Dr. Linda Acredolo and Dr. Susan Goodwyn

Child Development Experts—Baby Signs, Inc.

Child development experts Linda Acredolo, Ph.D., and Susan Goodwyn, Ph.D., discovered the effectiveness of signing with babies in 1982. After two decades of research, Acredolo and Goodwyn have found that babies whose parents introduce them to signing through the Baby Signs® program learn to talk sooner, have fewer tantrums, get a jump-start on their intellectual development, express emotions more effectively, and develop stronger bonds with their parents. Their groundbreaking book, Baby Signs: How to Talk to Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk, was published in 1996 and quickly became a bestseller with more than 500,000 copies sold in the U.S. alone. The book also has been translated into 14 foreign languages.

Today, Acredolo serves as professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California at Davis. Over the course of her academic career, Dr. Acredolo has published more than 60 scholarly articles and has been named a Fellow of both the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. Dr. Acredolo is also a member of the Advisory Board for Parents magazine.

Goodwyn serves as professor emeritus of psychology and childhood development at California State University, Stanislaus. Dr. Goodwyn has served as Project Director and Co-Principle Investigator for several longitudinal research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Kellogg Foundation. Her work is frequently published in scholarly journals around the nation.

For more information, visit www.babysigns.com.

Lise Eliot

Early Childhood Development Expert

Lise Eliot is a leading authority on early child development and the growth of perception, personality, language, and intelligence. Currently, Dr. Eliot is a neuroscientist at the Chicago Medical School, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, and consultant for the Erikson Institute, a graduate school in child development.

Dr. Eliot previously authored the acclaimed What’s Going On in There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life, which charts the latest thinking regarding the brain’s development from conception through the critical first five years. Her book addresses factors that play a major role in brain development, including attention, language, memory, reasoning, and intelligence and is highly regarded as an invaluable contribution to the nature versus nurture debate.

She received a B.A. from Harvard University, Ph.D. from Columbia University, and did post-doctoral research at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. To date, Dr. Eliot has published more than 40 works, including articles in peer-reviewed journals, popular magazines, and a monograph on brain development in children. She frequently lectures on topics related to brain and child development across the country and is currently working on a new book that explores sex differences in children’s brains and learning styles.

Cat Schwartz

Early Childhood Development Expert

Cat Schwartz started her career at TechTV as a content producer for the network’s website and was on the forefront of developing new, high-tech ways to distribute TV content over the Web. She then took on the role of producer and on-air contributor for the live, technology-based TV show, The Screen Savers. Schwartz’s experience and high-tech expertise lead her to produce consumer help segments and technical segments for the live computer help show, Call For Help. Over the next three years, she gained the trust of geeks and sheiks alike through her easy-to-understand explanations of gadgets and the Web.

Schwartz became a parent in 2006 and along with her son came a whole new realm of technology and gadgets. Immediately Schwartz discovered a niche in the high-tech parenting space and the HiTechMommy was born soon after. Since then, Schwartz has become a well-known and trusted parenting source through her Web site, HiTechMommy.com and appearances on The Today Show, Live with Regis & Kelly, MSNBC, and CNBC.