When Tressa and I talked about starting a blog on our website, one of the main reasons we wanted to do this was to provide a way for parents and child care professionals to ask questions and receive ideas and support. One way that we planned to do this was by inviting professionals in the field of early childhood to become part of our "panel of experts". Our experts will provide guest blog posts on specific topics, and help to answer questions that are submitted to us.

We are VERY excited to introduce our first expert, Bill Corbett, the author of the book Love, Limits, & Lessons® and the founder and president of Cooperative Kids. We met Bill when he was the keynote speaker at our Early Childhood EXPO in January 2011, which was attended by both parents and ECE professionals. Bill's speaking style is down-to-earth, entertaining, and accessible. Since then, we have had the pleasure of seeing Bill at other early childhood events around Connecticut, and on his new cable TV show.

Bill is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA), the National Children's Alliance (NCA), the North American Society of Adlerian Psychology (NASAP), and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). He is also on the Resource Advisory Board of Attachment Parenting International (API) and spent 12 years as a parent educator and training director with the International Network for Children and Families. As a professional speaker and writer, he has won numerous awards with Toastmasters International and his syndicated column on discipline and child behavior appears in local family publications in many states across the country.

The methodology of Bill Corbett's teaching is inspired by the studies of child psychologists Rudolph Dreikurs and Alfred Adler and is centered on the approach that effective discipline first requires a solid understanding of why children act out the way they do. "Misbehavior is communication," Dreikurs wrote in his book, "Children The Challenge", and this communication must be interpreted in order to use discipline effectively. His theory and methods are based on firm AND respectful discipline and assists parents in raising up cooperative and responsible children.

We are honored to have Bill Corbett on our panel, and we look forward to his guest posts. As both a parent AND a preschool teacher, I am looking forward to what Bill has to share with us!

Do you have a question on child behavior? You can ask your questions by commenting below, or using the 'Ask the expert' submission form on the right-hand side of our blog!