Dr. Robert Needlman grew up in Chicago, attending the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, where his mother was a preschool teacher. He graduated from Yale University with a BA in English Literature and earned his MD from Yale Medical School. He trained in General Pediatrics and Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Boston City Hospital, where he led the development of Reach Out and Read, a project to promote reading aloud. ROR programs now help millions of children to grow up loving books (learn more at www.reachoutandread.org). In addition to being the revising co-author of Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care, 8th and 9th editions, he is the author of Dr. Spock’s Baby Basics and writes for Drspock.com. Dr. Needlman practices and teaches Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland and is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He lives in Cleveland with his wife, Carol Farver, a surgical pathologist and educator. Their daughter, Grace, is a graduate of Yale University, where she majored in Art.