Auto education is where the child teaches themselves how to do a job or task, because they are able to see they are doing wrong and ultimately learning to complete the task correctly (control of era), this teaches them do the work in the right way to complete the task. The child is able to move on to harder work when they complete the task and they learn that they are ready for increasingly harder tasks. The child controls their own learning through the help of a guide, which outlines lessons for them to accomplish. The main idea of the Montessori method is recognition of the fact that no person is ever educated by another. He must do it himself or it will never be done. The young child possesses an unusual sensitivity for absorbing and learning from his environment. He has a deep love and need for purposeful work. (And in fact, when children are purposefully engaged, a lot of misbehavior disappears.) However, there is a distinction between the work of an adult and that of a child. An adult works to reach some goal. A child's objective is the work itself. He is interested in each detail, not the outcome.Montessori believed that the sensitive period for language begins at birth and continues to about six years of age. From birth, the child has been absorbing the sounds and speech patterns of family and home environment. Long before being able to speak, the child listened intently while acquiring the sounds of her native language. Babies learn to recognize and repeat the individual sounds of their language and toddlers learn to recognize, name, and pronounce the names of objects in their environment. In the Montessori Infant/Toddler environment, daily exposure to language through conversations and the reading of good literature helps the child strengthen her vocabulary and increases independence as she becomes more cognizant of the world around her, giving her the ability to name her wishes and desires.
The main influence on the development of a child's spoken and written language is the family. If the adult speaks clearly and precisely to the child, and in a normal tone of voice that one would use with a peer, the child will do the same. If the child is exposed to more than one language in the home or school it is very important that he be able to associate one language with one person, and the second language with a different person. So, for example, the first adult should speak only English to the child, and the second adult should speak only Spanish to him. This will help the child sort out the difference and become fluent in both.
Parents are always baffled by the amount of times a child can repeat an activity or a song or an action and I always get questions about why children are repetitive in some things at certain stages so I thought I’d explain!
Maria Montessori believed that children pass through phases in which at certain stags throughout their development they have a predisposition or sensitivity to learning a specific skill. These stages are called ‘sensitive periods’! Each period last for as long as it is necessary for the child to accomplish a particular stage in his development. These periods of sensitivity are transitory and when the aim of the period is accomplished the special sensitivity simply falls away. In other words it reaches its peak and dies away.
These sensitive periods can be thought of as moments of readiness for learning. Sensitive periods appear as an intense interest for repeating certain actions over and over again, until, out of repetition, a new skill emerges and is mastered. These sensitive periods manifest themselves by a pattern of behavior. A feature of growth at this stage e.g. a characteristic of such a period is the repeated performance of song actions for no apparent reason. During these periods the child shows vitality and pleasure in performing these actions. If the child has not been allowed to work in accordance with the sensitive periods Montessori said it was like “a dropped stitch in his mental life” because he would lose his special sensitivity and interest in that area and it would affect his whole physic development! Harsh but true.Through observation Maria Montessori discovered the stages of development that all children follow. She found that children go through very specific and well defined periods of interest in certain areas of their development.
Maria Montessori believed that the human brain is specially predisposed for learning during the sensitive period. She believed that parents, teachers and caregivers need to observe the child and respond accordingly to these sensitive periods – to provide an environment that meets the need of the child and further encourages the child through that specific stage of development. Sensitive periods are transitory states. It is considered easier to acquire the skill or knowledge while the child is in the sensitive period. Outside the sensitive period learning still occurs however it is more arduous and often requires more time and effort.
The sensitive period for language begins at birth and goes the whole way through the first plane of development (0-6 years). A baby hears his mother’s voice and watches her lips and tongue. By the age of six, with almost no direct teaching, the child will have acquired a large vocabulary, basic sentence patterns and the inflections and accents of language. He will continue to acquire more complex sentence structures and to extend his vocabulary throughout his childhood. If a child has not been exposed to language (reading, listening, singing, writing etc.) regularly, during this period he may be irrevocably damaged! Maria Montessori believed that it was particularly important for adults to converse with children throughout this period, continually enriching their language and giving them every opportunity to learn new words.
The "absorbent mind" refers to the mind's capacity to take in information and sensations from the world that surrounds it.Young children are a testament to the mind's awesome ability to absorb. A baby is born without language, and with few skills other than their survival instinct. From birth to three years they use their senses (hands, eyes, ears, and nose) to soak in everything that surrounds them. The child does this naturally, and without thought or choice. Maria Montessori referred to this period as the 'unconscious creation'.
The information that the child unconsciously absorbs from his surroundings in the early years is used to construct and create himself. Within a few short years a child is walking, talking, and able to feed himself. It is this awesome ability to absorb information that allows children to acquire the language, physical skills (walking, control of his hands), and control over his bodily functions that are necessary for future independence. Around the age of three years, the child moves from the state of the unconscious absorbent mind, to the state of the conscious absorbent mind. It is during this conscious state of mind that the child begins to intentionally direct and focus his attention on experiences that will develop that, which was created during the first three years. The fundamental task of the child during this phase of conscious absorption (3-6 years) is intellectual development and freedom. His mind compels him to sort through, order, and make sense of the information he unconsciously absorbed. It is through this order of his intelligence that the child gains the freedom to move purposely, to concentrate, and to choose his own direction."The 'absorbent mind' welcomes everything, puts its hope in everything, accepts poverty equally with wealth, adopts any religion and the prejudices and habits of its countrymen, incarnating all in itself. This is the child!" Maria Montessori
aFrom three to approximately six years of age, children pass into the conscious stage of development. They still have sponge-like minds that absorb information easily, but now they will consciously seek certain experiences. Children in this phase are expanding their newly developed faculties and abilities. They are predisposed toward learning things like order, sequencing, early math, music, and letter shapes and sounds, all of which eventually lead to math, reading, and writing skills. They will also continue to refine their control of movement, balance, and basic physical mechanisms during this phase. Children in the conscious stage of development will demonstrate an innate (and often intense) desire to make choices for themselves and to accomplish tasks independently. Maria Montessori referred to this as the ‘help me do it myself’ stage.
The young child’s absorbent mind has a singular capacity to absorb information from the environment. Studies have shown that certain parts of the brain will not develop without stimulation during these early, formative years. As development is sequential, these early foundations are essential for incorporating concepts that are more complex.
Language is the most difficult of a child’s achievements. Through the studies of Itard and the Wild Boy of Aveynon, we learn that there is a certain period of time in which to learn language. There is a sensitive period for language from birth to 6 years old. If the concept of language has not been grasped during this window of opportunity the child will never be able to learn language and hence be able to speak. Dr. Montessori said, “It is useless to try to catch the sensitive period after it has passed. We have missed the bus – the last and only bus for that particular destination.” (Standing, 1957 p136). As each sensitive period becomes manifest, it is essential that the window of opportunity for learning is not missed.
From birth, through his environment, the child is constantly absorbing the sounds around him. The environment into which a child is born will determine his mother tongue. These at first will be confusing and disordered. The child’s mind is empty of any thought. He listens and is fills his mind with sounds. It is during the sensitive period for language that the child’s inner Dr.ive helps the child to make sense of these noises. His muscles in the mouth and tongue begin to move. As the child tries to make sense of these sounds, his muscles become ordered and he produces a range of sounds: he babbles. Children need language around them in order to develop their own idea of language. During the early stages of a child’s life, a mother communicates with the child, not only verbally but through her body language and voice tone. These sounds of language are fixed in the child’s subconscious and become manifest later. The mother’s body language and response to a child’s cries can affect the outcome of the progress a child makes during his sensitive time to language. Negative body language and attitude may cause the child to make slow progress in developing language.
From birth the child makes himself heard through cries which can be recognized as ‘I am hungry’, or ‘wet’ or ‘cold’ or ‘tired’. The mother is able to distinguish the different cries. From 6 months the child who, up until now, has cried and babbled will begin to make sense of his babbles with words, such as ‘ba-ab’, ‘da-da’, ’ma–ma’. From the age of about two years old the child begins to create words, such as nouns. He is able to recognize and name things. As he develops further, and through the input of his parents, he indirectly, begins to use adjectives, conjunctions and adverbs, along with verbs. Through repetition the child becomes his own teacher. Dr. Montessori referred to “The, child as a living miracle”.(Montessori, 1949 p103).Dr. Montessori observed that, from the end of a child’s first year and as early as ten months, the child has realised that language has a purpose. She went on to state “When we say ‘dear little boy, how sweet you are’, he realizes this is meant for him.” (Montessori, 1949 p103). The child is becoming aware rapidly of the process and meaning of language. By the end of his first year, the child is going from the unconscious learning of language to the conscious.
Dr. Montessori gave an example of this, “After listening to adults talking about the merits and demerits of a child’s story book, the conversation ended with, ‘it all had a happy ending’. Immediately the child in the room began to shout “Lola, Lola”. The adults took the end of the story as the final ending. But the small child having followed the conversation, cried out as the parents said the end to be ‘living happily ever after’. The little girl knew the book and had understood the picture on the back cover as the ending. Her speech was not sufficient so she used the name Lola as a means of saying ‘You are wrong it does not end happily. She cries’.” (Montessori, 1949 p106).