Child Study is an NCMPS protocol that guides teachers towards a Montessori approach to helping children get their needs met as much as possible in the Montessori environment. The protocol shifts the focus from a deficit-oriented “what’s wrong with this child?” model to a solutions-oriented “what’s going on with this child?” perspective. Child Study is a form of Response to Intervention (RTI) that can lead to Special Education referral but is designed to make the most of the Montessori prepared environment’s unique properties.

The Child Study Protocol: A Child Study Lead (often the Montessori Coach in a school) convenes teams of teachers to focus on a particular child. Using the Child Study Protocol, team members identify and clarify the problem, define the difficulty or lagging skill causing the difficulty, set a specific, measurable, and timely goal, and brainstorm classroom interventions. The presenting teacher chooses strategies to implement and track, and the process typically generates interventions and responses for other members of the team to use in their own classrooms.

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