Process of Adaptation and Prenatal Life / Spiritual Embryo

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“Man seems to have two embryonic periods. One is prenatal, like that of the animals; the other is postnataland only man has this. The prolonged infancy… His appearance on earth was a jump in life: the starting point for new destinies.”

Formative Period

“Postnatal work is a constructive activity which is carried on in what may be called the "formative period", and it makes the baby into a kind of "Spiritual Embryo“.

• By the age of three, the child is already a person;he has created himself through the experiences in the environment.
• From three to six the child develops what he has created and the construction of the personality is established.

"Just as in the prenatal period, in this psycho embryonic period various powers develop separately and independently of one another, for example, language, arm movements and leg movements. Certain sensory powers also take shape.

There is no unity of the personality yet (norecall of this stage) it will come until the parts are complete. " M.M. Absorbent Mind, page 151

“What is now taking place is a kind of awakening ofpotential powers. These will have the task of directing the huge creative work to be done by the child, by this “spiritual embryo”.

"Work that he has to do in order to grow up. His hand, guided by his intelligence, begins to do jobs of definitely human type."

Now he is guided by his conscience. We can see his hands are busy laying them on the world. Perfecting the acquired language is another task of this psychic embryo (enrich his vocabulary) © The Montessori Institute of San Diego, 2021 1 From three to six is a period of constructive perfectionment by means of activity. It is not only absorbed through his senses but the hand (prehensile organ of the mind) also takes part.

Neurosciences…

Brain development in young children’s Conference, June 1996. Families and Work Institute

• From the first days of life, the impact of early experiencecan be dramatic. While the fetus develops the brain cells need to find their way and reach their precise position within the cerebral cortex.

 Neuroscientists have found that throughout the entire process of development, beginning even before birth, the brain is affected by environmental conditions, including the kind of nourishment, care, surroundings, and stimulation an individual receives. The impact of the environment is dramatic and specific,not merely influencing the general direction of development, but actually affecting howthe intricate circuitry of the brain is wired.

“Use them or Lose Them”

• In the early years of life, each neuron forms up to15,000 synapses.
• By the age of two, the number of synapses reachesadult levels;
• By age three, a child’s brain has 1,000 trillion synapses
• By the time a child reaches late adolescence, half of all the synapses in the brain have been discarded, leaving about 500 trillion.

Neuroscientists have established that there are time spans when different parts or systems of the brain are more or less vulnerable to environmental influence. The developing brain, particularly the cortex, requires specific stimuli on a fairly rigid schedule. Sensory mechanisms can be tuned, but at some point, their functional characteristics must be “locked”. The locking process itself may occur evenif expected stimuli have not arrived. Thereafter, sensorimotor systems cannot be tuned to the environment the way they would

“Man possesses creative sensitivities instead of hereditarymodels of behavior, and it is due to these sensitivities that adaptation occurs to his surroundings”.

Responsibilities of the Adult in the Child’s Adaptation

Collaborate with nature and help the child construct himself.

• To understand the internal development conflict and not only the external part.
• Understand with the help of science the psychic needsof the child. The process starts in the mind.
• Remove obstacles 2 © The Montessori Institute of San Diego, 2021
• Adaptation can only happen in the child when the environment and the impressions allow it.
• Prepare an environment where he can give life to his potentialities.
• The prepared environment consists of selecting thematerial that will help the child in this process.

“Children must be thoroughly strong beings and must possess spiritual equilibrium in order to be able to obey… It is necessary, then, to give the child the possibility of developing according to the laws of his nature,so that he can become strong and, having become strong, can do even more than we dared hope for him. ”