Abstract: Capturing naturalistic and representative data of a child’s home environment from their own perspective is a challenge. One method for collecting these naturalistic home observations is the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system, which is comprised of digital audio-recorders and accompanying software. LENA automatically extracts acoustic measures such as the number of words spoken and therefore dramatically reduces transcription and coding time. Using LENA technology, and additional measures, we tested associations between the home language environment and parenting behaviours with children’s linguistic, cognitive and behavioural outcomes. Results showed that the home language environment predicted children’s linguistic and cognitive outcomes. By comparison, parenting predicted children’s behavioural outcomes. This suggests that different aspects of child development may have unique environmental predictors. In addition, we found that different characteristics of children's home environments can be effectively studied using digital technologies such as LENA.
