Re: Montessori teaching...(LONG)

[Guest guest]

Hi Heidi,

My late-talking son (Evan, 30 mo today) has not yet attended

Montessori school, but I have him enrolled for 3 hours/week of

a " Tot " class (2-3 yo's) beginning in September. It will be

interesting to see how it goes. He is not yet dx'd, but some

possible diagnoses are PDD-NOS (neuro's original thought), receptive-

expressive language disorder and verbal apraxia (neuro's current

suspected diagnoses), hearing impairment (one of my current

theories). He also has a tied tongue and was born with a cleft soft

palate and a recessed mandible. The cleft has been repaired although

there is still a small hole. He has a problem with language, but

does has some things that he does understand, such as identifying

shapes and colors, and being able to draw a triangle, circle and

cross on command.

Anyway, we'll have to see what happens. But, I can tell you that my

almost 7-yo son attended Montessori for 3 years, including

Kindergarten. Academically, he is doing excellent! In fact, he

probably learned *too much* at his Montessori program. This year in

1st grade, he has learned hardly anything that was new academically

speaking.

As for socialization, my opinion is that Montessori does address

that, but they do it in a way that is different from traditional

preschools. The children learn to interact in a more 1:1 fashion

instead of in a large group. The children are taught the language to

use when others try to distract them and are also encouraged to learn

to respect others, themselves and the environment. They are taught

responsibility for self, self-help skills (ex: pouring own juice for

snack and hanging own coat on a hanger...not just a hook). One thing

is that they do not really encourage pretend play/dramatic

play...they focus on what is real and encourage the children to

really *do* various imitative tasks rather than pretending to do

them. For example, my son learned to use an apple slicer to really

cut an apple rather than pretending to cut one.

I do have to say that my son did have a little trouble adjusting to

public school when the time came, because there were different

expectations. For example, at Montessori he was allowed to talk with

friends as he was sitting with them doing his *work*, as long as he

was not preventing them from doing their own *work*. Also, he was

allowed to get up and move about the classroom and use the bathroom

as needed without needing to ask. Also, he could work on a given

activity for as long or short a time as he desired, so long as he

returned the activity to it's proper place and in it's proper

condition before moving on to another activity. All of the children

were aware of the classroom policies and they were taught not to

disturb other people's work or to take something that someone was

working on just because they had left it to use the bathroom. In

public school, getting up to use the bathroom without first asking

was not acceptable, nor was talking during work time. My 1st grader

is almost done with this year, and I believe that he has basically

now adjusted. The only other issue was the fact that he got *so far

ahead* that I think some of his adjustment issues have been due to

boredom with the material. If there are any behavioral problems next

year, I plan on having his IQ tested, because my 2 yo's teacher has

told me that the issues he's had this year are consistent with

giftedness.

One thing that I have to say also about Montessori is that when

(my 1st grader) first started at age 3, he really didn't interact

much at all with the other kids. In fact, since an early age, I

always wondered if he might have mild Aspergers. Well, beginning at

age 4, he began wanting to interact with the other kids more and

more, and I am not sure that would have happened if he had been

forced to interact in a group setting for the whole school day.

Sometimes I think that really stresses kids out to be forced into so

much group interaction all day long. I am really hoping that

Montessori will work out for Evan, because I really think the multi-

sensory approach will help him a lot.

I think that a lot of people don't necessarily understand everything

about the Montessori approach. Many think that it is unstructured

and a *free-for-all*. IMO, Montessori is almost *more structured*

than traditional preschool. When I was observing different preschool

programs for , Montessori stuck out to me as being the place

where the children were learning self-control, appropriate behavior

and were treating each other and the teachers the most respectfully.

Having said that, Montessori is not necessarily the best approach for

every child. Montessori fit like a glove, but his girlfriend

(lol) just didn't really thrive there. She was too interested in the

things that weren't available to her there, and was ending up

disrupting the class, so her mom pulled her out.

IMO, you might as well give Montessori a try...it may just be the

best place for your son. Just make sure that you will be able to

observe him through an observation window so that you can see for

yourself how things are going and whether or not you think it is an

appropriate place for him.

Hope this helps. Feel free to email me privately if you want to

discuss it more. Also, I would really recommend that you read some

books about the Montessori approach and about Dr. Montessori

(Italy's first woman physician and the founder of the Montessori

approach). Also, if you type Montessori Education into a search

engine, you should be able to get lots of info that way.

Good luck! Keep me posted!

Laurel, mom to Evan (30 mo, late talker) and (almost 7 yo)

> I am considering putting my son (4 years old) in a public

montessori school

> and was wondering if anyone else's apraxia child has been taught in

this

> method. I understand it is great for education, but may hinder

social

> development....if anyone has any experience or thoughts on this,

please let me know.

>

> Thank you,

>

> Heidi

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Laurel,

Thank you so much for the information. The montessori school that I am going

to try to get in is the only public montessori program in my area.

The good thing about that is I know that they have to abide by certain academic

standards to prepare their children for all the standardized testing that

occurs to successfully pass to the next level. I would like to try this

approach

to see if my son will excell. Worse case senerio, he doesn't and he returns

to a typical school in my area. Because has such severe speech delay, I

know that many view him as not being as smart as he is, and that also

frightens me about a typical preschool...will they not see how he excels in some

areas and allow him to continue to grow in that area, and see that he needs more

assistance in other areas, and hold him back to allow him to learn what he

needs to know. This is what I am hoping will be achieved by this type of

education. Thanks again for the information and your views on this matter.

Sincerely,

Heidi

[Guest guest]

I looked into a montessori school for Hope before she started preschool. I

thought with thier individual approach that it would be easier for them to

adjust a program around Hope and her speech. We went and looked at the only

local school and met with everyone. We LOVED IT. It was so nice, the

people were very nice, and the kids worked very well together at different

stations. The kids knew we were just visiting and they were even trying to

help Hope understand what to do at different stations. I was just floored

at the way they did things and how the kids all seemed to love it.

Unfortunately after we fell in love with it, then we got hit with the

bombshell. $150 non-refundable registration fee and tuition was over $400 a

month. With me continuing to be a stay home mom to deal with both of the

girls' special needs, there was just no way we could do it. :-(

But on the bright side, the hearing imparied preschool that Hope goes to now

is very nice and she's making wonderful progress there. So it all worked

out.

Toni

mom to Hope and Faith

website: www.merlins-avalon.com

quilts: www.merlins-avalon.com/designs/designs.htm

I'm Doing it, You Can Too!!

http://twells.stayinhomeandlovinit.com

Re: [ ] Re: Montessori teaching...(LONG)

Laurel,

Thank you so much for the information. The montessori school that I am

going

to try to get in is the only public montessori program in my area.

The good thing about that is I know that they have to abide by certain

academic

standards to prepare their children for all the standardized testing that

occurs to successfully pass to the next level. I would like to try this

approach

to see if my son will excell. Worse case senerio, he doesn't and he

returns

to a typical school in my area. Because has such severe speech

delay, I

know that many view him as not being as smart as he is, and that also

frightens me about a typical preschool...will they not see how he excels

in some

areas and allow him to continue to grow in that area, and see that he

needs more

assistance in other areas, and hold him back to allow him to learn what he

needs to know. This is what I am hoping will be achieved by this type of

education. Thanks again for the information and your views on this

matter.

Sincerely,

Heidi