The Global Scales for Early Development (GSED), created and validated by the WHO, assesses children’s development from birth to three years on a global scale at the population and programmatic levels. The GSED package involves two measures:

• Short Form (SF):  A caregiver-reported questionnaire (approximately 30 minutes)
• Long Form (LF): Directly administered tasks and activities with the child (approximately 1-2 hours)

The GSED tools are designed to be universally applicable with minimal adaptation, easy to administer, open access and acceptable and understandable to the community. They provide a single score measuring a child’s development called the D-score. The D-score comprehensively captures a child’s development across motor, language, cognition, socio-emotional and adaptive skills. The WHO’s goal is to utilize the D-score worldwide similar to how weight and height measurements are collected and compared.