Question: What is the Montessori approach to left-handedness, particularly in relation to writing?
Answer: Maria Montessori did not differentiate between right-handedness and lefthandedness. She stressed the importance of full development of motor movement, leaving the child to choose intuitively which hand he would use most comfortably. The directress should accommodate a leſthanded child by sitting on his left-hand side when giving a presentation.
Maria Montessori developed distinct ideas about indirect and direct preparation for writing (and reading) to lead into ‘explosions’. She connected the hand and intelligence. The implementation of the writing instrument is both a motor and an intellectual activity, the mind guiding the hand. Indeed in many languages the verbs for understanding intellectually are similar to being able to hold on firmly to something in one’s hand.
Indirect Preparation
In Montessori’s words ‘Writing is a complex act’ (Discovery of the Child). For a child to ‘explode’ into writing two major conditions have to be met:
1)Motor movement has to be refined so that he can manipulate the writing instrument as well as draw the different shapes of the different letters of the alphabet. During the entire day the child is training his hand. Practical Life exercises assist with the development of hand-eye coordination. They require the use of the writing fingers and sensory activities such as the Pink Tower, Cylinder Blocks and Geometry Cabinet all prepare the child to hold the pencil with control. Work with the Geometry Cabinet also helps him reproduce the form, and the tactile exercises encourage a light touch. There is ample opportunity to handle and manipulate small and big objects, light and heavy ones. Thus the Montessori environment offers a lot of scope to the child to develop and refine his motor movement, so essential to the mechanism of writing.
2) The child’s intellect has to be capable of making a determined effort. ‘A necessary condition for writing is to have what is called a firm hand, that is, a hand under the control of the will.’… ‘A firm hand…is something that precedes the hand’s ability to draw a figure; it is the capability of moving it for some specific goal, of being able to guide it in a precise fashion.’ (The Discovery of the Child, pp 205-206, Ballantine, 1993) Montessori points out that the child’s natural inclination to repeat an action until it is perfected is a major contributing factor.
Direct Preparation
In a Montessori environment the child encounters many exercises which develop and further his writing abilities. The Metal Insets give the hand the skill of handling the writing instrument, of acquiring a lightness of touch and of keeping within restricted boundaries. The sandpaper letters – presented together with the sound of the letter – allow him to match the sounds to the appropriate symbols by means of muscular movement and visual memory. The moveable alphabet enables him to reproduce in graphic symbols the sounds analysed. Further writing exercises demonstrate the position of each letter in relation to each other; punctuation and capitals establish the concept of the structure of writing and the order of words; free writing encourages him to classify his experiences and helps him to relate his thoughts and ideas.
Not only is the development of the hand important for writing; its development is an inextricable part of man himself. In Montessori’s words “’The skill of man’s hand is bound up with the development of his mind and in the light of history we see it connected with the development of civilisation. The hands of man express his thought, and from the time of his first appearance on the earth traces of his handiwork also appear in the records of history.’ (Absorbent Mind, pp 138, Clio Montessori Series, 1988)
AMI Communications – 2003/4, page 43-44
