Blog

The office of the Seniors Advocate released their Residential care survey results for the Province of British Columbia.  While much good work is being done in care facilties here, the results and recommendations make it clear that what is needed is a Montessori view of engagement with residents.

The survey does not address the needs of those with dementia still living at home.

The survey confirmed our understanding of the need for Montessori vision and practice to be applied to the caring of those with dementia, both at home and in facilities.

The conference included 390 participants from many different parts of the world. With the exception of our presentation, the program focused on the work different people are doing working with dementia patients in facilities.

Our presentation on how to speak to persons with dementia was very well received. The feedback was that it gave concrete guidance.  We had several private conversations with participants dealing with dementia in the family.  As always, I asked how many people attending had dementia in the family. At this conference, about 1/3 of the people raised their hands.

People are interested in learning more of our work, and we are interested in putting more out there.

The long and the short of it is that Montessori pedagogy is being applied successfully for the benefit of persons with dementia in more and more places. This is wonderful news.

Our first public presentation of the Montessori Alzheimers Project was a great success. We presented at the Montessori Institute of San Diego. Thank you Greg for arranging it and thank you Silvia, founder of MISD, for hosting the event.  In this quintessential Montessori setting, 1/3 of the participants had experienced the impact of Alzheimers in their family, another 1/3 knew individuals and/or caregivers dealing with it.

The questions during and after the presentation were direct, personal and important. We were honored to have been able to initiate bringing our work to the public at MISD.

We are heading to Prague to present at the quadrennial International Montessori Conference. Our presentation is on the 26th of July.  Interest is running high, and the organizers have changed to a larger venue to accommodate it.