Someone mentioned to me in passing about a man named Arnold Gesell and his studies of child development which found how kids develop back prior to WWII. She added that his institute had just recently rechecked the milestones and had found that they were the same.
Now, given the flynn effect and the fact that this was 80 years ago, and based on GT studies, I am just skeptical as can be.
So, I looked up Gesell and his studies. I ordered some of his books, but to get the jump, I did some googling.
Turns out that the "milestones" everyone quotes are from this author and his colleagues.
http://childparenting.about.com/od/childdevelopment/a/geselletal.htmJumping to the academic part.
http://childparenting.about.com/od/childdevelopment/a/fiveyearoldscho_2.htmHere is what a kid should know after K.
Know his address and phone number
Sorting, classifying, and counting with manipulative sets
Recognize, say, and write numbers to 20
Count by fives and tens
Understand more than, less than, and equal to
Addition, subtraction, and basic math problem solving with manipulative sets
Identify and count coins
Recognize where the big hand and little hand are on an analog clock and tell time to the hour
Say the days of the week and the months of the year
Sounds awfully familiar? So, it appears his studies are the source of most of this stuff.
Based on the discussion I had with the person noted above, who was quite adamant about "normal child development" and not "deviating" from it, and who is a position of decision making for many kids, I'll bet that "Gesell Schedules" are deeply flawed both in their conclusions and methodology.
