Montessori-based Memory Care

Dr. Maria Montessori developed the philosophy of education that bears her name more than a century ago. As the first female physician in Italy, Dr. Montessori was not exactly welcomed into the professional ranks. She was given the rather unenviable task of teaching “un-teachable” children; today, these children would be categorized as having special needs. The educational philosophy that she created relies on a person-centered approach and allows each person to choose activities suited to his or her interests, needs and developmental level.

While most of us are familiar with Montessori schools for early childhood education, Dr. Cameron Camp, founder of the Center for Applied Research in Dementia, has been diligently working to translate this educational philosophy into the field of Geriatrics for decades.

Montessori-based Memory Care seeks to engage people in meaningful activities that can potentially improve their lives by:

• Emphasizing the use of remaining abilities
• Believing that all people can learn and improve with practice
• Seeking to enable independence
• Engaging individuals in purposeful, meaningful activity
• Having social roles within a community, connected to the larger world

I will illustrate with a fictional character named Joe, who is recently widowed and his children have placed him in a memory care unit nearby. He has been diagnosed with moderately staged Alzheimer’s and…