Abilities, Not Deficits: The Montessori Approach to Dementia Care

The Montessori approach to education empowers children to learn by doing activities that emphasize their innate abilities, not by rote or one-size-fits-all lessons. Inspired by his family’s own experiences with the Montessori method, Cameron Camp decided to apply those principles to dementia care, a field where far too often people are boiled down to sets of symptoms and behaviors to manage within rigid, impersonal structures.

Camp’s work with the Center for Applied Research in Dementia has helped to shift the traditional thinking around dementia services, focusing on elders’ retained abilities and what Camp calls “cognitive ramps” – simple adaptations, similar to wheelchair ramps, that allow people living with dementia to continue participating in society and empowering activities.

Camp joins Penny Cook to discuss his work and his vision for a truly person-directed future for all types of eldercare.

Join us in Pittsburgh for the 2023 CFI conference: https://thegreenhouseproject.org/2023-conference/

Learn about the Center for Applied Research in Dementia: https://www.cen4ard.com/

Explore Cameron and Linda Camp’s book: https://www.cen4ard.com/product/teaching-empathy-and-conflict-resolution-to-people-with-dementia/