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There are many ways in which the Montessori environment can contribute to the developmental, social, and academic success of children with special needs. The materials in the environment, the multi-age grouping, and the focus on peace and cosmic education are just a few examples of core characteristics of Montessori that help all children meet their needs – especially those children who may need additional support. Montessori classrooms are filled with beautiful hands-on materials that engage all of the senses. Working with the materials provides a wonderful opportunity for children with special needs to use their hands to explore and learn and to develop fine and gross motor skills. Montessori students in the elementary age range are encouraged to follow their own interests when it comes to reading, writing, and research; this kind of freedom allows the special needs child to flourish. In addition to having the freedom to follow their interests, students are able to work at their own ...

In a previous blog , we discussed the value of inclusion and how Montessori’s tenet of following the individual needs of the child makes it inherently inclusive. The Circle of Inclusion Project (University of Kansas) and Raintree Montessori (Lawrence, Kansas) listed 11 specific ways in which Montessori education addresses the needs of all children, including those with disabilities. Included in this list is “Individualization within the context of a supportive classroom community.” In today’s blog, Michelle kindly shares her classroom experiences to provide real-life examples of how Montessori meets that specific goal. Case 1 After working with three boys on the Stamp Game, I invited them to select a static addition card from the basket that they would like to work on with the material. Michael and Ephraim took a card that contained four-digit numbers. Jeremiah chose a card that contained two-digit numbers. I then asked the boys how many equations they were going to accomplish that mo...

The main thing is that the groups should contain different ages, because it has great influence on the cultural development of the child. This is obtained by the relations of the children among themselves. You cannot imagine how well a young child learns from an older child; how patient the older child is with the difficulties of the younger. —Maria Montessori The Child, Society and the World. It was my first year teaching in the Montessori lower elementary environment. I began my teaching career teaching high school, and was progressively making my way through the younger age groups. So far, I had taught every age group but Year 1–3. I have to admit, I was nervous about the children having separation anxiety and about getting through my first day with 18 first graders. But nothing prepared me for the parent who requested to have her child segregated from the older children in class. I thought that perhaps she was unsure of the mixed- or multi- age culture found in the Montessori envir...

In September 2015, the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services issued a joint policy statement on Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Programs that states that “all young children with disabilities should have access to inclusive high-quality early childhood programs, where they are provided with individualized and appropriate support in meeting high expectations.” Dr. Montessori believed that all children not only had the ability but the intrinsic motivation to learn. Separating and segregating children due to disabilities, giftedness, or other diversities does not align with the Montessori principal of cosmic, inclusive education. In fact, the Montessori environment, first established in 1906, is a leader in inclusive education. Montessori education follows the needs of the child, regardless of what those needs are. The teacher must be ready to respectfully accommodate individual needs within the environment rather than ma...

This idea, that life acts of itself and that in order to study it, to divine its secrets or to direct its activity, it is necessary to observe it and to understand it without intervening — this idea, I say, is very difficult for anyone to assimilate and to put into practice. —Maria Montessori The Advanced Montessori Method, p. 198. When we observe students, we take on the role of scientist. According to Paul Epstein, Montessori “understood that observation places us in three different modes of experiential knowing: empirical, rational, and contemplative.” (Epstein, 1995) Types of Observations in the Montessori Environment Empirical observations are based on a comparison of quantities. We can look at the sensorial materials, for instance, and notice that they are all based on the decimal system. There are ten blocks for the Pink Tower, ten Red Rods, ten prisms for the Brown Stair, etc. Rational observations measure experiences derived from ideas, imagination, and logic. If all students ...

I have a confession to make. When I first became a Montessori teacher, I didn’t know the first thing about observing children. I thought observations were only about marking down on record-keeping sheets which presentations were given, when the child had practiced the activity, and when they mastered it... and then I read a quote from Dr. Montessori that started me questioning my observational practices. Often inexperienced teachers place great importance on teaching and believe they have done everything necessary when they have demonstrated the use of the materials in a meaningful way. In reality, they are far from the truth because the job of the teacher is rather more important than that. To her falls the task of guiding the development of the child’s spirit, and therefore her observations of the child are not to be limited solely to understanding him. All her observations must emerge at the end — and this is their only justification — in her ability to help the child. —Maria Montes...

Since the teacher’s task was to free each child to learn, and since each child, responding to the inner laws of his own organism, had different needs and a different developmental timetable, the teacher could not function effectively without an awareness of the infinity of variations in child behavior. Under the Montessori rubric, the teacher incapable of observation could not teach. —Rambusch, 1965 When I first read this, I was struck by the frankness of the message. Rather than putting observation on the back burner and attending to it when we found time, was Rambusch actually suggesting that we observe first? The simple answer is “yes.” Observation in the Montessori Environment: How do we follow the child, if we don’t observe him first? A NAMC student recently asked me for advice on how to encourage a child to work on math activities. She was having trouble helping him, as he refused to even go into the math area. I asked her tell me what she knew about the child’s interests and the...