J. Ronald Lally is Co-Director of WestEd's Center for Child & Family Studies and is an international expert on early childhood development. He has directed child- and family-related programs at WestEd since 1978. Lally has directed the work of the Program for Infant/Toddler Care (PITC) since 1985 and is executive producer of 17 infant/toddler PITC training DVDs that provide techniques to ensure secure and intellectually engaging group child care. He is also the executive producer of three DVD series distributed by the California Department of Education: New Perspectives on Infant/Toddler Learning, Development, and Care; Infant/Toddler Learning and Development Program Guidelines; and the California Infant/Toddler Learning and Development Foundations.
Lally is one of the founders of ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families and has authored numerous publications focusing on early childhood development. Two of his recent publications are “Caring Relationships: The Heart of Early Brain Development” and “For Our Babies: Ending the Invisible Neglect of America’s Infants”. He also leads “For Our Babies”, the national advocacy campaign. Lally has been developing programs and policies for young children and their families since 1966. Prior to joining WestEd, he was a professor at Syracuse University, chair of its Department of Child and Family Studies, and director of its Family Development Research Program, a longitudinal study of the impact of early intervention on low income children.
Lally received a BA in social science and an MA and EdD in educational psychology from the University of Florida. He holds a postdoctoral certificate of Infant Testing from the Child Development Research Center in London.