LENA Clinical Research Lab | Communication Sciences and Disorders

The LENA Clinical Research Lab is housed in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and is located on the first floor of Waldron Hall. Research is conducted in both the Radford University Speech-Language and Hearing Clinic and in the community by Corey Herd Cassidy, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, and graduate student assistants who are either enrolled in clinical practicum, conducting research for earned fellowships or scholarships, and/or working on theses. The research conducted within this lab focuses on children between the ages of birth through five years who are receiving either clinical intervention or childcare within group service delivery environments. The Language Environment Analysis (LENA) System is used to assess and analyze the outcomes of the services provided.

The LENA System is the world’s first automatic language collection and analysis tool for speech language professionals and parents. The LENA digital language recorders and software provides data, including estimations of Adult Words, Conversational Turns, and Child Vocalizations, from within a child’s natural language environment. These components are all pertinent to the analysis of subjects within a group service delivery environment.

Currently, the LENA Clinical Research Lab is participating in the following investigations:

In a study funded by the Waldron College of Health and Human Services, we are investigating the outcomes of in-service training on the speech/language knowledge and skills of childcare providers in center-based environments. The initial data will be analyzed in order to determine whether the providers demonstrate an increase in frequency and type of strategies following the in-service training and whether there is a difference between the frequency and types of strategies used by the participants in the control group and those in the experimental group. In a follow-up study, LENA technology will be utilized in order to determine whether the training has an impact on frequency and quality of conversational turns and vocalizations of the children enrolled in the childcare centers.

In a study targeting toddlers and preschoolers with communication disorders enrolled in a group-based program (the Preschool Language Lab) within the Radford University Speech-Language and Hearing Clinic, we are investigating the effect of training graduate student clinicians in peer-interaction stimulation techniques on their clients' oral language output and interaction skills. LENA digital processors are assigned to all of the children in the Preschool Language Lab to collect data focusing on individual child vocalizations and conversational turns. Analysis of the child-based variables is conducted via LENA software.