"Normalization" and "mental deviation" that are often mentioned in Montessori are professional terms. To understand the true meaning of these words, we must first understand the background and history of Montessori.

As a doctor in Montessori's early years, she received professional training and developed very precise observation skills. In the complete environment of the first CASA classroom she designed, she found through observation that normal children showed typical characteristics and actions. She found through observation that only the child's physical and psychological needs need to be fully satisfied in order to achieve self-satisfaction. When the psychological needs are met, good behavior can be shown.

Montessori pointed out that children aged 0-3 are promoted by Horme, allowing the children to interact with the environment in order to learn from the environment and become active. In the first stage of development, the child acquires the development of intelligence and the movement ability controlled by the mind through interaction with the environment, and the child constructs his own personality to become a new human being at the present time and place.
Physical energy VS mental/mental energy Two Streams of Energy

In the first stage of development, there are two creative energies in the child. These two creative energies include mental (spiritual) energy and physical energy.

Physiological energy is presented through the body, that is, children's purposeful actions; mental (spiritual) energy is presented through intelligence and willpower.

Intelligence is the ability to understand. The more understanding, the better the intelligence.

Willpower is related to choice. When a child makes a choice and begins work exploration, the child's intelligence will be improved, his purposeful movements will also be developed, and the child will have more choices, develop more intelligence and more movement Development-this is a cycle of work.

Action is controlled by the mind. (movement coming out from mind). Children's movements, willpower, and intelligence are mental organs, and language and emotions are developed through movements.

Only when physical energy and spiritual energy work together can children develop normally.

Physiological energy includes actions and activities. Spiritual energy, including spirit, language, willpower and emotions. Physiological energy is manifested through actions and presented through the mind.

If these two forces are separated and cannot work together, then Montessori says this is a spiritual deviation.
Normalization VS Psychic Deviations

The definition of mental deviation: When a child's development path has obstacles leading to the separation of physical and mental energy, and the child is pulled away from his own normal development path, mental deviation occurs.

Definition of normalization: Normalization refers to the path of normal development that exists when a child is born. On this path, two energies work together and harmoniously. In this scientific framework, the basic measurement of healthy development is independence. From the moment the child was born, he was driven towards independence and wanted to "do it by himself".

What we need to pay attention to is that when we talk about the meaning of spiritual deviation and normalization, this is not a unified standard. We will not label children, such as "This is a mentally deviated child." Montessori believes that every child and every person has his own development path. This development path is for himself and there is no uniform standard, so she never said that a child is deviated. She refers to the deviation refers to the obstacles in the development path of the child, which leads to the deviation of the development path, rather than the deviation of the child itself. We must pay great attention to the understanding of this word to avoid misunderstanding and misuse. The child's needs cannot be met, leading to obstacles in mental development, and deviations in physical behavior. What we need to do is to observe and remove the obstacles in development, so that children can be pulled back from the deviated development path.

Deviations

Deviation includes physical deviation (Physical Deviation) and spiritual deviation (Psychic Deviation).

Physical Deviation

Physiological deviations are more physiologically visible to the naked eye. For example, when the fetus is in the womb, the position of implantation is not good, and the fetus's feet are different in length (one foot is longer and the other is short), which may affect the child's walking after birth; for example, when the child is in the womb, the buttocks are a little apart and the child is born After that, medical help is needed; another example is harelip, which is a physiological deviation. The separation of the upper lip affects the development of language.

Psychic Deviation

We can easily understand physical deviation because it is obvious, but mental deviation is not easy to understand and not easy to see. We tend to overlook the invisible. Montessori pointed out that spiritual development and physical development are two forces that develop harmoniously together. Human beings are a two-in-one physical and spiritual existence. The mind is also developing during physical development, which is why children also develop intelligence when they learn to crawl.

The child unconsciously constructs his personality in the first three years of birth, and these deviations are also established, but if the obstacles on the development path are removed, deviations will not form. But when children are three years old, they will always find some deviations, because we are human beings, and some of the children's needs cannot always be met.

Children are conscious workers when they are 3-6 years old. Children can treat their deviant behaviors through purposeful activities. Deviations may or may not be established at the age of 0 to 3; children may or may not be treated at the age of 3 to 6. The deviating behavior of children under three years old may not be fully established, because the child's spirit is not fully constructed.
Four main causes of deviation Main Cause

First, restrain movement.

Adult inhibition of children's movements is an obstacle to children's development. This means that when a child constructs a sexual activity, he has the desire and willpower to move himself, but is terminated by the adult. Excessive use of containers such as walkers is an obstacle to children's purposeful motor development.

In the first year of the child’s development, the child acquires a lot of movements, such as squirming, turning over, crawling, propping up all fours to crawl, grabbing objects to stand, etc... But the reality is that adults often restrain the child and put the child in Suppress their movements in the container.

Adult attitudes can also inhibit children's behavior. Adults will always say "Be careful, this is dangerous. You can't do this, let me help you"... These adult attitudes can also inhibit children's movement development.

Whenever the child wants to move spontaneously, the adult stops it, which is to separate the physical and psychological energy. If the child's body is often put into the container, then the child develops uncoordinated movements because there is no opportunity for normal and coordinated movement training.

From a spiritual point of view, if things go on like this, children will question themselves, "Can I do this? Can I move?" When we do excessive protective actions on our children and give negative feedback, they will Cause children's unconfidence. We need to give children opportunities to practice balance movements. Montessori teaching aids are also designed to support the development of children's self-esteem and confidence. When the child is overprotected, the psychology will not be packed into a psychological container.

Whether it is a psychological or physical container, it will form part of the child's body, generate self-doubt, and affect the development of self-esteem and confidence.

Second, the will of the child is replaced by the will of the adult.

First of all, this manifests itself as not allowing the child to make a choice, or giving the child a choice that is not a choice. For example, we say to the child, "You are not ready now, we will leave you here, and I will go to the supermarket." "Do you want to wear red or green clothes?" The child said red, and the adult said, "You still It’s better to wear green.” We have deprived the child of the opportunity to make choices. The child will gradually stop making choices. He will say whatever you say, just say whatever you want. This leads to the child’s mental deviation and negatively affects the will. Power development.

Secondly, it also shows that adults do all things for children, which is another expression that replaces children's willpower. Adults sometimes question their choices because we were not given real choices when we were young. This behavior in which children’s will is replaced by adults will affect the ability of adults to make decisions in the future.

In the curriculum of external freedom and internal construction, we mentioned that if we want children to make responsible choices, we must let them make self-selection, and let them experience natural and logical results, which can nourish the development of intelligence. . But the fact is that adults always replace children in making choices, which affects children's confidence in making choices. Montessori clearly pointed out that all we are doing now is to prepare for the future independence. If the child does not have the opportunity to choose and does not experience the natural results of his choice, it will have a significant impact on the child's personality.

Third, Abandon

First, there are many forms of abandonment, including conscious and unconscious ones. In many cases, adult abandonment is not done consciously. For example, children want to communicate with us in words, but adults are always looking at their mobile phones. This is a kind of abandonment.

Secondly, another form of abandonment is that we do not connect our children to the environment and let the children play by themselves. From Montessori's point of view, adults should prepare an environment to meet the needs of children. This environment can be a family environment or a community environment. In the environment, we connect children with the environment. We remove obstacles and renew To prepare the environment, it is very important to allow these two energies to work together.

Again, another manifestation of abandonment is that we have not set clear boundaries. This is also a kind of abandonment. Children don't know what to do and what not to do.

In the end, abandonment means that we do not let the children do their best. It just keeps the child busy doing things. Maybe these tasks are played by the child. The lack of challenge leads to the lack of concentration (Lack of Challenge), which affects the development of purposeful movements, affects willpower, and affects the development of intelligence. Abandonment separates these two energies.

Fourth, interrupt concentration.

When a child concentrates on activities, his mind and body work together, and the two energies work together. We mentioned earlier that interest will trigger repetition, and repetition will trigger concentration, and focus on guiding the normal development of children. Concentration is a moment of physical and mental cooperation, but whenever we interrupt a child's concentration, we are to separate these two forces.

Adults who have not studied Montessori always find it difficult to understand the concentration of children. When the child is lying down and observing a pendant intently, the adult picks up the child and says to the baby, "I see you looking at the pendant intently." This is an interruption. The child did not take back his job when he finished his work. When he started to concentrate on another job, we interrupted the child and asked him to clean up the unfinished work. This is also an interruption.

If you continue to interrupt the child, the child will slowly internalize, and he will gradually think that there is no need to focus and become incapable of focusing.

The above four reasons will lead to deviations in behavior. We know that children's developmental obstacles are not the same, and the ways and forms of expression are also different. Montessori pointed out that there are two ways to respond to developmental disorders:

Barriers VS Fugues

Two manifestations of mental deviation

Barriers

Refers to a child with a stronger personality, who shows strong resistance and produces violence. Protect yourself from the environment, Montessori calls this barrier (Barriers)

Free (Fugues)

It refers to a child with a relatively quiet personality. He will not resist, but will be more passive and submissive. This change of passivity and obedience is established in the child's personality. Montessori calls it Fugues.

Montessori mentions different deviating behaviors in both "Absorbent Mind" and "Secrets of Childhood".

Obstacles are easy to be found in behavior, but dissociation is more difficult. Because adults are relatively more inclined to obedient children, this kind of children can obey adults very well and do things by themselves.

No matter what kind of children they encounter obstacles, hormones will push children to interact with the environment. But children with stronger personalities will become more violent and disordered when they encounter obstacles. The child's movements are disorderly. The mind and body are separated. The mind is an idea, but the body is another expression. They show strong possessiveness, they will say "You can't take my things, or I will hit you"; they show quarrels and disobedience.

And children with quieter personality, when they encounter obstacles, they will be separated from reality and will have many fantasies. Doing things in fantasy that he can't do in real life, this free state is often related to fear, and Horme will push him to find a safe place.

If the environment is boring, it will also cause dissociation. This free environment prevents children from using their intelligence. Horme will push children to more interesting and challenging places. This kind of dissociation will make the child become lazy and bored, wanting others to entertain him. He will lose his temper and cry to get what he wants. He will also show possessiveness, such as putting a small pointy piece on the pink tower into his pocket and taking it home. His mind drifted away, showing that he was unable to concentrate. Children who are free will also develop inferiority complex, show timidity and submissiveness, and become extremely attached to other people or things, thereby creating a sense of security.

Obstacles and dissociation can become great obstacles for children. When a child enters a free state, we can see from the child's behavior. Children cannot interact with the world, which is very dangerous. If the child cannot participate in reality, it will affect the process of self-construction in the first stage of development. If the child lives in the self-imaginary world, he will not be able to construct himself well, and he cannot construct himself through interaction with the environment.

Excerpt: "One of the tasks of the child is to build himself adapted to the environment. Adaptation to the environment is something positive, one of the first necessities, because without adaption man is extra-social. Delinquents, for instance, are..." (Montessori, 1961, The Meaning of Adaptation, AMI Communications, p. 9). “One of the children’s tasks is to construct themselves to adapt