Yes, Montessori, a mentally retarded child, worked as an assistant doctor (1896- 1898), mainly treating mentally retarded children. At that time, Italy put mentally retarded children and mental patients in an insane asylum. There are no toys in the room, even nothing for children to grasp and operate; Managers have a bad attitude and don't organize any activities at all Montessori expressed deep sympathy for the situation of these children. Through observation and research, she deeply feels that this kind of medical treatment can only accelerate the mental decline of children. From then on, she became interested in the treatment and education of mentally retarded children and was determined to help them with her wisdom. In order to find an educational method suitable for children with mental retardation, Montessori carefully studied the educational thoughts and methods of French psychologists Liu Yitong and Segen. She personally translated and copied their works to deepen understanding. Liu Yitong and Segan are famous figures in training mentally retarded children in the19th century. 1900, Liu Yitong treated a "wild child" who grew up in the forest after being abandoned in his early years, and published an experimental report. Segan inherited Liu Yitong's career and put forward the "Physiological Education Law", which advocated sensory training for children with physical disabilities and mental retardation, giving full play to their physiological functions and promoting the development of their intelligence and personality. He wrote Psychotherapy, Medical Care, Dementia Education and Physiotherapy. Eta and Segan's educational thoughts and methods deeply influenced Montessori. She thinks this is the forerunner of "science pedagogy".

From 65438 to 0898, at the education conference held in Turin, Montessori delivered a speech entitled "Spiritual Education", expounding the ideas and methods of education for mentally retarded children. She pointed out that "children's mental retardation is mainly an educational problem, not a medical problem" and called on the society to let mentally retarded children enjoy the same right to education as normal children. Montessori found that the intelligence level of mentally retarded children is generally worse than that of normal children of the same age, but they have many common characteristics with younger normal children, such as imperfect sensory development, uncoordinated movements, unstable walking, inability to engage in activities such as undressing, inability to master language, and inattention. Therefore, she is convinced that the educational methods she designed for mentally retarded children are also applicable to normal children and will achieve more remarkable results. So she decided to devote herself to the education of normal children.

Under the domination of this thought, Montessori left the psychiatric institute on 190 1 and returned to the University of Rome to study philosophy, general pedagogy, experimental psychology and educational anthropology, thus expanding and deepening his theoretical foundation, further studying the methods of educating normal children and laying a solid foundation for the future education of normal children.