Gesell Developmental
Schedules
By Zeyad Chreim
Author
• Arnold Gesell
• Professor at Yale
•
•
University
Established the Yale
Clinic of Child
Development
He believed that a
child’s behavior
develops in a
patterned
predictable way.
“Giselle's early work involved the
study of mental retardation in
children, but he soon became
convinced that an understanding
of normal development is
necessary for the understanding of
abnormal development.”
Gesell Tests
• Gesell Preschool Test – For children
between the ages of 2 ½ and 6.
• School Readiness Test – For children
between the ages of 4 and 8.
What does it measure?
• The Gesell Developmental Schedules cover
four fields : Motor, Adaptive, Language
and Personal-Social
• The Gesell Developmental schedules yields
the Developmental Quotient (DQ) rather
than an Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
Four Fields
• Motor - Kick large
balls, Walks on tiptoe,
Skips, Jumps in place,
Jumps down, Stands
on one foot, Standing
board jump, Hops on
one foot and
Throwing and
catching beanbags
• Adaptive – Cube,
Paper and pencil and
incomplete man
Gesell Developmental
Schedules
• The Gesell Tests are not scored
numerically
• Scores are placed on the Gesell
Developmental Schedules
• The schedules are divided into intervals of
six months
• Gives an examiner a quick and clear view
of a child’s behavior level
Critics
• The Gesell
Tests do not
take into
account other
problems that
a child might
have.
• A child may
be given a
lower
Developmental
Quotient
• In order to
prevent a
skewed test
result a child
should be
given a vision
and hearing
test.
Validity, Reliability and
Guidelines
• Are largely comprised of subjective
•
•
•
interpretations
The guidelines for qualifying the examiner
vary from one program to another. - Results
may vary
Criteria and guidelines for qualifying the
examiners uniform and standardized.
Children perform differently under different
stimuli
Four Fields
• Language – Interview, discriminates
prepositions, digit repetition, picture
vocabulary and comprehension questions
• Personal-Social – Feeding, dressing, play,
communicative and temperament
For More Information
Thank you for attending this presentation
For more information please visit the
following site:
Arnold Gesell Links