Did You Know?
The "Montessori method" developed from experimental research that Dr. Maria Montessori conducted with disabled and mentally challenged children in the early 1900s. She began this research using the basic idea of scientific education that was developed and employed in the 1800s with special needs children by French physicians Jean Itard and Edouard Seguin. A student and associate of Itard, Seguin extended Itard's initial idea of observing children in their natural, free activity by adding a series of exercises with specially designed self-teaching materials. Based on Dr. Montessori's success using this same approach in her initial research with disabled and physically challenged children, she began to look for an opportunity to study how it might be applied to benefit the education of more ordinary children as well.
First Montessori for Intellectually Disabled Children
In 1906, the opportunity presented itself when Montessori was asked to establish a day-care center for young children (2–6) in a low-income housing area of Rome's San Lorenzo district. She opened the center in 1907, calling it a Children's House, and began observing the children in the scientific manner indicated before by Seguin. In this process, Dr. Montessori soon discovered that the children responded to the materials with a deep concentration that resulted in a fundamental shift in their way of being, changing from the ordinary behavior of fantasy, inattention, and disorder, to a state of profound peace, calm and order within their environment. Observing this change occurring with all the children in her environment, she concluded that she had discovered the child's true normal nature. Later, Dr. Montessori referred to this change as normalization and the new emerging children as normalized.
After 1907, Dr. Montessori reported her discovery and experiences to educators and others who became increasingly interested in learning how these changes came about in children. This interest soon led her to write various books on the subject and conduct training programs to explain her approach, which eventually came to be known as the "Montessori method."
For more details & answers to some of the general questions you may have about Montessori Education, you can find useful information on the Pakistan Montessori Council website: http://www.montessori.edu.pk/pmckidswelcome/montessorimethod or email us at info@kvtc.org.uk.
In 2009, KVTC collaborated with HSBC Bank Middle East LTD to create a Montessori program that has proven to speed up rehabilitation & enhance capabilities, creating many more job opportunities for the Centre’s trainees. HSBC agreed to provide a complete imported Montessori Kit and support the rehabilitation expenses of 45 trainees. The Montessori Method initiated by KVTC is the first of its kind to be introduced in Pakistan for Intellectually Challenged people.
This system is especially designed for people with Special Needs; it operates fundamentally according to the mantra ‘teach by teaching, not by correcting’. That is, it has a built-in control of error; it promotes auto-education. The Montessori Method works by dividing the learning process into phases that promote practical learning i.e. learning by one’s own mistakes, using specially designed equipment and exercises that makes learning an interesting process. This inevitably results in the child learning things more quickly & being able to grasp various concepts more clearly, in a way that benefits them in their lives ahead.
A complete Montessori kit consists of: geometrical forms, knobbed puzzle maps, coloured beads, various specialized rods, blocks, and other specially designed objects. Montessori materials are designed in such a way that they invite activity. Trainees often select materials based on piqued interest or curiosity and try to fathom them at their own free will.
The organized Montessori Method however is designed separately for each trainee according to their individual needs and shortcomings. The trainees are demonstrated on how to use each object by a trainer and their careful attempts then are silently observed, sometimes for days, until memory and self-correction eventually yield success. Along the way, the trainees learn not only how to operate building blocks and puzzles, but more intricate concepts of socialization and cognition such as how to differentiate between colours, sizes, and chronological orders, how to share and mind personal space, how to remember and mirror their trainer’s movements in operating an object and how to finish a task in an assigned time period. Even the simple act of fetching their desired object from the shelf and replacing it after they are done teaches them the concept of responsibility and organization.
​The Montessori Method unfolds in the following systematic areas:
• Practical Life: Co-ordination, independence, and concentration are targeted through activities such as buckling, pouring water, preparing and serving food, buttoning and zipping, in order to develop a primary sense of Practical Life.
• Sensorial Life: The students’ 5 Senses and Observation powers are developed using the Montessori kit’s materials which also help in improving their sense of balance, and concepts such as ‘shortest-to-longest, smallest-to-biggest, smooth-to-rough etc.
• Mathematics, Language Arts, which involves verbal skills, visual perceptions, and muscle co-ordination learnt through listening games, puzzles, and tracing sand-paper and Geography & Culture are additional focus areas of the Montessori Method.
The Montessori Method of KVTC is especially beneficial for Special Needs People because it entails simpler, less complex exercised where problem areas and shortcomings are targeted; Montessori areas are chosen according to the jobs that the trainee’s wish to be capable of doing once they graduate; exercises and goals are modified according to the person’s disability and lastly, the class environment is more comfortable and secure from distractions than a regular Montessori class e.g. noise reduction measures