This Montessori classroom did not start out as a place for children with autism or any other kind of challenging conditions until L. and B. walked in. They were in a silent world, but expressed a lot of anger and destructive tendencies to overcome their lack of communication skills.
The Long Rods attracted B, from the moment he walked in. He worked at it everyday. He had long stretches of attention and CONCENTRATION while working with the Rods. While working like this he reduced his bouts of angry shouting and running about breaking things. He worked on the Broad Stairs and Knobless Cylinders with the same kind of quiet CONCENTRATION! Every day he lengthened his hours of peace and calm! Six months on he was happy to be presented with the Sandpaper Letters - he knew all the sounds and could work on matching words and objects. Before long he was reading. There is magic about Montessori Materials that increase CONCENTRATION!
