He has taught parent training classes for the past 25 years, and a discipline skills training class he developed for parents of delinquents was awarded 1993's Outstanding Education Program by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
For the last 20 years he has written the "Coping With Kids" column for The Oakland Press (Pontiac, MI). This column also appears weekly in the Staten Island Advance. He was been guest writer of the "Coping With Kids" column in Working Mother Magazine. He publishes journal articles on juvenile and criminal justice, and has written several booklets on such topics as children's self-esteem, discipline, and hyperactivity.
His first book, Discipline: A Sourcebook of 50 Failsafe Techniques for Parents, was published by Macmillan in 1991. He subsequently published 8 Weeks to a Well-Behaved Child (Macmillan/Hungry Minds, Inc., 1994), Children Who Say No When You Want Them to Say Yes (Macmillan/Hungry Minds, Inc., 1996), 6 Steps to an Emotionally Intelligent Teenager (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999) and co-authored What You Need to Know About Ritalin (Bantam, 1999) and Conquering Postpartum Depression: a Proven Plan for Recovery (Perseus, 2003). He’s also written and published Talking to Teenagers about Sex and companion workbooks to 8 Weeks to a Well-Behaved Child: A Parent’s Workbook and the Instructors Manual for Teaching 8 Weeks to a Well-Behaved Child.
In addition to his co-authored book, The Fatherstyle Advantage, he is co-authoring a book for court and clinical professionals entitled Defusing High Conflict Divorces (Impact Publishers, 2006).
Mr. Windell earned his Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology at Oakland University (Rochester, MI). He has been a consultant to various juvenile court programs, the State of Michigan, the Michigan Department of Social Services, and to daycare and preschool programs. He has run parenting classes at the Haven, a domestic violence shelter for women and children in Pontiac, MI. He currently teaches in the Criminal Justice Department at Wayne State University. He is the editor of the Michigan Psychologist, the newsletter for the Michigan Psychological Association.
Since 1991, Mr. Windell has appeared on over 150 radio and television programs including CNN, The Company Show, Gerry Spence, and The Donahue Show. Reviews and articles about his books and his work with parents have appeared in The New York Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, The Detroit News, Working Mother Magazine, Child Magazine, Parent Magazine, Parents Digest, and many other publications.
The father of two adult children and a teenaged stepson, Mr. Windell is married to a speech and language pathologist and lives in Troy, Michigan.