Arnold Lucius Gesell was an American psychologist, pediatrician and professor at Yale University known for his research and contributions to the fields of child hygiene and child development.
18 Facts About Arnold Gesell
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The eldest of five children, Arnold and his siblings were born to photographer Gerhard Gesell and schoolteacher Christine Giesen.
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Arnold Gesell spent time at schools for the mentally disabled, including the Vineland Training School in New Jersey.
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Arnold Gesell later served as an assistant professor at Yale University while continuing to study medicine.
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Arnold Gesell developed the Clinic of Child Development there and received his MD in 1915.
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Arnold Gesell was later given a full professorship at Yale.
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Arnold Gesell served as the school psychologist for the Connecticut State Board of Education and helped develop classes to help children with disabilities succeed.
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Arnold Gesell wrote several books, including The Preschool Child from the Standpoint of Public Hygiene and Education in 1923, The Mental Growth of the Preschool Child in 1925, and An Atlas of Infant Behavior in 1934.
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Arnold Gesell 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.
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Arnold Gesell made use of the latest technology in his research.
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Arnold Gesell used the newest in video and photography advancements.
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Arnold Gesell made use of one-way mirrors when observing children, even inventing the Gesell dome, a one-way mirror shaped like a dome under which children could be observed without being disturbed.
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Arnold Gesell cautioned others not to be quick to attribute mental disabilities to specific causes.
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Arnold Gesell believed that many aspects of human behavior, such as handedness and temperament, were heritable.
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Arnold Gesell explained that children adapted to their parents as well as to one another.
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Arnold Gesell advocated for a nationwide nursery school system in the United States.
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Arnold Gesell's ideas came to be known as Arnold Gesell's Maturational Theory of child development.
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In 1911, Arnold Gesell married Beatrice Chandler who was a teacher he had met while working at Los Angeles State Normal School.