Gesell Early Screener (GES)

The Gesell Early Screener (GES) is a screening instrument that assists parents, educators, and other professionals to quickly determine a child's Performance Level Rating (Age Appropriate, Emerging, or Concern) in four domains of development: Cognitive, Language, Motor, and Social/Emotional/Adaptive Skills. The GES can be reliably administered by persons with varying levels of experience in less than 20 minutes. GES strand scores "flag" any child who may benefit from further diagnostic evaluation. It does not, however, assign a Developmental Age, as its complementary assessment, the GDO-R, does.

The GES consists of an Examiner's Manual, a Child Recording Form (CRF-S) which includes a standardized script and Summary Profile form; a set of manipulatives; Teacher and Parent/Guardian Questionnaires; and an auto-calculating version of the GES Strand Scoring Worksheet. It is supported by current psychometric data and meets the government mandates for initial screening of a child 3-6 years.

While the GES requires no specialized training, we do recommend that examiners attend Day 1 of a GDO-R 3-day workshop or webinar for an enhanced understanding of the ages and stages of child development. A comprehensive Technical Report is available.

Gesell Institute recommends best practices for assessment of very young children when using the GES.

Updated July 31, 2012