Most people, who hear the name “Montessori”, associate it with kindergarten education.
Few people really know what it means, nor much about its founder, Maria Montessori.

Dr. Maria Montessori was born in Italy in 1870. When she was twelve, her family moved to Rome where she could receive a good education. The idea was to prepare her for a teaching career, the only profession open to educated young women at the time. However as her studies developed, she showed an interest in the sciences and wanted to become a doctor.
This was something unheard of. Women in those days were just not supposed to be doctors.
She applied to the University of Rome against everyone’s wishes. She gained entrance to the medical college in 1890, after battling against the combined prejudices of the late nineteenth century towards women as well as those of her own father. She graduated to become the first woman Doctor of Medicine in Italy.

In 1897 she became a voluntary assistant at the Psychiatric Clinic at the University of Rome. It was during this time that she encountered the so-called “idiot children”. Such children were kept in asylums due to their inability to function in normal schools or with their families. They were kept in dark cages with nothing to see or hear, apart from an occasional visitor every now and then. They were dismissed as hopeless cases and considered a burden on society.

Montessori had a passionate interest in social reform. She was also a doctor interested in pediatrics, and so she was particularly sensitive to the plight of these children, who were locked away like violent animals or criminals with nothing to do and no sensory stimulation of any kind. After observing the children for some time, Montessori became convinced that if they were given sensory training, they would be able to acquire some knowledge and learn some skills. She began to work with them at the clinic and gradually caught glimpses of hope as they responded to her efforts.

She continued her research into mental handicap and children, studying the work of many well known educationists like Edourd Seguin, Rousseau, Itard and Froebel. Combining education and medicine, she evolved her own innovative approach, now known throughout the world as the Montessori Method. She later went on to work in a school where she taught teachers to use her method with children with special needs.

In 1907, she opened the first Montessori school which she called “Casa de Bambini”, or House of Children. She saw startling results with her efforts. Some of her special students even passed the high school examination. Her interest in the study of slower children and their education led to her interest in the education of typically-developing children. The wonderful Montessori Method is now successfully used throughout the world – yet another example of how inclusion works: when we plan for the most vulnerable, we make the system work better for everyone!