Questoni about Montessori schools

[davidsmom184]

Will a regular montessori school take a child with PDD-NOS? Would it be a good fit? I was thinking of enrolling DS there rather than in public school.

[alegna]

IME it will depend on the individual school for both questions.  Here there are montesorri schools that would absolutely accept such a child and be a fantastic fit, there are schools that would accept them but be a poor fit, and schools where they not be accepted at all.

good luck!

-Angela

[RiverTam]

It depends on the school.

Our MS takes kids on the spectrum and has taken kids with Downs and kids with ADHD as well. It works well for us.

[davidsmom184]

Thanx!

[davidsmom184]

I know there's no entrance exam, but is there an interview?

[anj_rn]

Depends o the school and how many kids are on the wait list to get in.  Also, since the schools are private, thay canchange their minds later and ask a child to leave.  However, usually that would only be if a child was a danger to others or causing severe disruptions.

[NataliaI]

They can and will ask children to leave.  We were asked to leave even though there was no danger or significant disruption.  We got a line about them not being able to meet her needs.

Visit the school.  Be honest about your child.  Ask many questions. 

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

I think it depends on if your child needs any therapies, OT, PT, ST, etc.  Many private schools don't offer this and you have to outside for these services.  You can often recieve them at the public school even if you don't go there, but they take place during the school day when you child would be at another school.  I've heard success stories and stories of disaster. 

[mamadebug]

It is important to know that anyone can open a school and call it a Montessori school.  The director and teachers may be well trained, poorly trained or not trained at all.  Montessori developed her philosophy working with many different kinds of children, including those who were institutionalized and written off as incapable of doing much of anything - and was able to make a lot of progress.  So, the philosophy should accommodate a wide range of abilities - but, an individual school or teacher's ability (or willingness) to do that well in the classroom will vary.

If a certain school would accept a child with PDD-NOS, entrance requirements like interviews or tests, etc don't have to do with the Montessori philosophy - they are more the administrative processes set by that particular school.  They will vary at any school, Montessori or not. 

My son was in a wonderful Montessori school last year, and they were totally willing to work with his OT needs and implement what his OT recommended in the classroom.  There were no entrance tests or interviews, and they never kicked a kid out.  But, again, that doesn't really have to do with the Montessori philosophy - it was just the way those people happened to run that particular school.  

Good luck!  I was hesitant about putting my son in Montessori, and it worked out beautifully for us last year.  He went to a new Montessori school this year for elementary, and it was awful and we pulled him out.  The implementation of the philosophy varies so much.  

[BookGoddess]

When my DD  (dx PDD-NOS) was younger, she was in a Montessori preschool.  It wasn't a true Montessori school in my opinion, but rather Montessori-inspired.  We were honest with them.  They took her in knowing her issues.  They were willing to have a private aide for her (paid by me) to shadow her as needed.   The teacher was ok.  The students were ok.  However, we pulled DD out after about eight months or so.   The school day wasn't structured enough for our DD.  If she wanted to play for an hour at the water table, they would let her.  They didn't understand that for a child on the spectrum it's not necessarily the best thing to allow her do whatever she wants for an hour or more.  She isn't necessarily going to do other things unless she's encouraged and gently redirected.  Their attitude seemed to be that she would eventually on her own gravitate to unstructured play, but this wasn't true for our child.  After we pulled her out of the Montessori like preschoo, we put her in a more traditional preschool and she thrived there.  It was far more structured and she got services from the school district that helped her development. 

[RiverTam]

BookGoddess, THANK YOU! Your post was encouraging to me. 

DS1 has a language disorder, but his therapist also says that he has some ASD traits. No enough to diagnose him, but some things are similar. He's in 4th grade at a very good (AMI certified) Montessori school, but we're having some problems this year with his refusal to do any work. He just wants to play chess and read about chess.   We finally had to tell him that he has to be directed to do some work and they reluctantly put him on a structured, scheduled day.  They hate the idea of taking his choices away from him, but he has to do some work this year, and left on his own he wouldn't do it. We're really thinking he needs more structure, but it's a hard decision. He's done very well at this school in primary and lower elementary, but we may need a different structure now.

[SilverLace]

IME I haven't seen Montessori be a good fit for kids on the spectrum, although I know other feel positively about it.

When my stepson was younger (before I knew him) he was asked to leave the AMI preschool he was attending.  Now, many years later he is finally in a very structured program and doing well with school and all that comes with it (expect homework) for the first time in his life.

When my DD when to AMI preschool I was an aide in the classroom and I basically spent 100% of my time with a child on the spectrum who couldn't function in the classroom.  He had to be asked to leave the program.

Now, my DD is in an AMI elementary and I just don't see how a child who can't make good choices about time management and social rules could thrive there, especially without taking up a significant amount of the teachers time.  Both of these issues are very common in ASD kids, and it just doesn't seem fair to me to put them in a classroom where they can't get their needs met.  We used to feel bad that Montessori wasn't a good fit for my stepson since we have seen it be so wonderful for DD and really support the philosophy (we only have AMI experience) but we have accepted that different kids have different needs.