Frances Lillian Ilg (1902– July 26, 1981) was an American

pediatrician Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until th ...

and professor at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. She was an expert in infant and

child development Child development involves the Human development (biology), biological, developmental psychology, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the conclusion of adolescence. Childhood is divided into 3 stages o ...

, as co-founder and director of the

Gesell Institute of Child Development The Gesell Institute of Child Development is a 501c(3)non-profit organization located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. It promotes to and educates child care professionals on the principles of child development originally laid down by t ...

Early life and education

Frances Ilg was born in

Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, adjacent to Chicago. It is the 29th-most populous municipality in Illinois with a population of 54,583 as of the 2020 U.S. Census estimate. Oak Park was first settled in 1835 and later incorporated i ...

, the daughter of Joseph Frank Ilg and Leonore Petersen Ilg. Her father worked for the railroad; her maternal grandparents were born in Norway. She graduated from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficia ...

in 1925. She trained as a physician at

Cornell Medical School The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with NewY ...

, earning her medical degree in 1929.

Career

Ilg was an assistant professor of child development of Yale University from 1937 to 1947. In 1950, she co-founded the Gesell Institute in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

with two colleagues, psychologist Louise Bates Ames and Janet Learned Rodell. She also wrote a newspaper column, "Child Behavior", which was syndicated nationally. In the 1950s and 1960s she counseled parents to "enjoy their children" and "guard their sense of fun and sense of humor"; she also advised school districts to consider emotional maturity as well as intellectual development in grade placements. "We have been over-emphasizing the gifted child," she said. In 1957 she received the William Freeman Snow Award from the

American Social Hygiene Association The American Sexual Health Association (ASHA), formally known as the American Social Hygiene Association and the American Social Health Association, is an American nonprofit organization established in 1914, that cites a mission to improve the hea ...

, for "distinguished service to humanity."

Works

* ''The first five years of life: a guide to the study of the preschool child, from the Yale clinic of child development'', 1940 * (with

Arnold Gesell Arnold Lucius Gesell (21 June 1880 – 29 May 1961) 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.Harris, B. (2011). Arno ...

) ''Child development, an introduction to the study of human growth'', 1943 * ''Vision, its development in infant and child'', 1946 * (with Arnold Gesell) ''The child from five to ten'', 1946 * ''L'Enfant de 5 à 10 ans'', 1949 * ''Child behavior'', 1951 * ''The Gesell Institute party book'', 1959 * ''Parents ask'', 1962 * (with Louise Bates Ames) ''Mosaic patterns of American children'', 1962 * ''School readiness; behavior tests used at the Gesell Institute'', 1964 * ''Your four-year-old: wild and wonderful'', 1976 * ''Your three-year-old: friend or enemy'', 1976 * ''Your six-year-old: defiant but loving'', 1979 * ''Your five-year-old: sunny and serene'', 1979

Personal life

Ilg adopted a daughter, Tordis, in 1938. Ilg died in 1981, aged 78 years, while vacationing in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilg, Frances Lillian 1902 births 1982 deaths American pediatricians Women pediatricians Developmental psychologists Yale University faculty People from Oak Park, Illinois Wellesley College alumni