Let's start by telling me, so you're a coach, right?
Yes, instructional coach.
All right, so how does that work?
How do you interact with from Lina
all the way to the teacher and between?
Yeah, so we actually do weekly coaching with teachers.
So what we do is you have seen those little recording devices
and I hook it up to a system and that produces data for us.
So every week we'll look at the data
and then we'll do some goal setting from there
around specific areas of the day.
So I will work typically either one-on-one with a teacher
or in a group of teachers and we just kind of goal set
from that data, what is our data showing us,
looking at individual children and how can we increase
the interaction of communication?
So what is the data?
What are you actually getting from that?
So they're called conversational turns.
So what we're looking at is every time a teacher
has a back and forth exchange with a child,
it's counting how many times that's happening.
So even if a child makes some noise that picks up.
So wildly enough, it doesn't pick up cries, coos, or like coughs,
but it'll pick up if a teacher says something
in a child responds, it'll pick that up
even if it's not an actual word.
Okay, and so is it, it's recording it
and then it has, I'm assuming an algorithm or something
that sets that up so that when you plug it in,
that gives you the data.
Yeah, correct.
Or someone has to transcribe and go for it.
No, no, no, yeah.
It's all, it's super easy.
You plug in the little recorder and it updates it all
and it's out.
So what is the value of that?
What is the value for what you're looking at
or what the teacher can take away
of like how many times they interact the day?
So I think the value is, it's a professional development tool
and so it really shows us how we can increase
our interaction with children.
When we have that specific data,
it's easier to goal set for us.
If we didn't really have that interaction data,
then we wouldn't really know where to start.
Say during breakfast time, if we kind of notice
conversation is a little bit lower, okay, we can look there
and now I'm gonna be intentional about talking more
with students during meal time, breakfast time, all of that.
So it really helps the teacher kind of narrow down
like what type, time of day their interactions
are a little bit lower and how do we increase?
So is the, without that is the fear
that quiet kids don't get talked to?
Is that simple?
So it, yeah, that's one of the things that shows us too
with the data, if there are children
who are a little bit more quiet, okay,
how can I be more intentional about interacting with them?
What can I do to increase their responses?
So that they're able to engage just as much as,
say a child who is very talkative,
really pinpointing those children to get more engagement.
So how does that translate to identifying how to lay?
So that's a really good question.
We have so many types of data that we can pull from language
and I think that Lena just kind of supports that.
So if we notice that a child isn't talking as much,
again, we can kind of goal set and we have,
so here we have individual curriculum plans for each child.
So each child has a goal that they're working on.
So if we can see from our Lena data
that they're a little bit lower than the rest of the class,
we can goal set from there and have their goals
become their monthly goal.
And so we can kind of see where that delay is
and then take any further action like referrals if needed.
So it's not that Lena will identify delay,
but it'll give you the tools so that you can see, okay,
why is it that there are fewer interactions with this kid?
Why is this kid not having?
So it's not really gauging like the quality
or the depth of the conversation.
It's just literally the number of interactions.
Yes, just the conversational turns.
And that, I mean, it sounds very simple,
but it really gives you a lot of important stuff.
And it's especially with the age group
that we look at this data.
So early head start is we look at two year old classrooms
and a lot of times, you know, like at that age,
they might not be responding.
And so it really helps the teacher to be like more creative
and how do I really engage this child?
How do I increase their vocabulary?
Because it's such a middle age of
they're just kind of learning how to talk and communicate.
And so how do we like really bring that out of them?
So if this didn't exist,
would you just be relying on teachers
just hearing things and picking up on their own
in the midst of all the other chaos that's going on?
Yes.
And we also, so aside from Lino,
we do just have regular instructional coaching.
So that would be another time where I would go in,
do an observation and I can also pick up on those things.
And then the teachers and I can collaborate
and figure out the best way to goal set
for that specific child.
So do you do coaching on things other than Lino?
Yes.
Okay, so in terms of the broader picture
of the language delays that we're seeing,
that's the larger focus of the story,
what else or what other signs have you seen
that indicate that we are seeing an uptick
coming out of COVID?
So it helps me because one,
I do have the Lino data to look at,
but it also helps when I go in for observations
and I'm seeing very minimal talking from the children
that lets us know that we have to do
some sort of intentional planning around getting them more,
getting them talking more.
And so I have different areas that I can look at,
but even just like going in and observing
is almost enough data at this point to see
like which kiddos are landing where
when it comes to language.
But overall, are you seeing at your level
an increase in the number of kids that?
Yes, yeah.
And I will say like our, specifically with Lino,
we have seen an increase from like student talk,
teacher talk and overall teacher satisfaction.
So in their job, so Lino alone shows that it's working.
Okay.
As far as what could Lino be broadened out in your opinion?
Could it go to, would it be worthwhile
to have in a public school?
Yes.
In kindergarten, first grade, second grade or is it,
so the difference between identifying
as a two year old versus a six or a seven.
Yeah, I think it could be really beneficial
just because as they get older, their classes get bigger.
And so if there is a professional development tool
like Lino in higher level schools,
it can kind of pinpoint those, okay,
which students am I interacting with, which am I not?
And how do I make sure that there's a good balance?
I truly believe, since Lino is overall like
a language development program,
it can work at any age level.
So if you didn't have this system, if it went offline
and wasn't in the budget anymore,
what would you turn to instead to identify the kids
that have some delays and need extra assistance
or autocodes to the teachers?
So that would, the data that we would have to use
is data that we use alongside Lino,
which is our teaching strategies,
where teachers are taking anecdotal notes,
putting it into a system,
and then that will help score where children are at.
Language is one of those domains.
So we would have that data to tell us
if there's any delays going on,
but Lino has nicely kind of fit in with teaching strategies.
So it just gives us that little extra
to figure out who those kiddos are
that we need to focus on for delays.
So when you do notice that there's a kid
that needs a little more attention
or a different approach,
how quickly can you see a change?
It depends on the work with the teachers.
So typically if it is,
we're working on an individual child,
the coaching around that starts right away.
So we'll sit down,
kind of talk about what strategies are we gonna use
to increase language with children,
and then they go right back into the classroom
and start working on it.
It also is very dependent on how the students react,
because a lot of language,
it needs to be back and forth.
And so the more that the teachers are working
with the children on a specific goal,
the more likely we'll be able to see an outcome,
but it is very dependent on the situation,
the child, how much the teacher's interacting,
which is why we love Lena,
because it shows us who's interacting with who and how much.
So can you see, like, does the data show you a chart
time over time, like month by month,
you can see an increase?
We actually, it's week by week.
So typically, a full Lena cycle is five weeks long.
And so we look weekly at the data,
and we can either pull it as a classroom
or individual children.
So from one week to another,
you can either see an increase or a decrease
if that's what it shows.
But yeah, you can see progression weekly.
And if you see a kid that isn't making any progress,
is it just then you keep pulling out all of the other stops
to find something that does work?
Yes.
And then we also, that could be when we start talking
about referrals to see if we can get some extra supports
in to help that kid out.
Anything else that you want to add along these lines?
No.
Yes.
I'm just going to say, can you talk a little bit
about how this differentiates next door?
Because in a way, this is kind of not typical.
Talk a little bit about how this separates
and improves the quality overall.
Yeah.
Education, you're setting 10 centers.
Yeah, next door is very fortunate to have this program.
This overall helps brain development.
Eventually it helps with higher reading scores.
And so because we have it now at two years old,
we are setting our children up for success in these areas
because they're starting young.
I know I'm sure you guys have heard
that children are sponges at this age.
So they're soaking up all this language that they're hearing.
And as they go through our program, it follows them.
I know we are trying to look at getting
Lina at different ages here just to keep that consistency.
And so because we start them so young here,
we have such an advantage of providing language
for these kids.
Great.
Is there any, is Lina is next door the only one
in the city that's using Lina?
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Our own partnerships are using Lina also.
I don't know what anybody else is,
but that might be because they're constantly having
schools and because they're growing like this is about.
So that would be a hard question.
OK.
Last year, I would say we were probably very, very young.
Yes, yeah.
Well, we could find an information from you.
Yep.
OK.
So if I can get you to say and spell your name,
give your title.
OK.
You're off the big stage.
OK.
I'm Flynn Maroney, FLYNN, M-O-R-O-N-I,
and Instructional Coach.
All right.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Well, remember you were tethered.
Excellent.