Montessori education for SLD children?

[oodlesofdoodles]

Does anyone here have any experience of Montessori education for children with SLDs/AS/HFA?
We have moved DS into a Montessori nursery after a rubbish year at mainstream preschool. We chose it on instinct, it just seemed calm, happy, nuturing - not like the chaos that seems to be the norm at other preschools.

I did a quick search and there's quite a few montessori threads on the education discussion, but I'm interested to hear from other parents of SN children. Did it move your children on, or was it just a nice cosy place to spend a couple of years?

Maria Montessori originally worked in a SN school. 100 years ago..... If done properly it should be perfect for SN kids.

Of course Montessori is not a trademarked name. Anyone can call their school a Montessori one.

But the original principles were designed by Maria Montessori teaching SLD kids.

(She trained as a doctor. But because she was a woman, it was decided she couldn't work as a doctor. So they sent her to teach in a SN school instead.)

I would check the nursery is accredited by Montessori International, they will have a plaque/certificate on display.

Ds, SLD and ASD, did well in his montessori nursery. everything was tailored to each child but he needed more direction than some children and the staff had to adapt their ways to suit him. Overall a good experience for us.

Many thanks for your replies. Yes it's a 'proper' Montessori.

Bluesunbeam did you feel that your ds made progress? Did he find it easy going on to mainstream?

My DS1 went to a montessori nursery - we had a fantastic experience but that was in part due to the staff there and in particular the Senco who did everything she could to help him. He had 1-1 while he was there but the 1-1 changed throughout the day so he didn't get attached to one particular person. All the staff knew what targets we were working towards and we got so much feedback every day about what he had been doing. They changed the theme for the whole nursery one term to safety because we were having lots of problems with DS1 and danger awareness. He made pretty dramatic progress in the 18 months he was there.

Great, thanks louey, that's really helpful. I've been reading up on Montessori and I wasn't sure whether you're allowed to have targets or just have to let the child unfold themselves. (Which is fine if they don't have any probs)

well... we are just starting out!

ds1 has just gone into year 2 at a new montessori primary school that has opened near us.
He has only started this week, but the differences between it and his previous school are vast.
I think it's going to be so much better for him

Will keep you posted on how he does! Let us know how your DS is getting on too

Thanks thisisyesterday. I'm very interested to hear how it works at primary level - do keep posting.
I've just finished Paula Polk Lilliard's Montessori: a modern approach (published 1971!). It sounds very sensible. I'm just kicking myself we didn't send him there 18 months ago.
DS has been there a couple of weeks and gripes about going every day. However this time a year ago at his mainstream nursery he was bouncing out of bed every morning demanding to go. He pretty soon got disillusioned and miserable with it. I'm hoping it will be the opposite trajectory this time.
It's early days yet, but we had a fine motor skills breakthrough this morning when he finally worked out a fiddly toy that he's had for a couple of years and took it apart without breaking it or getting in a rage. It could just be a random co-incidence of course...