About MMPI
Envisioning Inclusive Montessori education that is developmental, diagnostic & therapeutic. Learn more about us.
Welcome
This website is a place for communication, sharing experiences and ideas, asking questions, finding resources, and learning. Engaging in this type of exploration and discourse helps teachers, parents/caregivers, school and program leaders and medical professionals develop shared perspectives so they can work together more effectively as a team, cultivating successful inclusion programs.
Following the philosophy of Dr. Montessori, at the center of our thinking is the child. Which child? Every child. Our work is aligned with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as well as the UNICEF document “Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities”.
We want to connect Montessori teachers and school leaders to resources that will help them learn practical methods of including children with disabilities and teaching all children together. This is accomplished through preparation of the environment. By modifying the environment, the materials and the presentation of lessons, teachers support the development of each and every child to reach their fullest potential. This means creating pathways to access the materials and lessons for all members of the classroom community. Once applied, these modifications make it possible for the child with disabilities to succeed as valued members of the community. Success breeds confidence and interest and supports development of intrinsic motivation. Motivation leads to increased engagement, which means more opportunities for skill building and learning.
Montessori Medical Partnership for Inclusion (MMPI)
Our Vision
Montessori and Medicine working together to include all children!
Our Mission
Helping Montessori schools and programs around the world increase their capacity for successful and developmental inclusion.
Access to Important Inclusion Resources
We promote access to programs and resources that help parents, teachers, medical professionals and school leaders learn more about, participate in and implement successful inclusion programs. Implementing a leading-edge inclusion framework aids the optimal growth of all children and adolescents together in nurturing, social, learning communities.
The framework that we endorse is based on ensuring comprehensive preparation of the environment for all children. This is a whole-school environment approach that encompasses not only the preparation of the classroom and the playground, but also hallways, entryways, walkways and the entire building. In addition to the physical environment, we endorse comprehensive preparation of the psychological environment and the adults. We strive to help schools find a path to collaboration between medical professionals, teachers, administrators, and parents. By sharing knowledge and expertise, we prepare the adults to successfully include more children in the Montessori classroom. We want to create an online community where information about strategies that comply with best practice can be shared and exchanged. We promote practices that are evidence-based and rooted in the latest neuroscience, medical, developmental, educational, and psychological research.
Our mission is aligned with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as well as the UNICEF document “Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities”.
The Right of Every Child to be Included
It is the right of every child to be included as fully as possible and we see the Montessori curriculum as the best path toward that goal. It is uniquely designed to support the inclusion of all types of children.
Incorporation of medical and developmental science into the curriculum makes it particularly well suited to serving the needs of students with disabilities. The individualized, multi-age, flexible learning environments in Montessori education allow easy integration of specialized therapeutic services into daily routines. In addition, the rich multi-sensory Montessori materials can be employed diagnostically and therapeutically by medical specialists working in the Montessori environment. By providing targeted training to medical specialists, we help them understand and appreciate the multitude of therapeutic and developmental opportunities afforded within the Montessori curriculum. At the same time, targeted training of Montessori administrators, teachers, and classroom staff provides a deeper understanding of the work of the medical specialists and of the developmental needs of all children. This fosters mutual respect and understanding and provides the basis for deep collaboration which leads to successful outcomes. We also endorse development of community-based programs and community involvement in our schools. A school community is not fully inclusive without involvement of families and the wider community in which the school exists.
Founders
Catherine Nehring Massie
Catherine has been studying and researching Montessori education, Special Education and the uniquely powerful developmental impact of combining the two. She studied Montessori Education at CISM, Bergamo, Italy, and has a Masters degree in teaching Elementary and Special Education. Catherine has experience as a Montessori mom of 4 children, an Orff Schulwerk music teacher, a Montessori teacher, a dyslexia tutor and a Montessori school director. She was a founder of two (including the very first) Montessori Public Charter Schools in Maryland. Catherine has travelled and presented internationally advocating for inclusive Montessori schools through the integrated application of Scientific and Medical Pedagogy.
Barbara Luborsky, OTR/L
Barbara is a pediatric occupational therapist with over 25 years of experience as a developmental practitioner and 17 years as a Montessori mom. Barbara sees a strong affinity between occupational therapy (OT) and Montessori education. After many years of providing workshops and consultations at Montessori schools, Barbara’s work became more focused in 2010 when she began collaborating with Catherine to look at the issue of inclusion in Montessori education through integrated practice. Barbara has presented internationally to Montessorians at conferences and at the Montessori World Congress on the role of the OT as a member of the team, the affinity between OT and Montessori practice, addressing the needs of children with attention difficulties and the benefits of inter-disciplinary collaboration in a Montessori environment.
In Partnership
Through a shared interest in helping children with disabilities in a Montessori environment, our collaboration led us to surprising results.
We observed at schools around the world, worked together in Montessori classrooms with children of various ages with a variety of disabilities, and we studied. We came to the conclusion that the biggest impediments to successful inclusion are a lack of appropriate preparation of the environment and the staff and inadequate communication among practitioners. This holds true at both the school level and in terms of communications among schools and learning communities who are working to implement innovative programs. When everyone works in isolation, no one benefits from each other’s experiences and this is a great impediment to moving forward toward the big goal. Sharing information about unsuccessful attempts is as helpful as sharing successes. Without it, we may all be repeating the same mistakes.
Board of Advisors
Joyce S. Pickering
Hum.D.
SLP/CCC, CALT/QI, Past President AMS, AMS Teacher Trainer (Primary, Elementary, MACAR and more)
Padagoge Joachim Dattke
Prof. h.c. Dipl.
Montessori Teacher Trainer (Children’s House, Elementary, Special Education Courses), AMI Diplomas (Elementary)
Michelle Lane-Barmapov
Prof.
M.H.S., B.A., CBT certificate in Child and Youth, R.E.C.E., AMS diploma (Primary)
Dr. Friedemann Schulze
MD
Social Developmental Pediatrician, additional specializations: Neurology and Psychiatry. Founder and Head of the Children’s Center Erfurt, Germany
Dr. Maureen Murphy-Ryan
MD
MD, Mayo Clinic Medical School, BS Biology & Physical Anthropology
Lucette van Someren Boyd
RN
RN, M Ed Special Education, Grad Dip C&FHN, ECE, Edu-K, AMI Diploma (Children’s House)
Susanne Messmer
Montessori Therapist
Montessori Therapy practitioner at an inclusive Montessori Elementary and trainer with the International Academy of Developmental Rehabilitation and Pediatric Training.
Kirsten M. Murphy
Parent and National Disability Advocate
Margaret Jane Nehring
Self-Advocate, Art & Music Teacher, and Montessori Assistant
Mária Kozelková
Psychologist, University Professior, Montessori Therapist
Clinical therapist, Professor at University of Trnava, Slovakia and Montessori Therapy practitioner. Also a member of the esteemed Training Team at the Academy of Developmental Rehabilitation and Pediatric Training, Munich, Germany.
We Honor the Memory of Our Esteemed Advisory Board Member Dr. Michael van Someren Boyd, MMP, MBBS, BSc Med
Dr. Michael always had a smile and hand to lend in addition to his vital insights, his analytical brilliance and his jovial wit. He kept our Board meetings lively, consequential and fun. As a Founding Board Member of MMPI, Michael’s contributions to our organization will live on through the work that we do to aid the development and lives of children around the world.
Supporters
Joyce S. Pickering, Hum.D.
SLP/CCC, CALT/QI, Past President AMS, AMS Teacher Trainer (Primary, Elementary, MACAR and more)
Padagoge Joachim Dattke – Prof. h.c. Dipl.
Dattke, Montessori Teacher Trainer (Children’s House, Elementary, Special Education Courses), AMI Diplomas (Elementary)
Prof. Michelle Lane-Barmapov
B.A. Psychology/Sociology, M.H.S., AMS Diplomas (Primary and Elementary)
Lucette van Someren Boyd
RN, M Ed Special Education, Grad Dip C&FHN, ECE, Edu-K, AMI Diploma (Children’s House)
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