring system, with 10 mothers and one of their child's EI service providers. The LENA uses an infant or toddler garment with an integrated audiotape system that records adult speech centered on the child, child vocalizations, and reciprocal parent-child turn-taking conversations. The LENA software produces visual feedback that a mother can use to focus her language interactions with her child. They study will follow participants in the LENA with feedback intervention over 6 weeks: 5 weeks of LENA data collection (with mothers running the system 1 day/week for 16 consecutive hours). The investigators will analyze data from measures on LENA communication data (adult word count, child vocalizations and conversational turn-taking), and measures of child language, maternal depressive symptoms, and child disability profiles.

Conditions

• Depression

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Language ENhancement Assessment/intervention system

The LENA with Feedback intervention will involve mothers running the Language ENhancement Assessment/intervention system, an audiorecorder language pedometer that records adult speech centered on the child, child vocalizations, and parent-child reciprocal turn-taking conversations. Researchers will provide an initial feedback session to mothers, which will include reviewing the LENA visual output from the previous recording and how mothers can access the output on their own for future recordings. Mothers will independently use the LENA system and access the output on their own.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

  collaborator NIH

• North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute

  collaborator OTHER

• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Linda Beeber, PhD · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

• Anne Wheeler, PhD · RTI International

• Doré LaForett, PhD · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

99 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-04-02

Primary Completion

2018-11-04

Completion

2018-11-04

Countries

• United States

Study Locations