Mags 2.0 Assignment #2–LMSA
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For On the Danforth, the student magazine that we here at the Book and Magazine publishing program at Centennial College produce, Jen and I interviewed Michelle Lane, the founder of the Lane Montessori School for Autism. She was a fabulous and very impressive woman.
Michelle founded the Lane Montessori School for Autism in 2003. She wanted to create a unique program for children with autism and special needs that combined the traditional Applied Learning Behavior Methods with the Montessori teaching methods developed by Maria Montessori in the late 1800s.
LMSA combines traditional Montesori teaching practices with Applied Behavior Analysis practices. The classes are very small–only four students each–and the students receive a lot of one-on-one attention. Lane’s school integrates traditional autism approaches with the Montessori approaches. Lane believes that the blend of these two approaches is best for children with autism.
“Children with autism are largely visual learners,” Lane says. “They learn concrete concepts through hands-on learning, as opposed to abstract concepts. It’s about understanding the world around them.”
