Covid-Era Babies Are ‘Talking’ Less, Signaling Future Reading Challenges

LENA, an Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Fund grantee, conducted a study that suggests that children born during the pandemic may be at risk for academic failure as overburdened parents haven’t been able to engage babies and toddlers in conversation that is crucial for language development and reading. The study relied on LENA’s talk pedometer device to record both the child’s vocalizations and the number of words spoken by nearby adults. Read more about this study in Forbes.