Gessell Testing

Justin was required to take the Gessell Developmental Observation assessment as part of the entrance process for kindergarten. The Gesell evaluates a child’s growth and development by an assessment of his/her behavior. There are no right or wrong answers. Here Justin is arranging blocks. One of the questions asked was, “What does your daddy do for work?” We’ve never talked about what Kenton’s job is with him, so I cringed while waiting for his response. He thought about it for a little bit, then answered, “He brings me to school sometimes when my Mama doesn’t.” The examiner said, “That’s nice he brings you to school sometimes, but what does he do for work?” Justin thinks some more and replies, “He works a lot.” The examiner presses, “What does he do when he works a lot?” “He works and works at home SO much.” (Kenton is a consultant computer programmer and works from home over 80% of the time). On to the next question … “What does your mother do for work?” “She brings me to school.” “What else does she do?” “She cooks food for me and helps me.” “What does your mother do for work?” “She does a lot of work at home.” (I’ll have to teach him the term ‘stay-at-home mom.’)

There was an assessment of letter recognition. At this point, Justin decides to bounce up and make a silly sound at each letter. I kept quiet, but it was all I could do to NOT tell him to stop and sit still. I was there as an observer only. He’s known his letters since before turning two years old, so I suppose this part was so simple that he started clowning around. He calmed down again for the next part, but I was so worried that the examiner would think he wouldn’t be ready for a classroom setting that I don’t really remember the rest of the test. Honestly, I am a bit worried about the results of the assessment, but we’ll find out next week when we come back for a meeting.