Speech Development Case Study
Title:
How Setting Up The Right Environment Matters.
By:
Fariza Zabir-Ilhan
I
have just started operating my centre, called Alami Montessori in the middle of
2017. As with many other budding centres, the response was slow. Once we
completed the renovation process, procured the necessaries, designed the space
,we started the first month of operation with my own children and two new
students. We were good to go with small numbers, I say, even with no other
teacher other than myself.
Earlier
in the year, I put up a room at our house for some informal Montessori lessons.
The students were obviously, my two children Yusuf, 5 and Faruk, 3. Faruk
wasn’t really interested in the room setup at that time. He was just coming in
and out without much care about what’s going on in the room. And then there was
my niece, Zulaikha, 4, who was my testimonial of a Montessori child; bright, confident,
tactful and helpful. I remember how she
used to imagine what her school would be like when she would enroll in one.
“There will be dolphins at my school!” Such is the amazing mind of a child.
My homemade
materials weren’t precise, I made use of whatever I can find, but we certainly enjoyed
the school sessions. There were no timetables and so no pressure to learn ABCs!
Nobody was keen on doing the sandpaper
letters or learning numbers. We filled each session with arts, singing, making
play-dough, story telling and more arts. In short, in all its flexibility in
this carefree system, Montessori at home wasn’t really successful as there was
just too many distractions e.g TV and plastic figurines of all kinds.
I
mentioned that Faruk wasn’t acknowledging what was going on in the homeschool
room that we had. Truth was, at the time, at 3 years, he wasn’t making much
progress with his speech. There were fluctuating phases in his language
development. He would be talking for a month, and for the next two months he
would be unresponsive even to his own name. His grandparents have pointed
repeatedly to have him sent to the speech therapist. I was not going to give up
on him. I’ve done extra research on how to heal the child naturally. I’ve
bought highly priced essential oils, said to help with the neurological
functioning if you rub it twice a day on the back of the child’s neck. I’ve
also invested in a medium sized trampoline, claimed to help with speech
development. I’ve cut down his screen time, resulting in more outdoor nature
based play. I’ve allocated more time reading, singing and enunciating my words
to my child, sometimes unsure whether or not he understood me at all.
Undoubtedly
I went back to all my readings on Montessori method. Dr. Maria Montessori
promotes the notion of following the child. Now what this means is that, a
deeper observation of the life unfolding is needed or to put simply, have
patience. Let him tell you when he is ready. After all, I’ve checked all the
other aspects of child development or milestones for 3 to 4 years and he scored
well above. So why worry too much?
Fast
forward a few months, I was busy setting my school up, finding potential
parents and networking, marketing my business, planning the lessons, observing
students, I have not been putting too much effort for my child I thought. I was
busy preparing the environment for all of the children under my care.
To
the whole family’s excitement, after one month of attending our Montessori
school, Faruk picked up all the circle time songs, chants and all of the nursery
rhymes taught. He is responsive, active and ever more inquisitive.
“He
has exploded!” My husband would say.
Dr. Maria Montessori has certainly pointed this out,
that during the first phase of life,
during 0-3 years, "the
child has a mind able to absorb knowledge. He has the power to teach himself." [1] She continues in the same line, "It
begins with a knowledge of his surroundings. How does the child assimilate his
environment? He does it solely in virtue of one of those characteristics that
we now know him to have. This is an intense and specialized sensitiveness in
consequence of which the things about him awaken so much interest and so much
enthusiasm that they become incorporated in his very existence . The child
absorbs these impressions not with his mind but with his life itself." [2]
By
giving him time and opportunities, he was able to fit the missing pieces of the
puzzle according to his biological and developmental time frame. In an
environment that enables one to explore, one blooms without a constant external
push, but there exist an in-built internal prowess. He proved to be a creative
learner. Here is a snap shot of him singing and acting to the tune of Humpty
Dumpty.
After
three months in a Montessori environment, he now recognizes most of the
alphabets phonetically, able to express distress , comfort somebody who is in
distress, loves to read, draw and create arts.
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