Table of Contents
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Providence Talks Introduction
The mission of Providence Talks is to unlock the incredible teaching power of parents
and caretakers by providing them with the skills, tools and support necessary to begin to impact
their child’s academic readiness at an early age. By combining high quality interventions with
new technology, Providence Talks will support families in understanding and improving their
children’s early language acquisition.
Providence Talks was developed largely based on research initially completed in 1995, by
University of Kansas child psychologists Betty Hart and Todd Risley who discovered that children
from different economic backgrounds are exposed to vastly different levels of adult talk over the
course of their early, formative years. They projected that by the time children from low-income
backgrounds reached their fourth birthday, they will have heard approximately thirty million
fewer words than their higher income peers. This gap that is both evident and consequential on
the very first day of kindergarten. This discovery (identified as the “early catastrophe,” by Hart
and Risley) in the context of a persistent, nationwide, achievement gap in educational outcomes
between white children and children of color, has long frustrated policy-makers and early
childhood interventionists.
In March of 2013, in an effort to remedy this, the City of Providence proposed
Providence Talks as part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge an ideas
competition to generate innovative ideas that solve major challenges and improve city life –and
have the potential to spread to other cities. Providence Talks was selected from over 300 cities as
the grand prize winner. Providence Talks is a first-of-its-kind municipal effort to identify and
close this “word gap” at a citywide scale. Our goal is to support caregivers in developing their
children’s early language skills with the belief that this will have positive impacts on kindergarten
readiness, grade level proficiency, chronic absenteeism and other indicators of academic success
and childhood wellbeing.
Beginning in January of 2014, Providence Talks launched a pilot program to test the
Providence Talks model and generate lessons to inform the development of the full launch. An
expansion of the Providence Talks home visiting model begins on October 1, 2015 with a goal of
reaching more than 750 families. In addition to home visiting, Providence Talks will explore the
design of new models in the next year in an effort to expand its reach to additional families.
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Outline of Manual
The purpose of the Providence Talks Operations Manual is to provide participating
Organizations (hereafter referred to as Providers) with the policies and procedures required to
operate the Providence Talks home visiting program. This manual should be combined with the
Providence Talks Curriculum as a reference tool for all Providence Talks Providers.
The manual is divided into 5 sections. The chart below provides is a guide to the
contents of each of the sections and their intended audience.
Section Title
Intended
Audience
Home Visitors,
Recruitment Staff,
Coordinators,
Oversight
Coordinators,
Oversight
Section One
Home Visiting
Protocols
Section Two
Staffing & Training
Section Three
Data Collection & Lena
Mobile
Home Visitors,
Coordinators,
Supervisors
Section Four
Administrative
Procedures
Coordinators,
Supervisors,
Central Finance
staff
Section Five
Appendices
Home Visitors,
Coordinators,
Supervisors
Summary
Covers every aspect of the program’s
implementation from the recruitment
process to follow-up visits with families
Outlines the Providence Talks’ training
procedures, recommended staff supervision
and general requirements
Outlines the metrics Providence Talks
analyzes and provides an in depth tutorial for
their use of the technology. Providence Talks
utilizes this technology in both the program’s
evaluation and delivery of home visiting
services.
Presents providers with the methods the
Providence Talks team will use to oversee the
implementation of its services. This section
will provide clarification for questions
pertaining to procedures such as billing
protocols, field visiting and inventory
management.
Compilation of forms that are referenced
throughout the Operations Manual. These
forms will serve as a reference for staff and
provide clarification to the proper usage of
program materials.
The Providence Talks Central Team (see Appendix A for contact information) will supply
Providers with periodic updates to sections of this manual. Updates will be provided in
electronic and hard copy to ensure that Organizations can update their manuals. All sections
include a “last updated” date that should be referenced to ensure the most recent policies and
procedures are being followed. An electronic copy of the Providence Talks Operations Manual is
available on the Providence Talks website.
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Section 1: Home Visiting Protocols
Purpose: This section provides a comprehensive overview of how the Providence Talks home
visiting model is delivered. The home visiting curriculum is an important supplement to this
section and provides the specific content for each of the visits.
Intended Audience: Home Visitors, Coordinators, Supervisors
Last Updated: 8/2015
Families in the Providence Talks program receive thirteen (13) Providence Talks coaching
sessions over the course of a year, through in-home visits. In order to measure the progress of
families who are in the program, participating children wear a specialized article of clothing that
contains a small “talk pedometer,” or Digital Language Processor (DLP,) provided by the LENA
Research Foundation. The DLP can capture an entire day’s worth of conversation in the child’s
environment. The DLPs and associated software enable Providence Talks participants to
measure adult words count (AWC, number of adult words spoken to the child) and
conversational turn count (CTC, measure of back and forth interaction between child and
Caregiver), two key drivers of early learning development and strong predictors of future
educational success. A Providence Talks home visitor retrieves the talk pedometer and
processes the file though patented software that produces easy-to-understand feedback reports
(see Appendix B). These feedback reports are then utilized with families during the visit, through
a process of data co-discovery and goal setting. Service providers are responsible for enrolling
participating families, scheduling coaching sessions, coordinating the distribution and pick-up of
program materials such as clothing and the “talk pedometer”, processing data files and printing
feedback reports, and delivering Providence Talks coaching sessions.
The Providence Talks Home Visiting program is organized in four phases. The section below
details protocols for each of the phases.
Phase One:
Recruitment &
Intake
Phase Two:
Orientation &
Enrollment
Phase Three:
Active Program
Involvment
Phase Four:
Transition
Planning &
Follow- up
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1.A. Phase One: Recruitment & Intake
The goal of recruitment is to reach out to as many eligible families as possible to let them know
about the opportunity to participate in Providence Talks. The goal of the intake process is to
determine the families who are eligible and for whom Providence Talks will be beneficial.
1.A.1- Recruitment:
The initial target population of the pilot of Providence Talks was families who were already
enrolled in home visiting programming. The broader goal of the initiative is to reach as
many eligible families as possible in the City of Providence. To achieve this goal, Providers
should take a broad, community engagement approach to integrating this program into the
community. Where possible, former Providence Talks participants should be engaged to talk
about their experiences in the program and reach out to their friends and neighbors to
participate. Key community stakeholders should be targeted for feedback and support for
each Provider as they work to achieve their targeted recruitment goals. Providers should
develop detailed recruitment plans that outline their strategies to spread the word about the
program, engage potential families and meet enrollment benchmarks. Each Providence
Talks Provider should have at least one Recruitment Specialist who will work to implement
their organization’s recruitment plan. Providence Talks will provide all participating
providers with marketing materials in English and Spanish to be used for recruitment
purposes. Any additional materials created by the Provider Organization must be approved
by Providence Talks staff before they are distributed.
1.A.2 – Eligibility (see Appendix C):
Children eligible for Providence Talks must reside within the City of Providence. To be
eligible, the child should be between 2-30 months of age at time of enrollment. The reason
for this is to foster an improved environment as early in life as possible when brain
development is at its most rapid and when the program will be most effective. Exceptions
can be made, but in no circumstances should children older than 30 months be enrolled.
Additionally, eligible children must test risk positive for any one factor on the Rhode Island
Universal Newborn Screening Process, namely:
 Medicaid/Rite Care members
 Single Caregiver
 No previous live birth to mother
 Caregiver’s education less than 11th grade
 Mother’s age less than 19 or greater than 37
 One caretaker characteristic (e.g. disability, chronic illness, mental health illness)
 Low birth weight, less than 1500 grams (3.3lbs)
 Developmental disabilities and certain other established conditions
 NICU hospitalization greater than 48 hours
 Mother’s number of live births greater than 5
 No prenatal care visits before 5 months
 Less than 6 prenatal care visits before 36 weeks or total number of prenatal visits less
than 10
 Mother is Hepatitis B surface antigen positive
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Gestational age greater than 37 weeks and birth weight 1500-2500 grams (3.3-5.5
lbs.)
 Apgars at 1 and 5 minutes less than 7
The Providence Talks Deputy Executive Director and Executive Director can make an exception
to the above on a case by case basis.
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1.A.3- Centralized Intake:
Centralized intake occurs when a family contacts the Providence Talks hotline. Providence
Talks will manage a central information hotline and referral system to manage incoming
inquiries and to oversee the referral of families across the Providence network. The
Providence Talks' Intake Coordinator will use the Family Referral Form (Appendix D) upon
referral and assign the pending case to a Provider based on capacity and geographic
location. The Family Referral Form will be scanned and emailed to the Providence Talks
Coordinator at the assigned provider for follow up. The Providence Talks Coordinator is
required to report their communication with families upon 48 hours on receipt of referral,
back to the Intake Coordinator. This communication will document both their attempts to
contact the family and the date in which the Orientation Visit was scheduled. The Providence
Talks Intake Coordinator will track every referral made and the time in which it took for the
Provider to schedule with the family.
1.A.4- Provider Intake:
Provider intake occurs when a family expresses interest in Providence Talks directly to the
provider. Providence Talks Providers will use the LENA Enrollment Form (Appendix E) to
collect information from families interested in Providence Talks. These forms will be
delivered to the Providence Talks Coordinator upon completion so that they may follow up
with the family to schedule an Orientation Visit.
1.A.5- Intake Follow-up:
Intake follow-up is the responsibility of the provider agency. Upon receipt of the LENA
Enrollment Form (see Appendix E) or Family Referral Form (Appendix D), the Providence
Talks Coordinator will contact families within 48 hours in order to gauge their interest in the
program and to schedule an orientation visit. Coordinators will collect/confirm the following
information during this phone call:
 Preferred language, English or Spanish
 Referral source for the Providence Talks program
 Child’s name, DOB and address
 Parent or Caregiver’s full name and phone number. If possible, it is often best practice to
request two phone numbers from the families for record keeping.
 Specific parking instructions and safety concerns for visiting the home (such as dog,
stairs, etc.)
 Any special access instructions for visiting the home (e.g. if need to be buzzed in by
security).
 Clothing size (important to note that a child’s DOB will not necessarily determine their
clothing size. It is best to ask this as a separate question for families upon receipt of
referral.)
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Confirm that the child is not currently enrolled in Providence Talks at any other Provider
and that the parent/caregiver has a basic understanding of the program.
 Orientation visits must occur within 14 business days of receiving the enrollment/referral
form. Exceptions can be made if the family is either out of town or no longer accessible by
phone or email. The Providence Talks Deputy Executive Director should be notified in these
instances.
1.A.6- Enrollment of Siblings into Providence Talks:
The Providence Talks model is designed to be a parent intervention in which the child
benefits as a direct consequence. Therefore, if one child in the family is enrolled or has
already participated in Providence Talks, the entire family has received the intervention.
Given this, Providence Talks asks that home visitors only enroll one eligible child within a
family. If twins are referred to Providence Talks, they may both be enrolled; however the
twins should record on separate days and receive only one coaching session. If siblings are
referred, it is recommended that the younger of the two siblings be enrolled in the program.
Please note that information about siblings should be recorded in LENA Mobile to ensure
that we are able to quantify the potential indirect recipients of Providence Talks.
1.A.7- Co-Enrollment in Additional Home Visiting Programs:
Home visiting-based Providence Talks services may be offered in tandem with an existing
home visitation program (such as Early Intervention, Early Head Start, Healthy Families
America, First Connections, Parents as Teachers) or may be offered as a standalone home
visitation program. If provided in tandem with an existing home visitation program, this
should be noted in LENA Mobile. When co-enrolling a family, it is important that Providence
Talks services be scheduled to take place on a different day and time than other regularly
scheduled home visitation. Note that Providence Talks home visits should NOT replace
home visits being delivered through another existing service. Providers may not combine a
Providence Talks home visit with any other form of home visit.
1.B: Phase Two: Orientation & Enrollment- The goal of orientation & enrollment is to make sure
families fully understand the benefits and the requirements of Providence Talks, and to
document their consent to participate. Detailed information related to the facilitation of the
Orientation visit is included in the Providence Talks Curriculum. Included in this section are the
key components that must be included in every Orientation visit. For details related to how to
deliver this information, please reference the Curriculum.
1.B.1- Necessary Supplies:
The home visitor will bring the following supplies to the orientation visit:
 1 PT drawstring bag
 1 DLP (assigned in LENA Mobile)
 1 Parent Ready Binder with all Curriculum handouts, consent form and activities
 2 Vests (to wear the DLP on recording days)- We provide 2 vests to families in the
event that a child spits up or spoils one vest while wearing the DLP on a recording
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day. This ensures that the parent/caregiver has a back-up vest to put on the child
and does not have to wait until the spoiled vest has been washed.
1.B.2- Key Elements of the Orientation Visit:

Conveying Philosophy and Background: The Providence Talks Curriculum will provide
you with a sample script for delivering the background information and philosophy
behind the Providence Talks initiative to families. Home visitors may refer to the
“Welcome Letter” and “Benefits of Providence Talks” in the Orientation section of the
Curriculum for guidance in explaining the program to families. Some key points to
incorporate in the delivery of this information for parents/caregivers should include:
 You (the Caregiver) are your child’s first and most important
teacher. Providence Talks will help you to ensure your child begins
school ready to succeed.
 Providence Talks focuses on helping you, the parent, to enhance
your child’s language development. The way a child communicates
with you and their peers is very important to their development.
 There is no cost to participate in our program. You will receive
coaching sessions in your home from a trained and experienced
home visitor who will help you to design fun, educational activities
for your child.
 The more language your child hears, the more language your child
will use.
 There are so many opportunities throughout the day to engage
with your child.
 Language development coaching is important no matter how
young your child is. In fact, the younger the better!

After describing the program’s philosophy to the family, the home visitor should
explain to the family how and why their child qualified for the program. Eligibility
should be explicitly outlined to families so that they can properly explain to
others in the community how to participate.
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Expectations for the Program including Home Visiting Schedule
Information & Informed Consent Form: After explaining the philosophy and
purpose of the Providence Talks program, it is important to begin reviewing the
“Information & Informed Consent Form,” (Appendix F) with the family. Many
families will question why our program uses the DLP device and requires that
they record their talk. Do keep in mind, the majority of families often feel more
secure in the recording process after completing that first, initial recording. It is
very important to outline the following precautionary measures the program uses
to ensure their privacy throughout the program:
Key points to review include:
 Recordings are immediately deleted after uploading/processing the
recording to LENA Mobile. Even before processing, these audio files are
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only accessible with specialized software developed by LENA – someone
can’t pick up the DLP and listen to the recording unless they have this
special software.
No recordings are “listened” to. The recordings are completed as a means
of measuring word counts, interactions and television noise within a
home.
Always best to think of the DLP as a “talk pedometer.” Language such as
“talk pedometer” as opposed to “recorder,” has helped to better inform
families of the device and its use. If the family asks, "Does the device
record my family and I?" it is always best to answer honestly and
thoroughly. Home Visitors should advise families, "that yes, while the
device does record the day's talk, none of the content is actually listened
to and it is immediately deleted once processed through specialized
software to obtain the day's counts." For more specific questions, the
Providence Talks Home Visitor can follow up with the Providence Talks
Deputy Executive Director regarding language that may be more
applicable to an individual case.
Thousands of families have used this technology across the world.
Describe the DLP as a “tool” to better understand and support their child’s
development.
Completing the Information & Informed Consent Form. Once the home
visitor has explained all of the information and the family has agreed that
they understand and want to participate in Providence Talks, the
Caregiver must sign and date the document. The home visitor will then
bring a copy of the signed consent back with them on their next visit. I
don’t know but seems worth saying since the form is so important.
Overview of Using the DLP for Caregivers, all included in the Parent-Ready Binder
(related tools included as Appendix G)
 LENA DLP Guide: For Educators and Home Visitors
 Your LENA Recording Day: Step-by-Step Instructions
 How to Get a Good Recording: Help LENA Hear
 Important points to reference:
1. The DLP is very expensive. This tool is not theirs to keep. We ask that
the family keep the device out of reach of the child and in a safe place
when not in use, and in the vest on recording days.
2. The DLP is NOT waterproof. The device should not be worn during
water play or bath time.
3. It is advisable for the family to identify the best recording day upfront
at the orientation visit. This should be a typical day for the family that
does not entail sporting events, concerts, therapy appointments and/or
birthday parties.
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4. Recordings must be at least 12 hours in length. The DLP will shut off
automatically! Once you’ve turned the DLP “on” and pressed “record,” you
should not touch any other buttons on the device. If the recordings are
less than 12 hours an “error” will register on the device and the recording
will be deemed “invalid” or “unusable."
5. It is important for home visitors to coach families on the importance of
recording a "typical day." Parents should be encouraged not to "over talk"
or perform for the device. This is very common, but should be avoided.
Elevated word counts and turns for the first recording can dramatically
influence the results of the subsequent recordings and impact the overall
projected gains for the family over time. This can ultimately lead to
disappointing results for the family after that first, elevated recording.
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LENA Developmental Snapshot: After explaining the use of the DLP, the home
visitor will administer a very brief LENA Developmental Snapshot (one to five
minutes) with the parent/caregiver. The LENA Developmental Snapshot (see
Appendix J) is made available on both LENA Mobile and in the Providence Talks
Curriculum Appendix in both English and Spanish. The Snapshot is an assessment
tool designed to gauge the child’s developmental age and skills. The Snapshot
consists of a series of questions that the parent answers about their child’s
expressive and receptive language skills. This tool is used to assess a child’s
progress during their participation in Providence Talks. Home visitors are
expected to input the information gathered in this Snapshot directly into LENA
Mobile.
1.B.3- Documentation:
Once the orientation has been completed, the home visitor should outline the conversations
that occurred during the visit. For more information on the Visit Note, reference the section
1.C.4, “Documenting the Visit”.
1. C. Phase Three: Active Program Involvement. Once a family has enrolled, they are an active
participant in Providence Talks and their home visitor will coach them to improve their child’s
language environment. This section describes the schedule for recordings, the process for home
visits and how home visits are recorded.
1.C.1- Planned schedule of recordings:
Families are asked to record biweekly for the first five months of the program, and then
once a month at months 6, 7 and 8. A coaching session should only be scheduled with a
family once they have completed a usable, daylong recording that has been processed by
the home visitor. The program intentionally offers a more intensive level of support/services
for the family in the beginning. The monthly phase is designed to gauge the family’s
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retention of improved literacy/language environment skills and their ability to make
continued gains with less intensive, direct support from the program.
If a family falls behind in their recording schedule the home visitor can “fasttrack” their scheduled recordings in order to get back on schedule. Recordings and visit
frequency can be increased depending upon the family’s availability and willingness to
get back on track. We want families to adhere to the recording schedule as closely as
possible to avoid elongating their participation beyond a year.
Home visitors are also advised to adjust the recording schedule for families who
may be traveling or unable to record for extended periods of time. If this is the case, the
home visitor may schedule weekly recordings before and after their time off to better
maintain the recording schedule and offer continuous support to the family. Home
visitors can confer directly with the Providence Talks Deputy Executive Director with
regard to rearranging scheduled recordings to better accommodate families. This should
be the exception, not the norm.
Providence Talks encourages providers and their home visitors to be flexible and
creative around accommodating families whose schedules may limit their accessibility.
Coaching sessions may take place outside of the home, such as at a park, library, office
or café, and during evening or weekend hours to accommodate parent’s work schedules.
1.C.2- Coaching Sessions:
A coaching session should only be scheduled once the family has completed a valid, usable
recording. If the family’s previous recording registered as having an “error,” another
recording day should be scheduled and completed before a coaching session is
administered. Specific content for each coaching session is included in the Providence Talks
Curriculum. In general, the four key elements to the coaching session are detailed below.
 Data co-discovery: Providence Talks home visitors share LENA-generated
feedback reports with caretakers and ensure the caretaker is “in the driver’s seat”
in understanding and articulating the data. During this conversation, caretakers
should be able to identify and articulate (1) the number of conversational turns
their child participated in, both hourly and over the course of an entire recording,
and (2) the number of adult words spoken to their infant or toddler, both hourly
and over the course of an entire recording. Parents and caretakers will be able to
engage with this data in meaningful ways, such as identifying the times of day
with the highest and lowest count of adult words and conversational turns,
comparing the adult words count and number of conversational turns to national
norms for appropriate vocabulary development and longitudinally over their
participation in the program. Home visitors may also outline TV/electronic noise
time identified both hourly and over the course of the entire recording. All of
these qualifiers can be compared to the parent’s handout, “Time of Day Activity
& Notes,” (See Appendix K) in order to better assess which activities throughout
the day generated the most conversation.
 Strategy coaching: Providence Talks home visitors coach caretakers in identifying
and implementing specific strategies proven to improve the quality of household
auditory environments (e.g. narrate your day, follow your child’s lead, repeat and
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expand on your child’s words). Service providers will have free access to the
Providence Talks Curriculum and must attend at least one training regarding
curriculum and LENA technology implementation, which will be provided by
Providence Talks staff. Supplementing the Providence Talks Curriculum with
additional or alternative materials requires the pre-approval of the Providence
Talks Deputy Executive Director.
Resource sharing: Providence Talks home visitors provide an age-appropriate
literacy resource, such as a book, during each Providence Talks session.
Providence Talks will provide service providers with these resources at no cost.
Each organization is welcome to identify and provide additional or alternate
resources with the prior approval of the Deputy Executive Director of Providence
Talks. Additionally, Providence Talks home visitors regularly prepare a
comprehensive inventory of family- and community-specific information and
resources that support healthy vocabulary development. These may include readaloud opportunities at local bookstores, no-cost events at local children’s
museums, zoos or aquariums, or public viewings at local observatories.
Information on these events should be shared with client families during each
Providence Talks session.
Goal setting & reflection: Providence Talks home visitors end each coaching
session by ensuring caregivers are identifying and reflecting on their progress
toward meeting quantifiable, measurable goals for improving the quality of their
household auditory environment.
1.C.3- Intake Questionnaire:
See Appendix L. This form should be completed during the first visit following Orientation or
Week 1 of the Providence Talks Curriculum. Providence Talks designed this questionnaire to
obtain advanced demographics on participating families. Families are not required to
complete the Intake Questionnaire if they feel uncomfortable. They may also choose not to
answer specific questions. The Providence Talks Home Visitor, Coordinator (or Administrator)
is expected to input the information gathered through this questionnaire directly into LENA
Mobile. This can be down in the home, with the family, on the home visitor’s tablet. This
process will be explained more thoroughly through training.
1.C.4- Documenting the Visit:
For each visit, home visitors will complete a standardized “Visit Note,” (see Appendix M)
which documents each coaching session with client-specific notes detailing that the
session’s content and confirmation of the four key elements. These notes shall be made
available to Providence Talks staff on request, with appropriate redactions for confidentiality
purposes. These forms will be produced in duplicate so that one copy can be left with the
family for recommended next steps and appointment dates. Additionally, the visit note will
include the following information:
 Child’s Name
 LENA ID Number
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Title of children’s book distributed at the visit (English or Spanish)
Next recording date
Date of DLP pick up
Next coaching session date and time
Home visitor’s number in case the family has any questions on the DLP device on
their recording day
1.C.5- Home Visitor Check List:
See Appendix N. This checklist is designed to help home visitors prepare properly for a high
quality visit.
 Providence Talks recommends keeping an extra, fully charged DLP in your car in the event
that a family’s DLP registers as having an “error” upon pick up. This will allow you to
reschedule their recording day on the spot and reassign a fresh DLP without having to drive
back to the office to purge the device.
1.C.6- Developmental Assessment Tools:
In order to assess a participating child’s skills throughout the program, Providence Talks has
implemented the use of three developmental assessment tools to supplement the LENA
recordings in an effort to better understand the qualitative advancement of their language
and social emotional skills. Each assessment tool is described in detail below. Training on
these protocols will be delivered free of charge during the Providence Talks training.
Providence Talks staff are available to model the use of these tools in the field if the
provider’s home visitor needs additional support.
 LENA Snapshot: Delivered monthly- The home visitor will administer a very brief
Developmental Snapshot (one to five minutes) with the parent/caregiver. The
LENA Developmental Snapshot is made available on both LENA Mobile and in
the Providence Talks Curriculum Appendix in both English and Spanish. The
Snapshot is an assessment tool designed to gauge the child’s developmental age
and skills. The Snapshot consists of a series of questions the parent answers
about their child’s expressive and receptive language skills. This is used to assess
a child’s progress during their participation in Providence Talks. The Providence
Talks Home Visitor, Coordinator (or Administrator) is expected to input the
information gathered in this Snapshot directly into LENA Mobile. This can be
done in the home on the home visitor’s tablet device. The Providence Talks
Curriculum provides scripted guidance on how home visitors should introduce
the tool and its purpose to families. This assessment tool is appropriate and
normed for children up to 36 months in age. Home Visitors should ask parents
“Do you have any concerns about your child’s development?” after completing
the LENA Snapshot monthly. This provides the family and provider the
opportunity to discuss the child’s current stage of development and whether
further intervention such as a referral to Early Intervention is warranted. Guidance
on how to approach this topic with families is available in the Appendix O.
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MacArthur-Bates CDI Short Form: (See Appendix P) Delivered at weeks 1, 9 &
months 12 & 18 - The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories
are parent report forms designed for assessing language and communication
skills in infants and young children. See Appendix S for “Guidelines to Completing
Level I and Level II MacArthur-Bates Short Forms.” The short forms are located in
the Appendix of the Curriculum for easy use. Depending on the child’s age and
what form is administered, the checklist consists of either 82 or 100 vocabulary
words that the parent/caregiver can identify as either “used” and/or “understood”
by their child. This is a quick tool that is able to generate an approximate
vocabulary count for the participating child. The infant form (Level I) is designed
for use with 8-18 month old children. The toddler form (Level II) is designed for
use with 16-30 month old children. The toddler form is available in two versions
so that home visitors can alternate which version they administer with the family
during the program. Either level/form may be used with older, developmentallydelayed children. CDI Short Forms should be scored by Home Visitors (for
instructions see Appendix Q) and the score should be entered into LENA Mobile.
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Ages & Stages Questionnaire: Social Emotional: Delivered at weeks 1, 9 & month
12- The ASQ: SE is a screening tool designed to identify children who may be at
risk for social or emotional difficulties. The ASQ: SE does not diagnose serious
social or emotional disorders. Rather, it should be seen as a first step in
identifying young children who may benefit from more in-depth evaluation
and/or preventative interventions. The core of ASQ: SE is a series of 8
questionnaires that correspond to age intervals from birth to age 6. Each
questionnaire contains simple questions for parents to answer about their child’s
behavior and social interactions. The answers are scored and help to determine
whether the child’s development appears to be progressing as expected. This
assessment tool provides individual forms for participating children by age (1-72
months.)
1.C.6-Children’s Books:
Participating families will receive one free, developmentally appropriate children’s book at
each coaching session upon receipt of a usable, day-long recording. The Providence Talks
Curriculum assigns each week or “lesson” a book dependent upon the child’s age. If the
participating child is developmentally delayed or already has the prescribed book in their
possession, a substitution for another book in the Curriculum on the “Suggested Books by
Age,” handout is permitted, (see Appendix R).
D. Phase Four: Transition Planning & Follow-up. Once the family completes the bi-weekly visit portion of
the program and begins the monthly visit portion, it is time to plan for their transition out of the
program. Transition planning is aimed at helping the family retain the gains they have achieved in
Providence Talks.
1.D.1-Transition Planning:
Home Visitors will prepare families during the monthly phase of the program on resources
and programs available to the family upon discharge from Providence Talks. Home visitors
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can refer directly to the language included in the Providence Talks Curriculum during
Months 6, 7 and 8 to prepare families for this transition. In addition, home visitors will have
access to a list of resources to review with the family in the event a referral for Post
Providence Talks services is needed, (See Appendix S) The home visitor will provide a form to
the family at Month 8 with potential programs and available resources, see Appendix T. The
home visitor will offer to make the appropriate referrals
with the family in the event they are needed/desired.
Providence Talks home visitors will also refer to the curriculum in referencing the
importance of kindergarten attendance and its overall impact on student performance
and achievement during these monthly check-ins.
1.D.2- Follow-up Recordings:
Once a family has completed the program, they will complete two follow up recordings.
Their home visitor will schedule two follow-up sessions in order to check in with the family
and ensure they have maintained their progress from the intervention. These “check-ins” will
occur at the 12 and 18-month mark following their enrollment (or 3 and 9 months after
program completion). If a family is no longer reachable or interested in participating in the
follow-up services, home visitors will document such on a Visit Note to be placed in the
child's file. Home visitors should communicate with families at their 8-month visit that these
additional recordings will occur. If possible, schedule the 12-month recording with the family
at the 8-month visit. If families complete the program “off schedule,” or after the 9-month
mark, the 12-month follow-up visit should occur no less than 3 months after their final visit
as per the Curriculum.
1.D.3- Graduation
Families will receive a certificate of completion from the Providence Talks Central Office
when they complete the program. Provider Coordinators should request these certificates
from the Providence Talks Deputy Executive Director. Additionally, there will be an annual
celebration of achievement that will bring together current participants and those who have
graduated to celebrate the program’s success.
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Section 2: Staffing & Training
Purpose: This section provides the Providence Talks Providers with information about staffing
structures, requirements for onboarding new staff, supervision recommendations and training
support provided by the central Providence Talks team.
Intended Audience: Coordinators, Supervisors
Last Updated: 8/2015
2.A Staffing Model
Providers must operate with a team dedicated to implementing Providence Talks.
Analysis and observation of the pilot Providence Talks home visiting model demonstrated that
the best outcomes happen when staff do not divide their time among a variety of home visiting
program types, but rather focus on Providence Talks. For city-wide rollout, the staffing model
for the program will be as follows:
Title
Oversight
Coordinator
Home Visitor
Home Visitor
Recruitment Specialist(part time)
Admin Support
Brief Description
Executive leadership and oversight, ability to
influence organizational implementation
Program coordination, supervision of home
visitors, interface with Providence Talks Central
Team, attendance at Monthly Supervisor Meeting
Dedicated Providence Talks Home Visitor
Dedicated Providence Talks Home Visitor
15 hour/week staff person focused on recruitment
and community outreach. Must be a community
member, preferably a Providence Talks graduate
Staff person to manage uploads of LENA devices
and other data entry requirements
% of FTE
6%
100%
100%
100%
40%
20%
2.A.1- Roles & Responsibilities


Oversight: Ensure timely execution of contracts, monitor achievement of contractual
goals, review monthly dashboards distributed by Providence Talks Central Team.
Home Visitor (see Appendix U for job posting): The home visitor will maintain a caseload
of approximately 48 families throughout the biweekly portion of the program. The home
visitor will be responsible for the enrollment, case management and delivery of services
for their participating families. Their workload will represent a 60% productivity
expectation. For example, 40 hour/week employees will complete a minimum of 24
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


enrollment/coaching sessions in a week. Caseload numbers may increase once families
reach the monthly phase of the program and the frequency of their visits decreases. The
home visitor is only responsible for maintaining a Providence Talks caseload. The home
visitor is a full time position.
Coordinator (see Appendix U for job posting): The Providence Talks Coordinator will
be the primary point of contact and will maintain a caseload of approximately 10-15
families while overseeing the uploading of all home visitors’ data collection into LENA
Mobile. This will include but not be limited to: DLP recordings, Intake Questionnaire,
Enrollment Form including the DLP assignment, LENA Snapshot and the other
developmental assessment tools. The coordinator is a full time position.
Recruitment Specialist: The Providence Talks Recruitment Specialist will be entirely
focused on recruitment and community outreach. The Recruitment Specialist must be a
community member, preferably a Providence Talks parent graduate or “ambassador.”
This will be a part-time position with a 15 hour per week commitment.
Administrative Support: The Administrator will be responsible for supporting the
Providence Talks Coordinator in the uploading and management of all DLPs, inventory
and data collection. This position will be part-time, approximately 8-10 hours each week.
This may be achieved via existing staff at provider agency or via contracted new hire
staff.
2.B Supervision Procedures
 Single point of contact, “oversight”: Each selected service provider shall designate one
person on their team as the single point of contact for the Providence Talks project
management purposes. This shall be the individual who has the authority to obligate the
organization and who can make decisions on behalf of the organization.
 Weekly check-ins with home visitors: Each Provider’s Providence Talks Coordinator will
be responsible for the supervision of their home visitors. They will conduct check-ins with
their home visitors at least once a week to discuss caseloads, productivity, questions and
concerns. When discussing caseloads with each home visitor, the Coordinator is
expected to review each child identified in LENA Mobile as “Needs Attention.” After each
case has been reviewed, the Coordinator can mark (or check the child’s “Needs
Attention” box) as being addressed. A child is identified on LENA Mobile as “Needs
Attention” when they are overdue for a recording or LENA Snapshot.
Children who are identified on LENA Mobile as a “Drop Risk” should be carefully
assessed to in order to determine their enrollment status. If a child has not completed a
recording for more than 45 days, they should be dis-enrolled from the program. Families
can re-enroll in Providence Talks if interested and are better able to commit at another
point in time; however, they must “restart” the program and begin the Curriculum from
the beginning.
 Monthly supervisor meetings: The single point of contact for each service provider shall
be available, at a minimum, once a month for monthly supervisor meetings. These
meetings are for the purpose of sharing information on challenges and successes and
discussing best practices in the implementation. The Providence Talks Coordinator may
attend these meetings as well. In addition, for the purposes of troubleshooting issues or
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

following up on specific challenges, the Providence Talks Coordinator shall be available
to the Providence Talks team for a minimum of two hours weekly during normal working
hours during the first three months of the program launch, and on an as-needed basis
thereafter.
Supervision of Recruitment Specialist: The Providence Talks Coordinator will collaborate
with their supervisor in the oversight of the Providence Talks Recruitment Specialist.
Supervision of the Providence Talk Coordinator: Biweekly check-ins with the provider’s
single point of contact, or “supervisor,” to discuss caseloads, productivity, questions and
concerns.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VIEW THE PROVIDENCE TALKS TRAINING MANUAL
2.C Training- Initial and ongoing training will be important to both the success and continuous
improvement of the program. Training requirements for the service providers include:
2.C.1- Initial Training for Service Providers
Providence Talks will hold one all-day training session during the first two weeks of
September 2015. Dates for any additional trainings will be communicated to all service
providers in advance. All staff proposed to provide Providence Talks implementation
services must attend the September session. At the training, Providence Talks staff will
train participants to fully utilize the Providence Talks Curriculum while also having a
complete understanding of the proper use and functionality of the LENA technology.
Additional trainings will be offered on a periodic basis throughout the year, allowing new
staff and service providers to be trained and providing existing staff with a refresher if
needed. In addition to this all-day training, new home visitors will be required to shadow
a minimum of two home visits with an already trained Providence Talks home visitor. If
one is unavailable at the provider, Providence Talks will coordinate directly with their
staff to provide the modeling. Providence Talks Coordinators should plan to shadow at
least one of all new home visitor’s first Providence Talks visits.
2.C.2- Continuous Improvement Coaching:
Research indicates teachers are more effective when they have strong support and
mentoring. Providence Talks will offer all service provider staff individualized mentorship
and feedback to improve upon their effectiveness. Each service provider shall schedule a
mentoring session with each staff member performing Providence Talks services. If
needed, Providence Talks will provide additional training to service providers and may
require such training if there are concerns about the performance or outcomes of
Provider staff. The Providence Talks Program Specialist will shadow/observe a minimum
of two Providence Talks coaching sessions per Provider each month.
2.C.2- Quarterly Project Learning and Information Sharing Sessions:
Providence Talks will hold quarterly 90-minute meetings with service providers for the
purposes of troubleshooting common challenges, sharing best practices and
strengthening the program’s delivery across providers. Staff assigned to the Providence
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Talks project from each service provider will be required to attend and participate in
these meetings, to be scheduled at a date and location of mutual convenience.
2.C.3- Home Visitor Rating Scale (HOVRS):
In order to provide home visitors with feedback that addresses key skills, the Providence
Talks Program Specialist will use a standard tool on shadow visits. The HOVRS is an
adapted measurement instrument that will be utilized to measure the effectiveness of
home visiting services in relation to the Providence Talks program. The Providence Talks
Program Specialist will utilize the HOVRS instrument when conducting shadow home
visits. Scores will be recorded for both Providence Talks data collection purposes and
shared with the service Providers’ site supervisor and Coordinator.
The HOVRS covers the following areas related to the implementation of Providence
Talks:
•
Home Visitor Responsiveness to Family
•
Parent Engagement during Home Visit
•
Home Visitor Facilitation of Parent Child Interaction
•
Data Co-Discovery and Sharing of LENA Reports
•
Implementation of Curriculum
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Section 3: Data Collection & LENA Mobile
Purpose: This section provides the Providence Talks Providers with information about the
management of the DLP devices, the Providence Talks data system, and the LENA Mobile
system including data collection procedures, requirements and tips. This section also guides
Home Visitors in how to talk with families about the data that is collected.
Intended Audience: Home Visitors, Coordinators, Supervisors, Administrative Support
Last Updated: 8/2015
3.A. Digital Language Processor Administrative Procedures
In order to measure the progress of families who are in the program, participating children wear
a specialized article of clothing that contains a small “talk pedometer,” or Digital Language
Processor (DLP, see figure 1) provided by the LENA
Research Foundation, capable of measuring an entire
day’s worth of auditory data. The DLPs and associated
software enable Providence Talks participants to measure
adult words count (AWC) and conversational turn count
(CTC), two key drivers of early learning development and
strong predictors of future educational success. After the
family completes the recording, a Providence Talks home
Figure 1: Digital Language Processor
visitor retrieves the talk pedometer and processes the file
though patented software that produces easy-to-understand feedback reports (see Appendix A).
3.A.1.- Assignment of LENA Equipment
Each Provider will be assigned by the central Providence Talks Team, a Hub computer
along with a number of DLP devices sufficient to meet their needs based on their
projected intake numbers. DLP devices are tracked using serial numbers and reported on
each month back to the central office (please see Appendix V for inventory procedures).
3.A.2- Uploading the Digital Language Processor:
Each Providence Talks Provider will be issued a centralized “Hub Computer”. This
computer must be stored in a secure location and should only be used for processing
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DLP data. The Providence Talks Administrative staff should support Providence Talks
Coordinators in processing DLPs after they are collected from families. To upload data:

Power up the DLP efore attaching it to the USB cable

Attach the DLP to a high quality USB cable

Connect one recorder at a time to the Hub Computer and wait for audio
transfer and insertion into processing queue. After connecting one DLP
and waiting for the audio transfer and insertion to the procesing queue,
another DLP may then be connected. Up to four DLP devices can be
uploaded onto one HUB computer at a time for the purposes of
generating the LENA Recording Report. Each DLP should be properly
assigned to its corresponding child on LENA Mobile to ensure accuracy in
uploading the recording.
After a home visitor uploads the DLP Recording using the LENA Mobile Hub Computer
and its proprietary software, the data from the recording will automatically be shared
with LENA. This is done by connecting the DLP to the portal. The name of the child who
has been assigned the DLP will pop up on the screen. Once you confirm the identity of
the recording, it will begin transferring the data. After the upload to the Hub Computer is
complete, the recording is permanently deleted and only statistics such as word count
and conversational turns remain. This process can take up to 2 hours. It is best to
schedule uploads at least one day before the next visit is scheduled to ensure the device
has enough time to be properly uploaded.
3.A.2- Charging the DLP Devices
The Hub computer is shipped with a
charging station (Figure 2). This station
should be used to charge all
DLP/Recorders after the data has been
transferred.
All DLPs will arrive at the agencies fully
charged. Home Visitors should recharge
DLPs after uploading the recordings and
before redistributing back to families.
When you turn the DLP on, if the device says “paused” or “sleeping” this indicates that
the device is charged and ready for a new recording.
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The Hub computer should not be used to charge multiple DLP devices. Instead, this
charging station can be used to charge multiple DLP devices at one time.
Figure 2: DLP Charging Station
3.B. LENA Reports
Interpretation of the LENA feedback report and discussion of its meaning is an important
part of the home visit. Details on how to interpret the LENA feedback report and how to
discuss with a family is included in the Providence Talks Curriculum. This section
provides an overview of the LENA feedback report. The sophisticated language
environment analysis software processes the audio file from the DLP and generates the
LENA Reports (see Figure 3), automatic assessments of expressive language
development and other analyses. The report includes Adult Word Counts (AWC) and
Conversational Turn Counts (CTC) in aggregate and by hour. It also includes
TV/Electronic viewing time in the house by hour. At the top of the form, information
available includes the number of “stars” the parent has earned, and data on how much
the parent is reading to the child based on what they self-reported.
Figure 3: Sample Data Report
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3.C. Talking with Families About Data.
3.C.1- Talking with families about DLP Data
Families will differ on how quickly they understand the data and information that they
receive from Providence Talks. It is important to explain the data in simple and
straightforward terms and differentiate between what you, as a home visitor, should
understand about what a chart is telling you, and what you should be sharing with
families.
The following are some questions that you can expect
to hear from parents and caregivers:

Why is the Last Bar of Every Graph a Different
Color?
The different-colored bar indicates the most recent
recording (See Figure 5).
Figure 5: Most Recent

What Do the Stars Mean on the Recording Report?
Recording
Stars are good! They indicate different kinds of progress the family is making
regarding various metrics, such as conversational turn
count and reading minutes per day (Figure 6). There
are two ways to get stars: One is by having the
recording numbers land in the 75th percentile (top
25%). For example, any recording that involves the
parents speaking over 15,000 words per day would be
in the 75th percentile, and automatically gets the
parent a star. The other method to acquire stars is by
making improvements – if a family makes a 10 percent
improvement compared to their last recording, they’ll
get a star, even if it’s under the 75th percentile.
Families may also earn a star for achieving age-appropriate Reading Minutes with
their child. Reading Minutes, or Daily Book Reading, is assessed and completed on
the LENA Snapshot by parent report and is calculated/determined based on ageappropriate thresholds identified on the top of the LENA Recording Report next to
the reported minutes.
At this time, families do not receive stars on their LENA Recording Report for
decreasing their daily TV/Electronic sound counts.
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
What do the Percentiles Mean? Is Having a High
Percentile More Important Than Improving From One
Recording to the Next?
Figure 6: Bar Indicating
Improvement
Not necessarily. Families are going to start at different levels of talk and
engagement with some families starting with a higher baseline than others. A family
that starts higher, but doesn’t show any positive trends, may not be getting much
out of the program or following the curriculum. A family that starts low, but shows
progress should be proud of their results, while always working hard to keep
improving.
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Figure 7: Sample of gains and losses between recordings
In this example (Figure 7), you can see the progress made every week in Daily Adult
Words and Conversational Turns. In the most recent recording, the numbers go
down, but we can also see that there was a large increase in TV and Electronic
usage, with a noticeable spike around 1pm that day. Clearly, this is not a typical day,
and something may have happened (parent[s] became busy, an emergency, an
illness, etc.). This would be something for the home visitor and family to discuss, and
should not be a factor in the family’s continued progress in the program. The home
visitor may want to ask specific questions such as “what happened around 1:00 PM
on the most recent recording day?”

How Do I Talk About the Hourly Counts on the Right Hand Side of the Report?
Home visitors should not get too caught up in discussing the daily words/turns/TV
sound. Make sure you’re discussing the hourly numbers on the right hand side of
the chart as well. Looking at the hourly chart shows patterns of talk and allows the
home visitor to talk about integrating talk into the rhythm of daily life –mealtime,
bath time, doing chores, etc. To better understand and talk about these charts,
consider comparing it to the “Time of Day Activity Sheet” the family is filling out. If
TV time is down over a period of time, but reading time isn’t up, the parent may
decide it’s a good time frame to block out 15 to 20 minutes of reading time for their
child.
3.C.2- Talking With Families About Data Outside of LENA Metrics
While positive trends in Adult Word Count and Conversational Turn Count is a positive
outcome for any family, it is also important for families (and home visitors) to analyze
these data points from a broader perspective as well. A family may experience positive
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trends, or may not see significant gains at all while participating in Providence Talks.
Even for those families not seeing consistent gains, this does not mean that the program
is not successful or a good fit for the family. There are other metrics to consider when
talking to a family about their experience in Providence Talks. These can include:

MacArthur-Bates CDI Tool: The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development
Inventories are parent report forms for assessing language and communication skills
in infants and young children. See Appendix P for “Guidelines to Completing Level I
and Level II MacArthur-Bates Short Forms.” The short forms are located in the
appendix of the curriculum for easy use. The checklist consists of either 82 or 100
vocabulary words (depending on the child’s age) that the parent/caregiver can
identify as either “used” and/or vocabulary “understood” by their child. This is a quick
tool that generates an approximate vocabulary count for the participating child. This
tool has different forms depending on the age (in months) of the participating child.

Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social Emotional: The ASQ:SE is a screening tool
designed to identify children who may be at risk for social or emotional difficulties.
The ASQ: SE does not diagnose serious social or emotional disorders; rather it should
be seen as a first step in identifying young children who may benefit from more indepth evaluation and/or preventative interventions. The core of ASQ:SE is a series of
8 questionnaires that correspond to age intervals from birth to age six. Each
questionnaire contains simple questions for parents to answer about their child’s
behavior and social interactions. The answers are scored and help to determine
whether the child’s development appears to be progressing as expected.

Subjective/Qualitative Metrics: Outside of the aforementioned quantitative metrics,
there are a number of subjective and qualitative data points that can be used in
order to gauge a child’s improvement. For example, the amount of time a parent
spends reading with their child on a regular basis is a metric that should be closely
followed and analyzed. Furthermore, levels of confidence and engagement can be
discussed and examined in order to better understand caregiver-child relationships.
3.D. LENA Mobile
LENA Mobile is the highly specialized data system, created by the LENA Research Foundation,
and customized for Providence Talks.
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3.D.1- LENA Mobile Access
Providence Talks utilizes LENA Mobile as its data management tool. This provides both
Provider staff and the Providence Talks Central Office with a comprehensive
understanding of the reporting trends, child and parent outcomes and provides a
dashboard for effective program management.
You will have access rights in LENA Mobile depending on your role in Providence Talks.
For example, home visitors are able to access family-level data, as well as look at
program data across an entire caseload. The Providence Talks program office is able to
see provider-wide and program-wide data, but only the home visitor and their supervisor
are able to see identifying information (family names). You can tell your families that no
one else is able to see the data associated with their name except you, their home visitor
and your supervisor.
For information or clarification on how to obtain access to LENA Mobile and creating
log-ins for new users, contact Kathy Ganev with LENA Research Foundation at
LENAMobileSupport@lenafoundation.org.
3.D.2- Data Collection
All Providers are required to utilize LENA Mobile to collect relevant demographic data for
families enrolled in Providence Talks. Categories of data required for collection include:
Intake and Advanced Demographics, Visit Notes, Scheduling, LENA Developmental
Snapshots and Additional Assessment Tools. All Home Visitors will receive in depth
training in LENA Mobile and will be provided with tablet devices to aid them in efficiently
entering data for the families they serve.
3.D.3- Using the LENA Mobile Menu:
Using the menu on the top-left corner of LENA Mobile (see
Figure 12) is relatively simple. You can access specific links,
such as Reports, Snapshots, Recording Reminders, and
Resources that you can print out and give to families. To print
out an individual report for a child, just click on the child’s
name to view their individual LENA report, and select the print
option using “Landscape” (wide) orientation.
Figure 8: LENA Mobile Menu
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3.D.4- Appointment Reminders:
LENA Mobile utilizes a text-messaging system for both home visitors and families to
remind them of upcoming appointments and recordings. This tool is meant to allow the
home visitor to perform their job more easily, and ultimately reduce the number of
canceled or no-show appointments. A home visitor can schedule reminder texts to be
sent to parents at 8:00 AM on the morning of their recording and on the morning of
their scheduled visit.
3.D.5- Using the LENA Mobile Dashboard
The colored medallions on the LENA Mobile Dashboard (see Figure 9) are indicators of
group performance and are helpful to Coordinators and Supervisors in monitoring
program performance for all families and home visitors at their agency. The box at the
top will display which group is being represented, such as all the home visitors within a
specific Provider. Currently, the numbers in the medallion represent a snapshot in time –
they are not representative of how the group has performed throughout the course of
the program.
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Figure 9: LENA Mobile
Dashboard
3.D.5 Reporting Data to Public
Periodically, Providence Talks may release a report for the general public on the progress, data,
and findings/recommendations regarding the program. PT will encourage all staff and
volunteers to direct individuals interested in this type of information to these reports, or to
contact the program’s Research and Data Coordinator. Any report labeled as an “internal report”
should not be discussed with outside stakeholders unless authorized by the Executive Director
or Deputy Executive Director.
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Section 4: Administrative Procedures
Purpose: Presents service Providers with the methods the Providence Talks team will use to
oversee the implementation of its services. This section provides clarification for questions
pertaining to procedures such as billing protocols, field visiting and inventory management.
Intended Audience: Coordinators, Administrative Staff, Supervisors
Last Updated: 8/2015
Topics in this section include billing and budgeting (4A), inventory (4B) and field visiting procedures (4C).
4.A. Budget & Billing
Providers will bill for expenses incurred in operating Providence Talks on a monthly basis. Bills
are should be submitted using the Providence talks Billing form (distributed separately to each
Provider Agency) by the 5th business day of each month for expenses from the previous month.
4.A.1- “Start-Up” Expenses
The Provider will be reimbursed 100% of approved line up expenses aligned to
previously approved start-up budget not to exceed the full amount of the start-up
award.
4.A.2-Budget & Approved Expenses and Billing:
Expenses must be aligned to the Provider’s approved budget (see Exhibit B). The
Provider may submit a request to modify their approved budget to the Director at any
time. Eighty percent (80%) of monthly expenses incurred will be paid upon receipt,
provided they are aligned to the approved budget or budget modification (the only
exception to this will be reimbursement for tablet devices. These costs will be fully
reimbursed with a receipt). Providence Talks will not reimburse for home visitor time for
individuals who have not been trained in the program/Curriculum without prior approval
from the Executive Director or Deputy Executive Director of the program.
4.A.3.-Performance Payments:
The remaining 20% of fees incurred, hereafter referred to as the Performance Payment
will be tied to the Provider achieving the monthly enrollment targets outlined above. The
Provider and Director may choose to modify those benchmarks at the Director’s
discretion. In the event that the Provider does not achieve the monthly target for
enrollment, the Provider will be paid the proportion of the performance payment based
on the proportion of the monthly target achieved. Any missed performance payment
can be earned in subsequent months after the Provider achieves the enrollment target
for that month.
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4.A.4- Incentive Payments:
The Provider shall be entitled to receive quarterly incentive payments of up to 15% of the
approved quarterly expenses incurred. The incentive payment rewards Providers who
perform in such a way as to advance the overall goals of Providence Talks in moving
children toward healthy language development. Incentive payments will be paid based
on the achievement of the following:

Meeting enrollment targets

Average usable recordings for the 3 months of the quarter = 97%

65% of families who were eligible to reach 6 recordings (e.g., have been enrolled for
at least 12 weeks), complete 6 recordings
4.A.5- Budget Advances
Following the execution of Provider’s Contract, the Provider may request an advance of
up to 25% of the annual award. This request should be submitted in letter form to the
Executive Director. The Advance will be recouped evenly across the term of the contract
as part of the monthly billing process.
4.B Inventory
The Providence Talks Central Team Keeping accurate and real time inventory of key elements of
the Providence Talks model is critical and is required for all Providers. Each Provider should
maintain an up to date inventory of the following items: LENA Digital Language Processors
(DLPs), LENA Vests, Program Books. Each Providence Talks Provider is required to submit a
comprehensive inventory each month to the PT Central Office. This inventory information must
be submitted with the monthly billing.
4.B.1-How to Use the Inventory Databases:


DLP Devices: Each Provider must use the Providence Talks Inventory
Spreadsheet (See Appendix V) to keep an up to date record of the status
of each of the DLP device. When a DLP device is assigned to a family the
LENA ID # should be noted in the inventory, and the family should be
noted as Active. If a family becomes Inactive then the inventory should
be updated to note that the family is now Inactive, and should indicate if
the DLP has been returned. If the DLP is not returned, the Provider should
track attempts at recovering the “lost” device. When a family completes
Providence Talks they will be required to return the DLP. At that point the
inventory should be updated to indicate the returned DLP for the family.
Books: Each Provider will be supplied with an inventory of books that
corresponds to the Providence Talks curriculum. At the time a Provider
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
receives the books they should update the inventory to reflect the full
library. This inventory should then be modified as books are distributed.
This will allow the Providence Talks team to ensure that new books are
ordered appropriately.
Vests: Providers will be supplied with a range of different sizes of DLP
Vests. The inventory should be updated to reflect the number the
Provider has on hand and what is being used by Families. Vests should be
collected from Families where possible.
4.B.2 Distribution of Materials and Service-Provider Based Tracking
Providers’ total number of participants and active/expected cases will change over time.
Providers will submit monthly forms indicating the supplies that they have on hand and
requesting supplies for the following month with their monthly billing. Providence Talks
will, on the second Monday of every month (Tuesday in the event of a holiday), ship out
the supplies that have been requested for that month.
4.B.3 Recoupment of reimbursement for lost equipment
It is realistic to expect that some families may lose or misplace DLP devices during the
course of the program however, Providers should put controls and administrative
procedures in place to minimize this loss. In general, the expected loss rate is 10% or
less. In instances where Providers do not control DLP loss and significantly exceed the
average loss rate across Providers, Providence Talks may seek for Providers to reimburse
the LENA Research Foundation for the cost of the lost DLPs.
4.C. Field Monitoring Visits
To assure that providers have full understanding of Providence Talks procedures, and that
operations are in compliance with requirements, the Program Specialist will conduct a field
monitoring visit. On a quarterly basis, Providence Talks will schedule field visit of active,
participating providers. The purpose of this visit is not to seek out irregularities or problems
with providers, but rather to get a sense of how the provider is implementing various processes
that help keep the program organized and on track. During a field visit, the Program Specialist
will review three files, selected at random, to ensure that it has, at a minimum, each of the
following:





Information & Informed Consent with Signatures (See Appendix F)
Intake Questionnaire (See Appendix L)
MacArthur-Bates CDI Short Form (See Appendix P)
ASQ SE
Visit Note(s) (See Appendix M)
During a Field Visit, the Program Specialist will also check for the provider’s current DLP
inventory, and request to see any documentation the provider keeps in-house showing the
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DLP’s in circulation, in addition to any lost DLP’s that are unaccounted for (See Appendix Q) for
the Agency Visit Form).
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Section 5: Appendices
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