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I think you guys have a wider variety of Montessori over there - I don't think use of the name is well policed. Look round the ones you can get to and see if there is one that isn't as strict in the not using the materials for anything other than their intended purpose. Where I am all the Montessori schools ate owned and run by the same person and she is a strict adherent who would insist that if the equipment were being used incorrectly the child be diverted to something more appropriate. I considered it for ds6 but not for ds4.

My son is in a Montessori class for 3-4.5 year olds. From my research and talking with his teachers, "Montessori" schools can vary greatly in their idea of what "Montessori" means and how they apply it. I enrolled him at their other program at 2.5 because he was obsessed with puzzles and preferred puzzles over friends, which was new and I knew that he needed somebody/something other than me to teach him. I was so full of anxiety, I was sure that he would have tantrums all day, they wouldn't understand him, etc. Wrong! They totally get him, they recently had a PG student and his behavior couldn't be better at school. When they are learning, they are happy! It's all about you feel about the teachers. Also, in the first program we were in, it started too early in the day and he would basically have an anxiety attack for 2 hours before school and I could not get him ready. Once he was there, he would run in happily, never cried. But that time was just too early for us, after a few weeks, I couldn't take the 2 hour battle to put pants on, I was emotionally spent and wasn't sure any of it was worth it. Now he goes at 10:30 and that gives us plenty of time to do our morning routine and get him in the car on time.

Thank you so much all of you!! I am so sorry for my late reply as after I post the message, i check back again next day but can't see my post, so I through there is something wrong with my computer that I can't post it successfully.

It's so nice to join this forum as many of you give me many advises that I didn't think about.

In this month, my son is getting much better, feel like he suddenly grow up a lot, I have tried to leave him for 15-30mins when he is in the parent co-op preschool and he only cry for a while. It is a great improvement, and now I am more confident that he will be fine when he go to preschool by himself later in Sept. Thanks for sharing 2Giftedkids and indigo ^-^

I now arrange some playdate at park (2 playdays with different kids each week) rather than at home, and so he get along with his friends pretty well too, he still have sensory issue with noise, so i think it is the main thing i have to solve it rather than social skill.

EmeraldCity, Thanks for your info, I have read those book too once my son was diagonized with SPD, and they are really helpful ^-^ I am lucky to know that he has SPD in his very young age (20m), otherwise the problem may grow.

Mana, glad to know that your DD grew out of her sensitivities, i think my son also grew out some of his sensitivities too after he join the mommy and me class which provide him lots of sensory activities (e.g. many things he refuse to touch when he was 22m but now he can touch and play with them and he enjoy sand play recently !)

DAD22, thanks for the link too, i also like the independent learning and quite environment of Montessori school. ^-^ My son always freeze up too when teacher teaching new songs and dance, or when some kids are running arround, i think he is really careful and have to observe everything first before he start joining.

Dude, you point out a very important point that i didn't think about when finding preschool. Although my son is a "good boy" in teacher's eyes, he will answer what teacher is asking, and can sit still for a long time but for the toys he play with, he will never play with the "designed way" once he has master it, when he is obsessive with shapes, he use thomas the train to build a pentagon, use crayons to build a parallelogram, etc. Now he like to see the house numbers of each house, so once he has some number puzzle on hands, he will make different "house number" and said "no. 2 is living in house 559" sth like that. Thanks a lot for reminding me to be careful when look for a Montessori school.

I am still looking for a preschool for him, currently a christian preschool which use Montessori materials is my first choice, but this sch has a long waiting list so not sure if he can join it or not.

Thanks a lot ^-^