montessori approach is a disservice to SN kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh the irony.

Maria Montessori started her approach to teach SN ppl the skills they would need to have a job and life. It was NEVER meant for regular kids.

That's not true. Maria Montessori started it to teach very long income kids living in slums. Some of those kids might have ended up with SN from environmental issues, but that's very different from a child who is born with a developmental disability.

Montessori isn't for everyone, but because they often talk about how great they are with SN kids, families don't realize that if there kid is struggling there it might be a "fit" issue, and not a "kid" issue.

you are wrong. Read the Wiki. Also, I am a dr. of psyc. and learned about her methods for teaching SN in grad school. (and how it's stupid for normal kids) but that. might have been the profs opinion.

You went to grad school and are citing wiki? Welp!

You are insulting the PP and yet you use the non-word "welp!"? Ok, wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh the irony.

Maria Montessori started her approach to teach SN ppl the skills they would need to have a job and life. It was NEVER meant for regular kids.

That's not true. Maria Montessori started it to teach very long income kids living in slums. Some of those kids might have ended up with SN from environmental issues, but that's very different from a child who is born with a developmental disability.

Montessori isn't for everyone, but because they often talk about how great they are with SN kids, families don't realize that if there kid is struggling there it might be a "fit" issue, and not a "kid" issue.

you are wrong. Read the Wiki. Also, I am a dr. of psyc. and learned about her methods for teaching SN in grad school. (and how it's stupid for normal kids) but that. might have been the profs opinion.

You went to grad school and are citing wiki? Welp!

Using welp is far better than saying "hey i have a masters/doctorate---and read wiki!"

You are insulting the PP and yet you use the non-word "welp!"? Ok, wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh the irony.

Maria Montessori started her approach to teach SN ppl the skills they would need to have a job and life. It was NEVER meant for regular kids.

Plus 1

Sounds like a bad school.

-- montessori teacher/ mom

VERY bad school.

[Anonymous]

Montessori is not known for being SN friendly. To do well, kids have to be internally motivated to work, which most kids are, but not all. My DD has GAD and did very well with Montessori because she was able to work quietly by herself when she needed more peace and quiet. She also loved working in groups just not all the time. ADHD kids might struggle to stay focused but also might thrive on being able to follow their own passion and internal clocks. It’s like anything else, great for some, OK for many, bad for some.

[Anonymous]

Good Lord. I went to grad school in the middle ages and the the Montessori Cult has largely white washed the beginning. I also find it very funny that people hate when I point this out on DCUM. It's true.

Clearly Ms.Welp isn't going to "Doherownresearch" so here's the original source material. Wiki if faster.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Montessori_Method/aNKcAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover
FFS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Montessori is not known for being SN friendly. To do well, kids have to be internally motivated to work, which most kids are, but not all. My DD has GAD and did very well with Montessori because she was able to work quietly by herself when she needed more peace and quiet. She also loved working in groups just not all the time. ADHD kids might struggle to stay focused but also might thrive on being able to follow their own passion and internal clocks. It’s like anything else, great for some, OK for many, bad for some.

For Montessori to work with certain SN kids, there needs to be a lot of parent-teacher communication. The school needs to be willing to engage the parents more so than they would otherwise. "letting go" if a kid is struggling is just straight up cruel and doesn't help the kid. Montessori educators could take a page from their own book and become motivated to take on "'lessons" in special education

[Anonymous]

Your child may need the structure of a traditional classroom. Mine was also miserable at Montessori but thrived in a developmentally-based traditional school.

[Anonymous]

I tried to tell my child’s new Montessori teacher about DS’s diagnoses. The teacher stopped us and said he doesn’t want his observations to be biased. We switched

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Montessori was created by one of the first female Italian doctors for children with special needs so they could be functional later in life.

2. Your director is either very uninformed, and perhaps not following the true Montessori method (Montessori is not a protected name), or there was a miscommunication.

3. My ADHD/ASD son was taken in hand by our (late, most excellent) Montessori school director, and he was set on a path to success in terms of critical thinking rigor and work ethic. There was no "letting go". She personally spent a lot of time with him, and never gave up. This is the approach we have always had with our son, and now he's thriving in college. He's had to work 10 times as hard as a neurotypical kid to succeed, and that started in Montessori.

4. THE METHOD IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE TEACHER. You will find intelligent and observant teachers in all methods, Reggio, play-based, Montessori, whatever. The difficulty is identifying them!

I strongly agree with this post. Everyone advised us to stay away from Montessori but Montessori was the best for my two kids (academically by a million, confidence-wise, emotionally, etc) that we have tried, including public with support and mainstream private. I think it depends on the child and it depends on the teacher.

My oldest is now a first-year in top college and second is a junior. Wish we could have had Montessori the whole way through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh the irony.

Maria Montessori started her approach to teach SN ppl the skills they would need to have a job and life. It was NEVER meant for regular kids.

That's not true. Maria Montessori started it to teach very long income kids living in slums. Some of those kids might have ended up with SN from environmental issues, but that's very different from a child who is born with a developmental disability.

Montessori isn't for everyone, but because they often talk about how great they are with SN kids, families don't realize that if there kid is struggling there it might be a "fit" issue, and not a "kid" issue.

you are wrong. Read the Wiki. Also, I am a dr. of psyc. and learned about her methods for teaching SN in grad school. (and how it's stupid for normal kids) but that. might have been the profs opinion.

You went to grad school and are citing wiki? Welp!

And are referring to “regular” and “normal” kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Montessori taught phonics so it is the only reason my dyslexic child learned to read.

I went to Montessori and was reading by age 3. No one knows how I learned to read - either Montessori or Sesame Street are the most likely teachers.

I sent my ADHD DC with a language disorder to Montessori because of my good experience. A key part of Montessori is that kids choose their own activities. My DC found the phonics materials hard because of his language learning disorder and thus never chose that work, which he needed very badly.

But the math! DC chose math instead and advanced beyond grade level, a strength and interest that lasted him through HS.

We finally had a talk with his Montessori teacher who agreed to keep the principal of choice but give him a menu of language items from which to choose. That helped, but no regular school, by itself was going to address his needs completely.

[Anonymous]

It wasn’t a good fit for my SN kid. That’s OK.

[Anonymous]

Montessori preschool/k has been wonderful for 3 of my kids (neurotypical). My autistic child (mild-moderate but with several issues) did fine in toddler years but needed a different program for preschool/k. He was too fixated on certain projects/activities.
But in general, the best teachers for special needs kids are those that have training and/or have a “sense.” Even so, teachers aren’t to blame for our children’s struggles. It’s not helpful to displace your anger on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Montessori preschool/k has been wonderful for 3 of my kids (neurotypical). My autistic child (mild-moderate but with several issues) did fine in toddler years but needed a different program for preschool/k. He was too fixated on certain projects/activities.
But in general, the best teachers for special needs kids are those that have training and/or have a “sense.” Even so, teachers aren’t to blame for our children’s struggles. It’s not helpful to displace your anger on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh the irony.

Maria Montessori started her approach to teach SN ppl the skills they would need to have a job and life. It was NEVER meant for regular kids.

Yes but the progressive, Choose Your Own Path each school day can easily result in big gaps in skills and learnings if the teachers don’t care that Larlo picks the same couple stations each day for weeks and weeks.