hope it will hep

1. Arnold Gesell, in full Arnold Lucius Gesell, (born June 21, 1880,
Alma, Wisconsin, U.S.—died May 29, 1961, New Haven, Connecticut),
American psychologist and pediatrician, who pioneered the use of motion-
picture cameras to study the physical and mental development of normal
infants and children and whose books influenced child rearing in the United
States. As director of the Clinic of Child Development at Yale
University (1911–48), he collected and published a vast quantity of data and
amassed a large collection of films on child development.
Gesell studied psychology at Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts,
where he came under the influence of G. Stanley Hall, one of the earliest
psychologists to study child development. In 1906 Gesell received a doctorate
from Clark, and in 1911 he went to New Haven to head the Yale Psycho-Clinic
(later the Clinic of Child Development). Convinced that medical training was
essential for his studies in child development, he studied medicine and in
1915 received an M.D. from Yale.
Initially concerned with retarded development, Gesell came to the conclusion
that an understanding of normal infant and child development was
indispensable to understanding childhood abnormality. He then began his
studies of the mental growth of babies, and by 1919 he was addressing
himself chiefly to the development of normal infant mentality. He found new
methods for observing and measuring behaviour by using
controlled environments and precise stimuli. From 1926 the movie
camera became his principal tool of investigation. About 12,000 children of
various ages and levels of development were filmed candidly through a one-
way mirror, and eventually records of children from birth through the late teens
were compiled. From these observations Gesell concluded that children must
reach specific maturational stages in development before their learning
influences their behaviour; there appeared to be a hereditary scheme for
development in the four areas of motor skills, adaptive behaviour, language
development, and personal and social skills. In Infancy and Human
Growth (1928), he presented a developmental schedule based on this theory,
using 195 items of behaviour to evaluate infants of ages between 3 and 30
months. In 1938 Gesell and Helen Thompson produced a revised
developmental schedule for evaluating infants as early as four weeks after
birth. Although his schedules were criticized by some experts, they were
widely used. He proposed that a discerning guidance, rather than excessive
permissiveness or rigid rules, provided the best approach to bringing up
children.
Gesell’s first book appeared in 1912. One of the most comprehensive of his
many works is An Atlas of Infant Behavior (1934); other influential works
include Child Development: An Introduction to the Study of Human

2. Growth (1949), with Frances L. Ilg; The Child from Five to Ten (1946);
and Youth: The Years from Ten to Sixteen (1956). In addition to his studies of
normal development, Gesell also considered such questions as the
psychological factors in child adoption and the effect of premature birth on
mental development. He served as a research consultant for the Gesell
Institute of Child Development in New Haven, which continued the work of the
Yale clinic, from 1948 until his death.
Arnold Gesell
American psychologist
Description
Dr. Arnold Lucius Gesell was an American clinical psychologist, pediatrician and professor at Yale
University known for his research & contributions to the field of child development. Wikipedia
Born: 21 June 1880, Alma, Wisconsin, United States
Died: 29 May 1961, New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Known for: Studies in child development
Education: Clark University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Yale University
Parents: Gerhard Gesell, Christine Giesen Gesell
Books
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Early life[edit]
Gesell was born in Alma, Wisconsin, and later wrote a book analyzing his experiences there
entitled The Village of a Thousand Souls. The eldest of five children, Arnold and his siblings were
born to photographer Gerhard Gesell and schoolteacher Christine Giesen.[3]
His first experience in
observing child development involved watching his younger siblings learn and grow until he
graduated from high school in 1896.
After high school, Gesell attended the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, where a course
taught by Edgar James Swift purportedly led Arnold to take an interest in psychology. Gesell worked
as a high school teacher briefly before leaving to study at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Later, he studied history under Professor Frederick Jackson Turner and psychology under Dr.
Joseph Jastrow, receiving a bachelor of philosophy degree from Wisconsin in 1903.
Career[edit]
Gesell served as a teacher and high school principal before seeking his psychological doctorate
at Clark University, where the university's president, G. Stanley Hall, had founded a child study
movement.[4]
Arnold received his PhD from Clark in 1906.
Gessell worked at several educational facilities in New York City and Wisconsin before obtaining a
professorship at the Los Angeles State Normal School, now known as The University of California,
Los Angeles(UCLA)). There he met fellow teacher Beatrice Chandler who would become his wife.
They later had a daughter and a son, Federal District Judge Gerhard Gesell.
Gesell also spent time at schools for the mentally disabled, including the Vineland Training School in
New Jersey. Having developed an interest in the causes and treatment of childhood disabilities,

3. Gesell began studying at the University of Wisconsin Medical School to better understand
physiology.[5]
He later served as an assistant professor at Yale University while continuing to study
medicine.[6]
He developed the Clinic of Child Development there and received his M.D. in 1915. He
was later given a full professorship at Yale.
Gesell also served as the school psychologist for the Connecticut State Board of Education and
helped to develop classes to help children with disabilities succeed. This historic appointment made
Dr. Gesell the first school psychologist in the U.S. He wrote several books, including The Preschool
Child from the Standpoint of Public Hygiene and Education in 1923, The Mental Growth of the
Preschool Child[7]
in 1925 (which was also published as a film), and An Atlas of Infant
Behavior (chronicling typical milestones for certain ages) in 1934. He coauthored with Frances
Ilg two childrearing guides, Infant and Child in the Culture of Today in 1943, and The Child from Five
to Ten in 1946.
Gesell made use of the latest technology in his research. He used the newest in video and
photography advancements. He also made use of one-way mirrors when observing children, even
inventing the Gesell dome, a one-way mirror shaped as a dome, under which children could be
observed without being disturbed. In his research he studied many children, including Kamala, the
wolf girl. He also did research on young animals, including monkeys.
As a psychologist, Gesell wrote and spoke about the importance of both nature and nurture in child
development. He cautioned others not to be quick to attribute mental disabilities to specific causes.
He believed that many aspects of human behavior, such
as handedness and temperament were heritable. He explained that children adapted to their parents
as well as to one another. He advocated for a nationwide nursery school system in the United
States.
Gesell’s popular books spread his ideas beyond academia. His core message, urging parents to
“nourish the child’s trustfulness in life,” resonated with child advocates long before Dr. Benjamin
Spock became America’s most prominent parental advisor.[8]
In The Child from Five to Ten, Gesell
wrote, “It is no longer trite to say that children are the one remaining hope of mankind. . . If we could
but capture their transparent honesty and sincerities! They still have much to teach us, if we observe
closely enough.”[9]
Maturational Theory and Developmental Schedules[edit]
Gesell's ideas came to be known as Gesell’s Maturational Theory of child development.[6][10]
Based
on his theory, he published a series of summaries of child development sequences, called the Gesell
Developmental Schedules.
The Gesell Institute of Human Development, named after him, was started by his colleagues from
the Clinic of Child Development, Frances Ilg and Louise Bates Ames in 1950, after Gesell retired
from the university in 1948.[11]
In 2012, the institute was renamed the Gesell Institute of Child
Development.
Personal[edit]
In 1911, Gesell married Beatrice Chandler, a teacher he had met while working at Los Angeles State
Normal School. The couple had a daughter and a son.[12]
Gesell died at his home in New Haven in
1961
Arnold Gesell books

4.  Developmental Diagnosis - Normal and Abnormal Child Development - Clinical Methods and
Pediatric Applications
 Exceptional Children and Public School Policy
 First Five Years Of Life
 Infancy and Human Growth
 Infant Child In the Culture
 Infant and Child In the Culture Of Today - the Guidance Of Development In Home and Nursery
School
 Studies In Child Development
 The Embryology Of Behavior
 The Guidance Of Mental Growth In Infant and Child
 The Normal Child and Primary Education
 Vision - Its Development In Infant and Child
 Wolf Child and Human Child
 Youth
 Youth the Years From Ten To Sixteen
Gesell's Method of Observation
In 1926, Gesell stumbled across a movie camera and came up with a groundbreaking idea: he could
create controlled environments and use the camera and a one-way mirror to study and document
children's reactions to specific stimuli. Gesell studied a total of about 12,000 children using this
method.
Gesell's Theory
So, what did Gesell learn from all this movie making? Through his observations and research, Gesell
concluded that children go through predictable stages of growth. In fact, Gesell's theory formed the
basis for just about every other developmental theory since his time. Some of the key points
associated with his theory include:
 Although all children cycle through the same stages or sequences of growth, they don't enter
the stages at the same time. Each child has its own unique pace.
 Pacing is influenced by internal factors, such as physical and mental development, genetics,
personality and temperament.
 Pacing is also influenced by external factors, like parenting style, environment, peers,
culture and health.
 Children's development changes due to a feeling of equilibrium, or calm plateau's of
learning, and disequilibrium, an unsettled time of rapid growth and learning.
Arnold Gesell’s Lasting Contributions to Modern
Developmental Parenting Styles
“The child’s personality is a product of slow gradual growth. His nervous system
matures by stages and natural sequences. He sits before he stands; he babbles before
he talks; he fabricates before he tells the truth; he draws a circle before he draws a
square; he is selfish before he is altruistic; he is dependent on others before he

5. achieves dependence on self. All of his abilities, including his morals, are subject to
laws of growth. The task of child care is not to force him into a predetermined pattern
but to guide his growth.”
–Arnold Gesell
Today’s parents have the benefit of utilizing information and experience from a wide
variety of developmental parenting styles. One of the pioneers of child development
theory and a champion of individuality, Arnold Gesell introduced an entirely new view of
child development.
Arnold Gesell is most well-known for his popular book “Infant and Child in the Culture of
Today: the Guidance of Development in Home and Nursery School. After receiving his
Ph.D from Clark University, in 1906, he served as an assistant professor at Yale
University. While there, he developed an interest in physiology and continued his
studies and received his M.D. in 1915.
Among his primary interests were the causes and treatment of childhood disabilities. His
outstanding research in that field led to the creation of the Clinic of Child
Development and a full professorship at Yale. In order to improve observation
techniques, he invented the Gesell dome, which was a one-way mirror named for its
shape. Under this dome, children could be observed without the distraction of seeing
their own reflections. He was one of the first researchers to combine the use of a one-
way mirror and a movie camera to record and study children’s responses to stimuli in a
controlled environment.
Through observation of approximately 12,000 children, he reached several conclusions.
One of his conclusions was that all children experience specific stages of development.
Gesell was the first to conclude that children develop not by age, but in stages. His
research led to his belief that while those stages are the same for all children, the pace
at which they reach each stage of development is not dependent upon their ages, but a
combination of internal and external factors. Internal factors include genetics, physical
development, and personality. External factors include environmental influences such
as parents, peers, and society. His research also led to many of the developmental
parenting styles of parents today.
Controversy Surrounding the Maturational Theory
Gesell’s Maturational Theory of child development led to the publication of the Gesell
Developmental Schedules, which summarized descriptions of each developmental
stage and its sequence. Critics of his theories maintained that he relied too heavily on
genetic factors to accurately account for the complexity of perception, learning, and
behavioral processes. The controversy surrounding his maturational theory still
continues. However, Gesell himself was the first to recognize and acknowledge the
difficulty of distinguishing between nature and nurture as the primary cause of a
developmental delay.

6. One of the greatest benefits his research had on modern developmental parenting
styles was freeing parents from the anxiety caused by rigid, age-based theories of
development. Age based theories often had the effect of causing parents to panic or
feel that there was something “wrong” if a child did not, for example, take its first step by
the age of one year. Famous examples, such as Albert Einstein, who did not speak until
the age of four, clearly demonstrate the vast range of differences in stages of
development that can occur. Gesell’s theories also helped reduce the social stigma from
children whose developmental schedules deviated from what age-based theorists
decreed as “the norm”.
The Gesell Institute of Human Development, named after him in 1950, was started by
his colleagues from the Clinic of Child Development. One of them was Dr. Frances Ilg,
with whom he co-authored two books about developmental parenting styles. Although
he was already retired by 1948, his theories are still highly respected today. In addition
to championing equal rights and education for those with developmental disabilities, he
was also ahead of his time in advocating for a universal childcare system. His theories
also remain relevant regarding the current controversy over standardized testing and
the development of educational curriculum.
Societies seem to be notoriously slow when it comes to implementing new scientific
knowledge. However, there is increasing evidence that his research is resulting
in developmental parenting styles that celebrate the unique individuality of every child.
The Maturational Theory of child development was introduced in 1925[1]
by Dr. Arnold Gesell,
an American educator, pediatrician and clinical psychologist whose studies focused on "the course,
the pattern and the rate of maturational growth in normal and exceptional children"(Gesell
1928).[2]
Gesell carried out many observational studies during more than 50 years working at
the Yale Clinic of Child Development, where he is credited as a founder. Gesell and his colleagues
documented a set of behavioral norms that illustrate sequential & predictable patterns of growth and
development. Gesell asserted that all children go through the same stages of development in the
same sequence, although each child may move through these stages at their own rate [3]
Gesell's
Maturational Theory has influenced child-rearing and primary education methods since it was
introduced.
Principles of maturation[edit]
He believed that a child’s growth & development are influenced by both their environment and
genes, but he largely investigated the children's physiological development. He called this
process maturation, that is, the process by which development is governed by intrinsic factors,
principally the genes.[6]
According to Gesell, the rate at which children develop primarily depends on the growth of their
nervous system, consisting of the complicated web of nerve fibers, spinal cord, and brain. As the
nervous system grows, their minds develop and their behaviors change accordingly.[7]
The Concept of Maturation[edit]
Gesell observed that maturational development always unfolds in fixed sequences: an embryo's
heart is always the first organ to develop, then the central nervous system (the brain and spinal
cord), followed by the peripheral organs. After birth, babies first gain control over their lips and
tongues, then their eye movements, followed by control over their neck, shoulders, arms, hands,

7. fingers, legs, and feet. There is a genetic cephalocaudal (head-to-foot) trend in both prenatal and
postnatal development.[2]
As a baby grows, they learn to sit up, stand, walk, and run; these capacities develop in a specific
order with the growth of the nervous system, even though the rate of development may vary from
child to child. Gesell believed that individual differences in growth rates are a result of the internal
genetic mechanisms.[8]
Maturational theory states that while the child’s social and cultural environments also play a role in
their development, these socializing forces are most effective when they are harmonious with the
inner maturational timetable. Gesell opposed efforts to teach children things ahead of their
developmental schedule, asserting that once the nervous system had matured adequately, a child
would begin mastering tasks such as sitting up, walking, and talking from their own inner urges.[8][9]
The Study of Patterns[edit]
Gesell studied infant behavior and how early motor behavior develops. He determined that growth is
best measured not quantitatively but in patterns. A pattern can be anything that has a definite shape
or form [10]
such as an eye blink. Gesell looked for patterns in the process by which actions become
organized; for example, the steps in the development of eye-hand coordination.[10]
Although the
theoretical formulations of Erikson, Piaget, and Havighurst are of value, none adequately address
motor development. It is appropriate, therefore, that a theoretical model of motor development that
integrates elements from each, plus a dynamic systems and behavior setting perspective, be put
forth in order that we may describe and explain this important aspect of human development.
Reciprocal Interweaving[edit]
Gesell created the term "reciprocal interweaving" to describe the developmental process in which
two opposite tendencies gradually reach an effective balance. For example, when a child is
developing a preference for “handedness”, he or she uses first one hand and then the other, and
eventually ends up with a preferred pattern of hand use.[10]
Gesell also applied the concept of reciprocal interweaving to the development of the personality.
Gesell asserted that, like motor behaviors, personality also develops as a back and forth pull
between two opposite poles. He gave the example of a child going through a cycle of introverted and
extroverted tendencies, beginning at age three, until the two tendencies become integrated and
balanced. Gesell believed that developmental progress requires temporary loss of equilibrium, but is
followed by reintegration at higher levels of organization.[10]
Functional Asymmetry[edit]
Gesell found asymmetric development to be common in children.[11]
In motor behaviors, this can be
seen in an infant’s tonic neck reflex, where babies prefer to lie with their heads turned to one side
and extend their arm to the same side which the head is turned while flexing the other arm behind
their head. It is a reflex where the infant directs vision towards the hand or fist in extension.[12]
Self-Regulation[edit]
Gesell believed that even newborns could regulate their own development, and demonstrated that
babies were able to determine their own schedules for eating & sleeping.[11]
Gesell also observed self-regulatory mechanisms in personality, overall integration and equilibrium.
He interpreted development as a process where behavior advances in a spiral pattern, alternating
between equilibrium and disequilibrium as children enter new phases. While tensions arise, these
self-regulatory mechanisms ensure that the organism never goes too far in one direction.[13]

8. Individuality[edit]
Critics often point out that when summarizing his findings, Gesell gave the impression that all
children behave in exactly the same way at each age. However, his position was that the
developmental sequences are common to all children, but that they vary in their individual rates of
growth. He suggested that these growth rates are possibly related to differences in temperament
and personality.[11]
For example, he speculated that a child who grows slowly might be cautious,
even-tempered, and patient; whereas a child who develops more quickly might be more outgoing,
happy, and quick to react. Gesell also believed that a child’s environment should be adjusted to his
or her temperament and growth style.
Philosophy of Child-rearing[edit]
Gesell believed in a child-centered approach to raising children. He urged parents to recognize the
genetic schedule that babies are born with, pointing out that it is the product of over three million
years of biological evolution[11]
He observed that babies appeared to know what they needed and
what they were ready to do & learn. He directed parents to look to the children themselves for cues
on how to help the child develop as an individual, and to set aside their own expectations of what the
baby “ought” to be doing,[14]
particularly in the first year of life.
Gesell developed a series of development schedules summarizing the sequences of development in
children.[15]
He believed that parents familiar with these sequences will become more patient and
understanding during times of disequilibrium and instability [16]
knowing that they will eventually
disappear.
Criticisms[edit]
Modern critics of Gesell point out that he put too much emphasis on maturation and not enough on
environmental factors such as learning.[17][18]
Criticisms also include that his developmental stages
imply too much uniformity as if all children go through the stages at the same age.[3]
He does not
specify how much variation can be expected at each age. In addition, Gesell’s research was limited
to middle-class children in a university setting [11]
so critics are hesitant to generalize his findings to
other cultures.
Critics also have asserted that the Maturational Theory can be used as an excuse to withhold
treatment and educational opportunities from children.[5]
Recent research has challenged Gesell’s age norms, showing that newborns may have more
abilities than was reported and that his developmental picture may be too slow.[11]
Newborns have
been found to be a lot “smarter” than Gesell originally reported showing advanced competencies at
early ages. Despite the many criticisms, pediatricians and infant specialists still use Gesell’s norms
to help them determine what babies should be able to do at various ages

9. Gesell believed that development of the child begins at conception, and that

10. development is under the control of basic biological systems, or a genetic blueprint
that Gesell called “maturation.” The rate of this development may vary but the
development itself unfolds in a set sequence. Environment and socialization have
some effect over development, but it is the maturational process that takes
primacy. Gesell felt that each child was unique and that teaching should be child
centered to reflect these differences. He also believed that there were optimal times
when a specific learning was most effective: when the child was “ready to learn.”
Teaching should take place within this optimal period that is directed by the child’s
maturational schedule. A failure on the part of the teacher or caregiver to correctly
interpret the “readiness” of the child could lead to wasted effort on the part of the
teacher, and also lead to unjustified punishment.
Gesell Theory
The Theory
Gesell’s theory is known as a maturational-developmental theory. It is the foundation of
nearly every other theory of human development after Gesell. Early in the 20th century, Dr.
Gesell observed and documented patterns in the way children develop, showing that all
children go through similar and predictable sequences, though each child moves through
these sequences at his or her own rate or pace.
This process is comprised of both internal and external factors. The intrinsic factors include
genetics, temperament, personality, learning styles, as well as physical and mental
growth. Simultaneously, development is also influenced by factors such as environment,
family background, parenting styles, cultural influences, health conditions, and early
experiences with peers and adults. Gesell was the first theorist to systematically study the
stages of development, and the first researcher to demonstrate that a child’s developmental
age (or stage of development) may be different from his or her chronological age.
The Cyclical Spiral
Gesell emphasized that growth always progresses in a pattern through predictable stages
or sequences. Sequential development begins within the embryo and continues after
birth. While an individual progresses through these stages at his or her own pace, the
sequence remains the same. According to Gesell, growth can be thought of as a cyclical
spiral. Each cycle of the spiral encompassing the time it takes to move through six stages,
or half-year increments. Notice that the time to complete a cycle of the six stages is quite
rapid in early life and slows down with age. Gesell’s cycles of development are divided into
six well-defined stages which are repeated throughout life. One cycle includes the following
stages: Smooth, Break-Up, Sorting Out, Inwardizing, Expansion, and Neurotic “Fitting
Together”. See figure below of the cycles of development.

11. Gesell’s research established normative trends for four areas of growth and development,
namely (1) Motor, (2) Adaptive (Cognitive), (3) Language, and (4) Personal-Social
behavior. Originally published as the Gesell Developmental Schedules in 1925, these
developmental schedules, most recently updated in 2010, continue to serve and guide
pediatricians and psychologists throughout the world today.
Arnold Lucius Gesell (June 21, 1880 – May 29, 1961) was a pioneer in the field of child
development, whose research on developmental milestones is still widely used by
pediatricians, psychologists, and other professionals who work with children. He developed
techniques for observing children in natural play situations without disturbing them, thus
providing behavioral measures free from the effects of interference by researchers. Gesell
recognized the importance of both nature and nurture in children's development. He believed
that children go through the stages he identified in a fixed sequence, within a certain time
period, based on innate human abilities. He maintained that children should be raised through
"reasonable guidance," supporting the natural growth of their abilities. Thus, parents should
neither impose strict control nor allow excessive freedom. His work influenced many twentieth-
century theorists, stimulating research to discover the conditions required to support normal
growth and psychological development for all children.
Life
Arnold Gesell was born in Alma, Wisconsin. His parents raised their son to
value education very highly, and young Arnold decided to become a teacher. He
received his bachelor degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1903, after which he
served as a high school teacher and later, a principal.
He entered into graduate study in psychology at Clark University, under the influence
of G. Stanley Hall, one of the pioneers in the study of child development. After receiving
his Ph.D. in 1906, Gesell moved to the East Side in New York City where he
taught elementary school.

12. In 1911, Gesell was appointed an assistant professor of education at Yale University,
where he established the Yale Psycho-Clinic (later the Clinic of Child Development). He
served as the director of the clinic from 1911 until 1948. This clinic became the main
center in the U.S. for the study of child behavior. There he spent some of the most
fruitful years of his career, conducting numerous studies and developing the theories for
which he became famous. In the early 1910s, Gesell decided to study medicine, since a
medical degree was still regarded as an essential credential for any kind of research in
child development. In 1915, he gained his M.D. from Yale.
From the 1920s to the 1950s, Gesell conducted numerous studies on child
development, becoming the nation’s foremost authority in this field. The tests that he
developed were widely used in assessment of children’s intelligence. He wrote some of
his most well known works in this period, including Infant and Child in the Culture of
Today (1943) and The Child from Five to Ten (1946).
By the end of his career, Gesell served as a research consultant at the Gesell Institute
of Child Development in New Haven, Connecticut until his death. He died May 29, 1961
in New Haven.
Work
Gesell was initially interested in retarded development, and he spent several years in
research of Down’s syndrome, cretinism, and cerebral palsy. However, he soon became
aware that retarded development could not be fully understood without knowledge of
normal development. He thus turned to the study of normal behavior, especially the
mental growth of babies.
He developed a method to precisely record and measure behavior in a strictly controlled
environment. Gesell used a movie camera and a one-way mirror to observe and record
children at play, without their being disturbed. He recorded some 12,000 children of
various ages and levels of development—the study that became the foundation for his
theories of child development. He later trained other researchers in how to collect the
data and make valid reports.
Basedon hisstudies,Gesell concludedthatall childrenpassthroughcertainmaturationalstages—
developmental milestones—inessentiallythe same manner.Childrenprogressthroughthese stages
naturallyovertime,andindependentlyof learning. Gesell noticedthatfourmajorareasare includedin
that development:motor,linguistic,adaptive,andpersonal-social behavior. He producedascale—The
Gesell Developmental Schedules—thatincludedall fourareastomeasure normal childrendevelopment.
Thisscale measuredwhetherchildrendevelopednormallyordeviatedfromexpectedgrowth,foruse
withchildrenbetweenfourweeksandsix yearsof age.Thisscale wasthe firstsuch scale evercreated,
and waswidelyused insubsequentresearchinmedical andeducational fields.
Gesell applied his research to adoption studies. He used his scale to determine whether
a child had reached certain developmental milestones and thus whether the child could
be adopted. It eliminated many problems with adoption, especially those related to
giving an appropriate child to the right parents. In 1926, he wrote:

13. [Adoption] can not be entrusted altogether to good will or to intuitive impulse, or even to
unaided common sense. There are too many opportunities for error and miscarriage. The
combined critical judgment of the social investigator, the court, the physician, and the mental
examiner should enter into the regulation of adoption…. Systematic psychoclinical examinations
not only will reduce the wastes of error and miscarriage but will serve to reveal children of
normal and superior endowment beneath the concealment of neglect, of poverty, or of poor
repute. Clinical safeguards can not solve all the problems of child adoption but they can steadily
improve its methods and make them both more scientific and humane.
Gesell also argued that the best method to raise children is through reasonable
guidance, rather than through over-permissiveness or over-strictness. In other words,
ñcharacteristics already present inside the child, parents need to help those
characteristics to be expressed in a positive way. Too much permissiveness or too
much rigidity would hinder normal child development. He wrote:
The child’s personality is a product of slow gradual growth. His nervous system matures by
stages and natural sequences. He sits before he stands; he babbles before he talks; he fabricates
before he tells the truth; he draws a circle before he draws a square; he is selfish before he is
altruistic; he is dependent on others before he achieves dependence on self. All of his abilities,
including his morals, are subject to laws of growth. The task of child care is not to force him into
a predetermined pattern but to guide his growth.
Gesell’s work, however, was criticized on several grounds. One of the most important
objections was that he used only white, middle-class parents and children for his
subjects, thus decreasing the validity of his studies. He was also accused of ignoring
individual and cultural differences in growth patterns.
Legacy
Gesell constructed the "Gesell dome," a one-way mirror shaped as a dome, under
which children could be observed without being disturbed. Measurements done in these
sessions (which were filmed and extensively annotated) contributed to the
establishment of a theory of developmental milestones, which has continued to be used
by child health professionals for decades.
With his ideas that both nature and nurture are important in child development, Gesell
influenced numerous child psychologists and pediatricians, including Jerome S. Bruner
and Jean Piaget.
Publications
 Gesell, Arnold. 1926. "Psychoclinical Guidance in Child Adoption" in Foster-Home
Care for Dependent Children. U.S. Children's Bureau Publication, No. 136.
Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
 Gesell, Arnold. 1946 [1977]. The Child from Five to Ten. HarperCollins. ISBN
0060115017
 Gesell, Arnold. 1955. Child Behavior. Dell Publishing Company.
 Gesell, Arnold. 1956. Youth the Years From Ten to Sixteen. HarperCollins
Publisher. ISBN 0060115106

14.  Gesell, Arnold. 1969. Developmental diagnosis: Normal and abnormal child
development, clinical methods and pediatric application. Harper and Row.
 Gesell, Arnold. 1993. The First Five Years of Life. Buccaneer Books. ISBN
1568491638
 Gesell, Arnold, Frances L. Ilg, and Louise A. Bates. 1943 [1995]. Infant and Child
in the Culture of Today: The Guidance of Development in Home and Nursery
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ñ