PENELOPE LEACH is a research psychologist and one of the world's leading experts on child development. Her books include Your Baby & Child, Babyhood, and Children First. She is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a visiting professor at Winchester University and a Senior Research Fellow at Birkbeck College, University of London and at the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust. She has been vice president of the Health Visitors' Association, President and Chair of the Child Development Society, and President of the National Childminding Association.