Guidance program to prevent dysfunctional senior high school students

The Philippine Basic Education program has been extended to the additional two years of senior high school. Labeled K-12, five-year-old children suddenly were prematurely subjected to one year of kindergarten instead of waiting for them to fully mature by six before entry to formal education. However while most tertiary or colleges are campaigning hard to attach the new senior high school to their courses this offensive may backfire and create dysfunctional teenagers. So far they have been overburdened by academics.

Training preschool teachers to be part of the guidance counseling team

Since 1966, all the teachers, including the guidance counselors of Operation Brotherhood Montessori schools undergo an intensive training on the philosophical and psychological foundation of Dr. Montessori. The teachers, however, have to learn to observe each child’s behavioral transformation and master the materials which condition them to love work and be self-confident.

Thus, they are required to record the weekly behavior of each child in the class using anecdotal records. A quarterly report by the teachers and the counselors summarizes the observations and shares these with the parents during the regular parent-teacher conferences.

Although guidance counselors in the Philippines have been trained in college to understand child development and the different teaching strategies, they end up merely interviewing the child with behavioral problems in their office.

In contrast, the Montessori guidance counselors don’t merely hold office but have to observe the child’s behavior: working with Montessori materials and relating with classmates and teacher. In addition, regular psychology college course most often provides a major in Clinical Psychology (science of deviated behavior) instead of Developmental Child Psychology.

The Montessori scientific apparata prevents deviation  of preschoolers

Even before the emergence of theories and researches on Special Education (SPED), Dr. Maria Montessori has laid down the fundamentals of ‘normality and deviations’ in children. She stated that in the growing child there are two streams of energy – the physical and mental – whose balanced interplay is of utmost importance. If during the child’s development these two streams of energy separate from each other, deviations in behavior will result.

There are many forms of deviations. Some are obvious such as physical deviations. But there are other symptoms like timidity, disorderly and destructive movements, disobedience, constantly asking questions without waiting for the answers, or the child shows extreme attachment to another person, instability of attention. These could easily be considered “normal” by traditional parents and teachers who have not been trained to observe the true nature and behavior of children.

To address these deviations, Dr. Montessori offered one solution — “normalization through work.” The key she says is the synthesis of the two streams of energy through “work” bringing about “normalization.” 

Setting up intervention programs from preschool to high school

In 1990, Millett Sta. Ana, a guidance counselor who worked with college students, joined our school. The Montessori system enabled her to shift her attention to the guidance counseling of students from preschool to high school. With five OB Montessori schools, complete in all levels, she developed a system wherein each branch could have a well-trained guidance counselor who could guide the malfunctioning student in any level.

In 1993, my daughter, Sara Soliven-de Guzman, began to assist me. She had just graduated (AB Psychology, cum laude) from Mary Mount University and had AMI Montessori training for elementary school in Michigan. She readily streamlined everything I have set up for the OB Montessori Center – working closely with Mrs. Sta. Ana.

For Teacher Training, senior line managers have joined the corps of lecturers. The practical part of training requires each trainee to write every 10 minutes within an hour what each child is doing and how he’s relating to his classmates in the class. Later as she takes over her own class she continues to do a weekly behavioral record per child.

Each time the child is promoted to the Primary and Intermediate Grade School each teacher orients the parents regarding the 6-12-year-old child’s acceleration acquiring an enormous reasoning power. The new set of apparata adequately challenges this. A quarterly conference with parents of each child enables both parents and teacher to compare the behavioral progress at home and in school. This complements the quarterly issuance of report cards. However in the succeeding three quarters only the parents of the underachievers meet the teachers.

My child has special needs – should I tell the school or not?

Despite the increased awareness on special needs and learning disabilities, Filipino parents tend to have mixed feelings disclosing to school officials and teachers about their child’s condition. Understandably so, because very few regular schools accept and mainstream children with special needs. Often parents fear their child will not be admitted or that their child will be teased or labeled. In other schools, children may be accepted and placed in SPED classes but are excluded from the regular classes.

What parents should look for are regular schools that offer “inclusive” programs to accommodate their children with special needs. A student who has difficulty learning and functioning should be placed in the school’s Special Educational Needs (SEN) program or support program which covers a wide range of needs including learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), cognitive behavioral, social and emotional challenges, autism, Asperger’s syndrome, speech or language impairment, developmental delays and physical/sensory skills including visual and hearing impairments. 

At OB Montessori, parents of children with special needs work together with a team of professionals: their child psychologist, the therapists (occupational/speech/behavioral therapists), the Montessori teachers and the counselors. They set the goals for a child during the school year, align their intervention programs and provide any other special support needed to help achieve them.