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Home » Parenting » A few thoughts on language development

A few thoughts on language development

This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure .

The Montessori language philosophy had me at “hello.”

“The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences.” ~ Dr. Montessori

Montessoriinspiredplayandlearningroom

Dr. Maria Montessori viewed child development as a holistic process. There should not be memorization of skills and knowledge thereby “transferring” skills and knowledge to a child. A child should be encouraged and guided to discover learning on his own. This approach will result in a lifetime love of learning and curiosity of life.

nature_wonder_kids

Dr. Montessori is perhaps most well known for the phrase: “the absorbent mind.” She viewed children’s acquisition of language to embody this idea as children absorb their environment and shape their brains unconsciously during the first three years of a child’s life.

Thus, the information and experiences available to a child within his environment greatly impact his language development.  As a child grows older, from three to six years old, he consciously leans on his environment to build on the information absorbed in their earlier years.

The adult can facilitate his learning by creating an environment, just as the adult did for the unconscious stage, ripe for this conscious learning.

writing_tools_collage

Dr. Montessori viewed language as communication, as a way to tell your story about how you see the world, not simply learning to read and write.

She believed in allowing a child to discover reading and writing at his own developmental pace, often simultaneously, never forcing a child to read or to write. Furthermore, the environment played a huge part in Dr. Montessori’s approach to language at home and at school.

Along with other great child development minds, Dr. Montessori believed language learning is at least partly driven by a child’s social environment.

There is more to come on this topic of language development. I have written quite a few Language Development posts.

Marnie

Tagged With: Child Development, Reading and Writing

About Marnie Craycroft

Marnie hails from Maine where she spent summers buried in sand and winters buried in snow. She is the daughter of a nearly four decade veteran of the public school systems. Teaching has always been a part of her life. She founded Carrots Are Orange in 2010.

Carrots Are Orange is a Montessori learning and living website for parents and teachers.

Marnie graduated from Wesleyan University in 1999 with a BA in Economics. She spent nearly a decade working in investment management. In 2006, she earned her MA in business from the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business.

Marnie moved to the west coast in 1999 and currently lives in Boulder with her husband and three sons. She is Montessori trained. Her work has been featured on Apartment Therapy, Buzzfeed, PBS Kids, BabyCenter, the Melissa & Doug blog, Huffington Post, and WhattoExpect.com. Besides writing, passions include running (usually after her three sons), photography, and outdoor adventures.

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