By: Laura Belongoff- www.gilbertguide.com

What is Montessori?

 In 1907, Maria Montessori, one of the first female physicians in Italy, began an experimental school where the students were considered unmanageable. One of her guiding ideas was to create a secured and ordered environment that was the antithesis of the slums the children roamed in during non-school hours. Her ideas caught on in Europe and eventually trawled across the Atlantic. Today in the US there are thousands of Montessori schools. In the last few years, an emerging trend in assisted living facilities is to apply some of these principles to structuring activities for dementia residents.

According to basic Montessori principles, learning will ensue as long as the environment is set up for it and is maintained. This “environment” includes the physical surroundings as well as the ambience created by group and internalized dynamics. Montessori-based classrooms often have the children immersed in a present and “centering” activity. The idea is to enhance their motor skills and memory–and push their minds from basic ideas into more complex or intangible ones, incorporating as many of their senses as possible. Another important aspect is that individuals are seen as a whole wherein emotional, mental, physical, social and spiritual needs and interests are intertwined conceptually. This idea also supports the concept of respecting others.

How can Montessori Principles Be Used in Dementia Care?

These basics tenets translate into the assisted living environment, a type of long-term care setting in a relatively seamless way. We’ve all seen or heard about lethargic dementia patients who are totally disconnected from themselves and their surroundings. This can happen even if they are not in the advanced stages. Digging into the Montessori treasure chest, activity directors work on creating familiar surroundings for dementia patients. Instead of activities taking place in a disordered room or having patients participating in activity with a shifting focus, the environment becomes nurturing and akin to a cocoon that can protect the individual from too much or the wrong kind of stimulus. As confidence and ability grows, he or she can push along the cocoon sides to create more room. Thus the dementia resident’s world gets bigger and safer to operate in.

Montessori-based activities eliminate judgment so that nothing is “right” or “wrong.” In Montessori-based schema residents feel both worthy and successful; each attained goal can move into more complex activities. Obviously, dementia patients must still fight against the disease course, but the idea is that a person could retain more function if activities are relational to everyday needs. For example, an activity in which a row of zippers are closed could help foster keeping the ability to dress one’s self. Recreating ballistic movements like these is important when cognition and memory begins to fail.

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**Family Alliance utilizes this Montessori approach with clients enrolled in our Dementia Day Program. Activities are set up to promote and enhance the physical memory of the individual to help them with the basic tasks of daily living. Family Alliance is a model program using this approach. For more information on Family Alliance and its programs, please call 815.338.3590.