When a child tries to attain these specific characteristics, we can note that sad and violent reaction in children when their activities are blocked by external obstacles. We call this is whim or tantrums. It is actually external manifestations of unsatisfied needs of children. It disappears when a child satisfies his needs. An environment provides the necessary means for spiritual growth. “A child chooses from his complex environment what is suitable and necessary for his growth”. (Page 42 psychic development – secrets of childhood). It is considered as an inner drama of love. All this -happens quietly and unnoticed. We must assist a child for psychic development. The secret of healthy child lies in some hidden energies. Maria believed that this sensitivity is result of unconscious power which exists only in the childhood.”There is in child a special kind of sensitivity which leads him to absorb everything about him, and it is this work of observing and absorbing that alone enable him to adapt himself to life”. [The absorbent mind, chapter7, page57]
Every child has a vital impulse which leads to perform his acts. During these sensitive periods child adjusts and adapts himself to his environment .According to Maria children from their personalities through interaction with the environment. This fact becomes clearer to us when we understand the sensitive period and its significance in a man’s life.
Montessori observed the sensitive period in a child’s life connected with-
1. The need of order in the environment.
2. The development of language
3. Use of senses
4. The development of walking
5. Fascination with minute objects
6. Intense social interest
1. Period of sensitivity of order.
Very important and mysterious period is the one which makes the child extremely sensitive to the order. This starts in early days. Order is considered as important/vital needs of life. It is actually recognizing the place for each object in relation to environment and remembering where each thing should be. Love of order provides certain amount of external pleasure for adults. But for small children it’s something like principles of growth of life. It provides a natural pleasure in children. A child has two fold sense of order. One is external which he relates with environment and second is internal that makes aware of different part of his body and their positions. This is called inner orientation. Experiments show muscular senses which enable individuals to become aware of parts and positions of body which requires special kind of memory called muscular memory. This sensitivity begins as early as 3 months. Maria quotes an example of 1.5 year old baby who was upset when his mother carries her coat on her arm, so that she can carry the baby in hot weather. The baby began to cry, when Maria told the mother to put on her coat the baby was happy and said “mamma, coat on”. It was as if he wanted to say the coat is meant for wearing
This example clearly indicates the need of order in children. The sight of something out of the place seems to represent a kind of stimulus, a call to activity. Order provides a natural pleasure in all children. This we can see in certain games played by children. Maria remembers the game of hide and seeks which she played with small children Instead of hiding in the same place she chooses to hide in a different place. The children on finding her in her usual place did not bothered to look her anywhere else. When she came out from her hiding place the children seemed to be sad and upset and asked her “why didn’t you play with us? Why didn’t you hide yourself? Then she realized that hiding is interpreted as finding something in a concealed point, in their proper place. All these show that nature endives a child with sensitiveness to order.
2. Learning through their five senses.
The young child has a natural curiosity to explore the environment. A child’s sensitive period lasts about five years. He observes the images from his environment through his senses. But he is still selective for his choice of images. A child starts from nothing and develops his reason, the specific characteristics of a man and he starts along this path even before he can walk of his own. A child tries to gather smallest of details, which usually adults ignores. From a child’s point of view adults are dull and indifferent and not interested in minute details. In Maria’s words, if a child could express himself, he would certainly tell us deep down he has little confidence in us just as we have confidence in him. A child acts from an inner impulse and he is selective in his choice of images. As he receives images from his environment, he organizes himself by recognizing pictures and fixing them in his memory. Thus he carries out the work of inner construction happily and peacefully.
Montessori said “The tongue which he uses for speaking ,and the hands which he employs for work are more intimately connected with his intelligence than any other parts of body She refers them to as ‘instruments of man’s intelligence’ In order to develop his mind a child must have objects in his environment which he can hear, touch and see.
The human hand not only allows the mind to recall itself but also it enables the whole being to enter into special relationship with the environment He must develop through his inner movements. When adult restricts the child from taking things, the child’s constructive movements will be destroyed. A child wants to imitate the adults in household work is trying to improve his intellectual progress.
A child’s movement is not due to a chance. A physical activity can be wrongly interpreted as a movement. It is considered as an aid to normal functioning of the body. A child develops through personal effort and engagement. His growth depends up on psychic as well as physical factors. A child gets impression from his environment and recalls it, makes a judgment thru an act of will and decides his own course of satisfaction. When an adult is interrupted to a child’s movement child tries to oppose or defense it. According to Maria “It is functional incarnation of the creative energy which brings a man to perfection of his species” {Secret of childhood, page97}
Through these movements a child acts up on external environment and thus carries out his own personal mission to the world. Movement is considered as an essential activity for intellectual growth.Adluts should try to assist a child in his attempts to put his will in to an act. A child has a natural desire to master the voluntary use of his organs of movement. If he fails to do o, he cannot externalize the fruit of his intelligence. The will is thus not only an instrument execution but also of psychic development. A child who is free to act not only seeks together sensible impressions from his environment but also shows a love exactitude in the carrying out of his actions. His spirit then seems to be suspended between existence and self realization.”A child is a discoverer and is an amorphous splendid being in search of his own proper form” {secret of childhood, page 99}.
3. Sensitivity to small objects.
A child has away to pay attention to small objects .Children pay attention to minute things which adults usually ignores. The finest example for this is children curiously watching the army of ants and other insects. Maria considers this as a sensibility in child development.
Maria quotes an example of 15 month old girl who sits in the garden near pansy flowers. Suddenly she started laughing looking at the pansy flowers. Maria thought that she was enjoying their colorfulness and beauty. But going near to the girl she found out a small insect of brick color running around. Then she realized that the children notice minute and small objects.
This sensitivity is important development because it helps to widen the power of observation and allows the child to concentrate his intellectual powers on specific problem. When a child is drawn to small objects, the sensitivity holds the child’s attention for an extended period, fostering the ability to focus.
4. Sensitivity to co-ordination of movement {walking}-2.5 years to 4 years.
Learning to walk is for a child is considered as the second birth, since he passes from helplessness to active being. Baby walks for his perfection of his functions. His goal is creative and mind is filled with happiness. A child between the ages of 1 year to 2 year can walk up to several miles and climb up to difficult objects without any tiredness. There is an involuntary inclination to perfect and repeat movement purely for the sake of gaining greater achievements.
5. Sensitivity to language
The sensitivity of language begins in early childhood.”One of the earliest at the same time the most wonderful of the sensitive periods in the child’s development is that which is concerned with the acquisition of spoken language” [Life and her work, chapter6, page121]. The baby, when four months old keeps his eyes fixed upon the lips of an adult who is speaking. At six months, he can form a few separate syllables. Even though, he hears a wide variety of sounds, he picks up the language that he hears .The babies posses a sensibility towards language.
A child speaks his parent’s language so perfectly with all the nouns, verbs and with all the grammatical expressions. This process of learning a language is natural in children; they learn it without any difficulty. But for an adult learning a new language is a difficult task.
6. Sensitivity to social aspects of life (2.5 yrs-6yrs)
The sensitivity to social aspects of life begins in the early childhood, at the age of 2.5 years. This period has been referred as the special epoch for sensation. A child is not only interested in external sensory impressions, but also to his own badly actions. This is why we say that this age is considered as the apt age for teaching good manners. One can teach and train such manners egg healthy and proper eating, personal hygiene, keeping things in proper manner, and other disciplinary actions. Children at the age of three are in parallel play. The works of sensitive periods enables recognizable affections and friendships to develop. This will help a child to be a part of his group.
Thus we can say that it is in childhood that a man learns to guide and direct himself in the way of life. It is not the child as a physical but as a psychic being that can provide a strong impetus to the betterment of mankind. It is the spirit of the child that can determine the course of human progress and lead it perhaps to even to a higher form of civilization. “Man’s intelligence does not come from nothing; rather, it is built upon the foundations laid by a child during his sensitive periods” [secret of childhood, page55, chapter8]
It is true that a child will nevertheless grow up even without having made use of his either of sensitive periods in his development, but he will be a ‘diminished individual’ in comparison with what he might have been ,and should have been. The sensitive period describes the path of child’s life in his journey towards gaining knowledge from his environment.
Sensitive Period
Absorbent mind is another aid that helps the child to develop. The absorbent mind explains the person by which the child gains knowledge from his environment. A child absorbs things from his environment.’ Unconscious mind’ which starts from birth to 3 years. The child learns everything without knowing that he is learning. Absorbent mind absorbs impressions from the surroundings. During this stage a child will learn everything from his environment, so Maria says that his environment should be interesting and attractive. ‘Conscious mind ‘is referred as the period from 3 years to 6 years. During this period a child absorbs knowledge from his environment and does a self Construction. He is conscious of his doings and he will be developing his mental functions.
According to Maria “a child is born with an absorbent mind and this absorbent mind is form that is different from the mind of an adult”... A child’s mind absorbs all things, cultures, values etc from his environment. In Montessori methods a child is open to the world and has given keys of explorations through sensory materials. It is considered as real work expeditions. It’s based on a study of life and creativity. Thus sensitive period and absorbent mind plays a vital role in childhood.
Life begins with a tiny cell which we can only see through with a microscope. But that tiny cell has got all the potential of future human being. The child is universal. According to Maria “the task of a child is to construct a man oriented to his environment, adapted to his time, place and culture”. (Secret of childhood - Forward, page 14)
Bibliography:
Montessori M The Absorbent Mind, Clio Press, England 1997
Montessori M The Secret of childhood, Balleantime books, 1972
Standing E M Maria Montessori, Her Life and Work, Plume, New York, 1998