Meet the experts

Tom Copeland is the nation’s leading expert on the business of child care. He is the author of ten books and trains thousands of caregivers each year. A licensed attorney, he worked for Resources for Child Caring, a non-profit organization, for 28 years before becoming a private consultant in 2009.

Miriam Eckstein-Koas has years of experience in the field of early childhood education, whether in the classroom or working as a special education early intervention provider with families and caregivers. She currently is an adjunct professor at Touro College Graduate School of Education, where she teaches classes on the Philosophy of Education and Early Childhood Development. She also serves as a Field Experience Supervisor, providing guidance and instruction to future early childhood teachers who are doing their student teaching practicum work. Miriam enjoys hiking, reading, and traveling to new places.

Shari Robertson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is a Professor of Speech Language Pathology and Provost’s Associate at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Robertson spent 18 years as a school-based SLP and supervisor prior to obtaining her Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the current president-elect of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Shari has published numerous articles, book chapters, and clinical materials and presented several hundred workshops at state, national, and international venues related to language and literacy.