Is Montessori Education Suitable for Children

with Autism?

www.fridayschildmontessori.com

The big question for those reading this is whether

Montessori education is suitable for children with autism.

I can just about hear Maria Montessori shouting “Of course it is!” While children with autism will

need a bit of extra support no matter where they go for their early childhood education, the

Montessori method is particularly suitable.

In fact, many of the children who Maria Montessori originally

worked with as she developed her teaching methods could very well

have been autistic, as she first worked with children with severe

learning difficulties.

There are a number of features of Montessori education that

make it particularly suitable for a child with autism (or for any child, as Maria Montessori

proved).

Montessori education allows children to work and develop at

their own pace rather than expecting them to fit into a set

developmental timetable.

Children in a Montessori classroom can work on their own if they wish but they will still interact to some

degree with others, although autistic children may need a bit of

help with this.

The use of sensory materials and hands-on activities are also very suitable for children with autism, as they are very sensitive to non-

language sensory stimuli.

The order of the classroom, with everything having a “right” place also helps maintain the regularity

and predictability that children with autism need to feel secure

and safe.

It has to be acknowledged that if your child has autism, he or she will need extra help and support

compared to the other children in a Montessori classroom.

However, Montessori learning and teaching

blend extremely well with the methods used by behavioural

specialists.

On the home front, one thing that you can do to help a child with autism learn to interact with

others is to get a pet.

Pet therapy is often used to help these children learn how to

interact with others, as playing with animals doesn’t demand the same level of language and eye

contact as interacting with humans does.

Many people with autism end up working with animals later in life,

including farm work, pet grooming and veterinary assistants.

And what else can children with autism do when they

grow up?

There are plenty of jobs where their detachment, obsessive

tendencies and insistence on strict routine can be assets, although

they will need some help overcoming the hurdle of the job

interview.

Work in a factory on an assembly line is a very common career

choice for people with autism, but other people have done well as

computer programmers and technicians,

as journalists (reporting the bare facts in a detached and unbiased manner comes naturally for those

with autism) and as laboratory assistants – and even leading

research scientists.

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