Where Did Montessori Method Come From?

• Her method came from studying physicians Jean Itard and Edouard Seguin. She developed an environment for the scientific study of children with physical and mental disabilities. After successes in treating these children, she began to study the application of her techniques to the education of children without intellectual or developmental disabilities.

• By 1906, Montessori was well known enough that she was

asked to head a day-care center in Rome's run-down San Lorenzo district. She used the opportunity to observe the children's interactions with materials developed to appeal to the senses (sensorial materials), refining them as well as developing new materials with which the children could work.

• Her initial work focused on children of preschool age. After observing developmental changes in children just commencing elementary school, and recognizing that young children's thought or cognitive processes are inherently different from those of adults, Montessori and her son, Mario, began a new course of research to adapt her approach to elementary-school children.

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