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Didactic Aid according to Montessori Pedagogy as the Instrument for Space Orientation Development of Preschool Child with Disability.
MILICHOVSKÁ, Lenka
This bachelor´s thesis focuses on creating a teaching aid according to Montessori principles of education, an aid which serves as a tool for development of spatial orientation of pre-school children with disabilities. The theoretical part is divided into six chapters. The first chapter centres on disabled individuals. The second chapter describes the specifics of pre-school children´s development and presents a comparison with developmental characteristics of a child with cerebral palsy, and in the third chapter, child with developmental dysphasia. The other three chapters that follow deal with Montessori education; the first of these describes the main Montessori principles, the second elaborates on the theoretical basis of Montessori material and the final chapter engages itself with pre-school facilities and home environment based on Montessori principles. The principal aim of this thesis is to create a teaching aid in line with Montessori methods for a pre-school child with disability with the focus on spatial orientation. The first sub-goal was to observe the child while working with the original Montessori material. The second sub-goal targeted the production of a teaching aid for development of spatial orientation according to Montessori education. Furthermore, this aid was used for training the disabled child in order to teach it how to work with such an aid, which constituted the third sub-goal. The fourth sub-goal was a demonstration of the child´s work with the aid in the presence of legal representatives for work with this aid in a home environment. The fifth, and final, sub-goal, was to implement the aid in a home environment. Based on these defined objectives, research issues were established. In order to fulfill all the goals, a qualitative method of research was chosen. To get hold of necessary data for creating the teaching aid, a technique of observation of disabled children was used, as well as an analysis of personal documentation. Moreover, data were collected with the assistance of semi-standardised interview with educators and legal representatives of the disabled children. The research was conducted in the period between January and the end of March 2016. The research group included three disabled children frequenting Family Centre Pomněnka in České Budějovice, their legal representatives and educators of the centre. The outcome of this work is a teaching aid, hand-made according to Montessori education with a focus on spatial orientation. The aid was created in two modifications and was further adjusted on the basis of individual needs of each disabled child chosen. Upon the observation of disabled children in the Montessori centre and analysis of record keeping sheets, it was found that the created teaching aid develops orientation on a work surface in both vertical and horizontal plane, basic concepts of orientation on the work surface (concepts such as up - down, first - middle - last, on the right - on the left, up and right/left, down and right/left), accuracy and ability to compare forms (letters) with each other. This hand-made tool was tested in both educational and home environment. The research shows that both these environments stimulate the children, leading them to act systematically and independently. The aid was used in compliance with the basic "requirements" of Montessori pedagogy and its attributes for work with the aid, with emphasis on the well-prepared environment (quiet, suitable time, personal space,...) and systematic nature of the work with the aid. A teaching aid enables, according to Montessori education, to allow for individual needs of any child with special educational needs and can be utilized in both educational and home environment.
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