Guest guest Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 Hi Does anyone have their kid in a Montessori ? If so, please email me offline. We are have issues with our and would love to have any advice/strategies Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 I personally think Montessori for our kids is a bad idea. Mostly because what passes for Montessori these days is nothing like what Montessori is supposed to be. They've kind of gone the way of the Waldorf philosophy.Our kids need everything they don't offer. Structure. Hands on guidance. If I waited for my son to be "developmentally" ready to be introduced to something, he never would have gotten where he is right now. And from seeing it around me with other ASD families, it rarely works out well. We have a few charter schools here and every year, inevitably, parents think their children need less structure and would be better off in those schools where they'll have more freedom to learn with other students and it's only a matter of months before they realize that's really not the case and they're back in regular schools. I can't think of a single kid in our SD that has successfully switched.The whole concept of education in that type of setting is counter to everything our children need. It's based on a discovery model and well, our children generally lack that discovery concept, even recovered ones still have a hard time. Think of it like this: their idea is to expose kids to things and wait until their curiosity or needs catch up to it (that's a very pared down way to say it, though, it's not really that simple, FYI). For example, waiting for kids to talk. Expose them to language and eventually they'll learn to talk. They are very much a proponent of incidental learning - something we already know is difficult for ASD kids. Waiting for our kids to talk may very well mean they'll never talk. Don't forget about the motor skills challenges. That will also cause them to fall behind developmentally and without constant work in those areas, they'll not do it on their own. Why would they do something they know is too hard for them? It's a great program for typical kids (or what passes as typical nowadays) but it's not so great for ASD kids. They can't actually individualize because so much of it is based on group learning, spacial surroundings (using the room as a learning tool), and absorbing through incidental learning. The program itself doesn't lend itself to the kind of direct teaching ASD kids generally need. Keeping them on task, forcing them to do non-preferred activities - let's face it, given our kids the choice between, say, writing and painting, they'll choose painting every time. By the time anyone notices they aren't age appropriate with writing - it may be 100x harder to correct because the behavior of allowing them certain liberties has already been established. Our kids are pretty well routined, even the non-routined ones. My son has very little routine but that doesn't mean he doesn't recognize them.Many typical kids might throw a hissy fit but eventually do it - but my son would throw a hissy fit and then tell you that you suck because you keep changing the rules (okay, so he wouldn't say you suck but he'd definitely be thinking it... lol he's 8 now and the eye rolls have already started!). My son still doesn't like to draw and fights you every step of the way. And he'll tell you straight up why. It's too hard. His motor skills aren't on par with what he wants to be able to do and *should* be able to do. So he refuses to do it. Sure, typical kids do the same thing but again, they'll eventually do it. Ours are too self-directed. Theory of Mind is essential to incidental learning and is something we have to teach with ASD kids - you don't get that in Montessori.Most of the school's will tell you their methods don't really work with ASD kids. The amount of help they need is counter to the actual philosophy.I'm sure there are exceptions. There always are. I'm just saying that it's generally not a great choice, IMO. I've yet to meet anyone (in person) that's been successful with it so I would caution that you really consider the schools individually, be realistic about their classes and methods and make sure you are being honest with yourself and your child's actual needs. Make sure you observe several classes and on different days. If you think you've found a school that can be a great fit, then at least you can try it feeling confident that you are doing what you think is truly a good choice. If you can do it successfully, awesome. I only say that because I hate finding out later that I made a bad decision based on faulty information. I'd rather make mistakes based on good information and know that I made the best decision I could at the time. And if it's not a mistake, it's always good to know that I made the best decision I could make because I took the time to get it right.Observe. Ask what they have to support an ASD kid. Ask what services you could expect. Ask what limitations they have - this is important. It's always good to know what they offer. But what they don't offer is important to know.Anyway, I don't know the book I wrote helps or not. None of it probably makes any sense as I really don't have time to go over it. That generally means it makes little sense! ~ Antiviral Therapy 101~~ Make a biomed book ~~ gryffinstail.wordpress.com ~~ @Gryffins_Tail ~ Hi Does anyone have their kid in a Montessori ? If so, please email me offline. We are have issues with our and would love to have any advice/strategies Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 Shoot. I wrote that book to you while I was at my kids' karate class. I'm looking at it now and realize that I totally read the email wrong.Sorry! Just ignore me... LOL ~ Antiviral Therapy 101~~ Make a biomed book ~~ gryffinstail.wordpress.com ~~ @Gryffins_Tail ~ Hi Does anyone have their kid in a Montessori ? If so, please email me offline. We are have issues with our and would love to have any advice/strategies Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 We do Montessori and are having a good experience. I'd be happy to talk to you. RuthSent from my iPhone Hi Does anyone have their kid in a Montessori ? If so, please email me offline. We are have issues with our and would love to have any advice/strategies Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 I'd love to hear more about the ins and outs of Montessori. We are considering it for our high functioning ASD son.Thank you, Gray To: "mb12valtrex " <mb12valtrex > Sent: Monday, April 2, 2012 10:31 PM Subject: Re: Montessori We do Montessori and are having a good experience. I'd be happy to talk to you. RuthSent from my iPhone Hi Does anyone have their kid in a Montessori ? If so, please email me offline. We are have issues with our and would love to have any advice/strategies Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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