Montessori Children's House Yearly child development screenings & testing, Montessori school, Kendall, Miami, Florida, Montessori Children’s House

S creenings

As part of our commitment to the development of each child’s abilities and potential, Montessori Children’s House relies on an ongoing evaluation system of each child through repeated observation and documentation throughout the school year. Additionally, Healis Rehabilitation Center's Children's Clinic offers a yearly screening for every child attending the school in October. The school is keenly aware of the importance of preparing children for success in their future academic school years. We are also alert to the fact that some children have difficulties with their speech, fine or gross motor development and/or other issues that need to be addressed for the child to receive appropriate early intervention into correcting these delays. Thus, a balance must be struck between the goal of self-direction, the child’s inherent developmental abilities and the realities of academic preparedness. Daily teacher observations, ongoing assessments, formal and informal conferences with parents, and available speech, hearing, vision and developmental screenings ensure that every child receives the individual attention and guidance he or she needs.

Montessori Children’s House

The qualified teachers at Montessori Children’s House implement a yearly Developmental Screening on each child around his/her birthday. Every child is additionally and diligently observed by his teacher and assistant teachers over a period of at least two months around his birth date to facilitate the completion of a Developmental Screening Checklist compiled by the State of Florida Department of Children and Families. Upon completion of this Checklist, parents are then contacted by their child’s teacher to schedule an appointment to discuss the results. Any child requiring further detailed assessment will be referred to Part C Early Intervention (for children under three years old), Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System (FDLRS) (for children over three years old), and/or Healis Rehabilitation Center's Children's Clinic.

Developmental Screenings

Montessori Children's House, in collaboration with Healis Rehabilitation Center's Children's Clinic, offers developmental screenings for your child at the beginning of each school year. The screenings are designed to detect gross and fine motor delays, social/emotional delays and self care issues that your child may have. Delays in any of these areas may cause coordination problems, learning difficulties, and/or behavior issues if left untreated.

If the screening findings reveal that your child might benefit from Physical or Occupational Therapy, arrangements may be made for a therapist from Healis Children's Clinic to provide these services in school or at any of the Healis clinic locations. Healis is an independent company that provides the utmost in therapy care. Founders Heather Roberts, PT and Lisa Galvez, PT are both highly qualified, licensed Physical Therapists who hold Bachelors of Science Degrees and combined have over 25 years of therapy experience. Brenda Kent, OTR/L, Director of Rehabilitation at Healis holds a Masters in Occupational Therapy, a Bachelors in Special Education and brings with her over 10 years of experience in pediatric rehabilitation.

Speech, Hearing, Vision and Language Screenings

Speech, Hearing, Vision and Language Screening is offered as an option for all students by Janice Berger-Landau, MS, CCC-SLP Speech/Language Pathologist. Ms. Berger-Landau holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology from Emerson College and a Master of Science degree from Baylor University. She completed post-graduate studies at New York University. She is certified by the State of Florida and the American Speech/Language and Audiology Association (ASHA). Ms Berger-Landau has been a speech/language pathologist for 30 years providing diagnosis and remediation to children with a variety of speech, language, auditory processing and learning issues. She has been affiliated with Montessori Children’s House for the past ten years in this capacity.

Speech/Articulation is the ability to produce speech sounds age-appropriately that are intelligible to an unfamiliar listener. Language entails the ability to comprehend spoken language and express oneself age-appropriately. It is of utmost importance that children’s skills in these areas be age appropriate for future academic success.