Montessori Teaching Method Tested On Normal Children by David Vachon Reprinted by permission from the February-March 2007 issue of the Old News Introduction by Dr. James J. Asher I was fascinated that Dr. Maria Montessori was the first woman in Italy to earn a medical degree. She graduated from the University of Rome's School of Medicine in 1896 at the age of twenty-six. Her first job was working at the university's medical clinic treating intellectually handicapped children who were billeted in an insane asylum. She discovered that no medical procedure at that time was effective in helping these children. By trial-and-error, she stumbled upon something that worked: I call it a “brainswitch” from the children's left to their right brain with tactile activities such as touching and grasping objects. The children used their fingers to (a) fit wooden shapes into cutout spaces, (b) use button boards for practice in buttoning and unbuttoning, and (c) manipulate laces by tying ...
