Tier 3 Montessori

12/28/2025

Thank you Dr. Megan for the wonderful intro to our work 🎉

Where would I even be without Dr. Megan and Do Better Collective? 🫶🙏💖

✨ REJECTED sponsor highlight: Tier 3 Montessori

Tier 3 Montessori is doing something really special. From the start, their work is rooted in empathy, dignity, and a deep respect for individual uniqueness 🤍 They focus on strengths, nervous system regulation, and real relationships—not compliance or “fixing.”

🌱 Using a whole-child, whole-family approach, Tier 3 Montessori blends Montessori philosophy with trauma-responsive, strengths-based ABA to support autonomy, joy, and meaningful skill-building. Through careful observation, collaboration, and small environmental shifts over time, they create space for children to thrive as they are.

This is education as an aid to life—honoring stimming as regulation, choosing belonging over normalization, and walking alongside caregivers every step of the way.

We’re proud to highlight Tier 3 Montessori as a REJECTED sponsor doing this work with so much integrity and heart. Follow on Facebook to learn more and support their mission.

12/24/2025

‼️🚨Spoiler Alert!
Even ABA is banning “ABA” 😱

Yes, just like in medicine, people spoke and we listened!

The pressure for compliance, and particularly blind compliance, is outdated and no longer being taught as best practice.

The new research and best practices are all about assent-based compassionate care and collaboration 🎉

The research-to-practice gap is real so it still may take a decade or so for schools and other fields to catch up to our behavioral sciences.

For now, keep directing your providers and schools to look up assent-based compassionate collaboration research to support you and your loved ones 🫶

This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.

12/22/2025

Enjoy your winter break! ❄️ 🌲 ⛄️

Our offices here will be closed but I will still be able to receive messages, emails, and voicemail 💫

12/21/2025

Yes, assent-based and child-led education has long been misunderstood. An interesting thing happens when children come to us from traditional schools or ABA programs as they become empowered again; their autonomy & academic engagement increases! 🎉

12/20/2025

Our downtown community just got an upgrade 🎉 The renovations are done, and it looks amazing!

12/20/2025

More new research on Montessori education- this time in France. I’m excited to contribute the behavioral piece someday! I see so many gaps we can fill in! 🎉

“Another feature of Montessori early childhood education is its didactic content. In the language domain, for example, the curriculum combines multi-sensory activities with a phonetic approach to reading acquisition where children systematically learn letter-sound correspondences before spelling or decoding words. In the math domain, children are introduced to various concepts through manipulatives. Emphasis is placed on the relation between quantities and numerical symbols, with children being introduced to the base-10 system, as well as arithmetic and fractions. Finally, the curriculum is full of activities promoting coordination and concentration, making fine distinctions across several sense bases, and emphasizing cultural and scientific awareness. Interestingly, Montessori education has often received support from cognitive psychologists for several reasons. First, its sensory-motor focus resonates with embodied cognition, which suggests that learning is grounded in physical interaction with the environment12,13. Second, the emphasis of Montessori education on self-directed activity, concentration, and deliberate practice may support the development of executive functions14, which have been shown to be associated with academic achievement15. Third, open and mixed-age classrooms might promote collaboration, peer learning, and socio-emotional skills that relate to academic outcomes16,17. Finally, its approach to early literacy and numeracy aligns with evidence from cognitive science regarding effective instructional practices11,18.”

Early childhood education may have the potential to narrow the income achievement gap. However, studies have shown substantial intervention fadeout, calling for rigorous assessment of the long-term effects of early childhood programs. In a randomized controlled study, Courtier et al. (2021) found th...

12/18/2025

A must read! 🎯

https://www.tpr.org/education/2025-12-16/san-antonio-special-education-teacher-says-shes-been-injured-more-this-year-than-ever-before

A San Antonio special education teacher says one of her students is unusually aggressive this year, and the district isn’t doing enough to help.

12/17/2025

🤔 Accurate?? 😅

12/15/2025

🫶 It’s ok, people don’t have to agree with behavior science but when they figure out how to rewind their learning history or undo the person they’ve become, I hope they let the rest of us know their magic 🌟

For now, I will stick with science & compassion 🎉

12/15/2025

This is why your school’s boxed behavior curriculum doesn’t work.

What is reinforcing and dopamine-inducing to one person may be punishing to another.

📣 Teachers, even if you don’t use stickers and time-outs, wouldn’t it be great if you could gain experience and practice identifying and responding what is rewarding and punishing to each and every one of your individual students?

Reminder! Praise isn’t a universal reinforcer. For some learners and in some situations, it can be punishing.