How Montessori-Inspired Practices Foster Choice and Belonging in Senior Living
By Jennifer Bushati, Director of Recreation | November 13, 2026
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this guest column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Senior Living News. The author may have an interest in the products, services, or business entities referenced in this article. Senior Living News is not responsible for the opinions or factual assertions made by the author.
Senior living teams face an important challenge: translating residents’ interests and life experiences into meaningful opportunities for choice, independence and contribution. Learning that someone loves movies or once led a business provides an important starting point. The next step is deciding how that knowledge will influence the person’s everyday experience within the community.
In my work directing recreation and life-enrichment services, I have seen how familiar interests become opportunities for residents to lead, collaborate and help their neighbors. Senior living teams can build on these interests by learning what matters to each resident, recognizing individual strengths, offering responsibilities they welcome and providing the support needed to exercise meaningful choice.
Incorporating a Montessori-inspired philosophy offers practical guidance for creating those conditions. Its emphasis on retained abilities, a prepared environment and purposeful participation encourages senior living teams to consider how residents can help shape community life. For senior living leaders, the opportunity is to make that thinking part of everyday programming.
Understanding Montessori–Inspired Care
Montessori-inspired care adapts principles from Maria Montessori’s educational approach to support adults in everyday life. In dementia care, those principles include dignity, autonomy, meaningful activity and opportunities to use retained abilities. Familiar materials and tasks broken down into manageable steps can make participation more accessible (Yan et al., 2023). In our practice, this philosophy guides how we offer choices, prepare intentional resident experiences and provide assistance.
Incorporating a Montessori-inspired program begins with seeing the adult as a person with preferences, experience and something to offer. A resident’s needs may change while familiar interests and skills remain available. We look for those strengths and ask how the person wants to use them, inspiring them to make their own choices. Materials provided and responsibilities offered should reflect adult life and the individual’s interests.
A prepared environment is strategically arranged to help each person participate in a way that feels comfortable. In a movie club, that might mean presenting a few clearly labeled film choices or making an attendance sheet easy to read. At a gathering, it might mean placing cups and napkins where a resident can reach and organize them. These simple adjustments make participation easier while allowing residents to retain choice, take action and remain actively involved. A person may choose a film with a visual prompt, organize one part of an event, or complete a familiar task after a demonstration. Senior teams can offer time, cues and assistance while allowing the person to do the parts they can and want to do. Support should remain flexible, increasing or decreasing based on each resident’s response and abilities.
Recognizing the Person Behind the Interest
Understanding a resident’s preferences involves listening for what an interest means. Enjoying cards may reflect competition, family traditions, or the pleasure of gathering with friends. An interest in organizing may connect with a lifetime of leadership. Current preferences matter alongside personal history, and residents should have room to explore something new.
One resident in our community had owned a local business and been an involved community leader. Following retirement and the loss of his spouse, he moved into senior living with considerable experience in organizing and connecting with others. We learned about his enjoyment of bocce and observed how naturally he checked on neighbors, encouraged participation and helped others feel included.
Over time, his interest developed into a leadership role. He began inviting peers, organizing play and running the group. Our team provided the scheduled opportunity, space, supplies and encouragement. He brought the initiative.
We noticed increased enthusiasm as this role developed. His experience illustrates Montessori-inspired principles through a familiar interest, personal choice and an environment that supports contribution. We worked to better recognize the strengths and abilities that he already brought to the community and created opportunities for him to put them into practice.
Research supports the use of Montessori-inspired approaches to promote meaningful engagement. A systematic review of 15 studies involving people with dementia in residential aged care reported improvements in engagement and some emotional and behavioral outcomes, although findings varied across studies (Yan et al., 2023). These findings encourage thoughtful use of individualized activities, with attention to each person’s preferences, abilities and response.
Giving Residents a Voice in the Program
In another example, a resident brought an extensive knowledge of movies to our community. He could quote dialogue and identify actors across countless films. When he was offered the opportunity to lead a movie night, his enthusiasm became the foundation for a resident-led initiative that brought people together.
He encouraged other residents to assist, and together they formed a movie club that met monthly to select films. With our team’s support, the members had the autonomy to build and run their movie program. They played an active role in selecting the movies, took attendance and decided how the gathering would take place.
The club includes residents with a range of cognitive abilities, including some who benefit from additional cues and support. Their involvement reminds us to look at individual abilities and interests when considering opportunities for leadership. A diagnosis provides relevant information about his or her support needs, but it does not describe everything a person can contribute.
The movie club brings these principles together. Film selection gave residents a voice in decisions. Familiar knowledge provided a starting point, and the shared responsibilities offered purposeful roles. Our team supported the conditions for participation while residents exercised real influence over the program. Their autonomy was visible in what they chose and how they worked together.
Research further suggests that thoughtfully supported leadership opportunities can benefit people living with dementia. In a small study, four people with early-stage dementia were trained to lead an activity for nine people with more advanced dementia. The leaders demonstrated the ability to carry out the role and reported high satisfaction; participants showed greater positive engagement and pleasure than during standard activities (Camp & Skrajner, 2004). This preliminary study supports considering leadership opportunities with training and cues, while assessing individual readiness and preferences.
Recognizing Everyday Contributions
Meaningful roles do not have to involve leading a group. One resident experiencing cognitive changes had held a leadership position in a male-dominated industry and raised her children on her own. Through getting to know her, we recognized how much she valued being involved and helping others.
Today, she helps distribute drinks and snacks and assists with cleanup after groups. These familiar responsibilities offer a way to contribute that reflects the person we know: hardworking, passionate and generous with her effort.
Here, the Montessori-inspired approach is purposeful participation through a familiar role. We recognize her interest in helping, draw on retained abilities and provide a responsibility that she welcomes. Preparing materials within reach and adjusting assistance can make that contribution possible. We remain attentive to whether she wants to continue. Her choice gives the role its personal meaning.
For another resident, a meaningful contribution might be selecting music, welcoming a newcomer or helping arrange supplies. Some people will prefer attending without a responsibility. Observing, declining or changing one’s mind must remain equally acceptable choices.
Preparing the Environment and the Team
Senior living teams can begin within existing programs. Invite an interested resident to choose between movie options, help organize game materials or offer suggestions for a gathering. Discuss what the person would enjoy doing before deciding what help to provide.
Prepare the environment and materials in advance so residents can take action more easily and independently. Place supplies within reach, reduce unnecessary clutter and offer clear visual cues when useful. Visually demonstrate a step rather than relying on a lengthy explanation. Break down a responsibility into manageable parts and allow time for a response before adding assistance.
A study involving 44 residents with dementia compared personalized Montessori-based activities with activities that provided individual attention but were not tailored to each resident. Residents showed less agitation during both types of sessions, but they were more actively engaged and showed greater enjoyment and interest during the personalized Montessori-based activities (van der Ploeg et al., 2013).
Additionally, senior living teams should communicate what helps each resident participate: the cue a resident finds useful, the responsibility they enjoy and signs that they want a break. Resident involvement should expand choice and opportunity, with staff remaining responsible for appropriate support and program oversight.
These practical suggestions draw on the philosophy and should be adapted to the individual. The research cited in this article focuses on people with dementia in specific care settings; our resident stories illustrate the principles in practice rather than measured research outcomes. As illustrated, support provided by senior living teams should reflect the person’s preferences, mobility, cognition and comfort. A resident may need help starting a task and then continue independently without assistance, while another may prefer a smaller role or a different activity altogether.
Recognizing Engagement Beyond Attendance
Resident attendance helps care teams understand reach. It cannot establish whether someone feels valued or finds an experience meaningful. Alongside participation counts, senior living teams can observe residents’ decisions, initiative and interaction, as well as the assistance required.
Specific observations are insightful. Noting that a resident invited two neighbors to bocce, contributed a film suggestion or chose to help serve drinks tells colleagues more than recording that the person “did well.” Ask residents what they enjoyed, what felt difficult and what they would like to change. Their perspective should guide the next opportunity.
Applying a Montessori-inspired philosophy to senior living programs keeps the focus on what each resident can do, what matters to them and how they would like to be involved. The bocce organizer, the movie club members and the resident helping with refreshments contribute in different ways. Each example begins with recognizing the individual and creating conditions for participation.
Senior living teams can start with one resident and one opportunity the person welcomes. Listen, prepare the environment, offer support and adjust together. When residents have a voice in what happens around them, the purpose behind the program becomes personal: a chance to use their strengths and help shape the place they call home.
References
Camp, C. J., & Skrajner, M. J. (2004). Resident-Assisted Montessori Programming (RAMP): Training persons with dementia to serve as group activity leaders. The Gerontologist, 44(3), 426–431. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/44.3.426
van der Ploeg, E. S., Eppingstall, B., Camp, C. J., Runci, S. J., Taffe, J., & O’Connor, D. W. (2013). A randomized crossover trial to study the effect of personalized, one-to-one interaction using Montessori-based activities on agitation, affect, and engagement in nursing home residents with dementia. International Psychogeriatrics, 25(4), 565–575. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610212002128
Yan, Z., Traynor, V., Alananzeh, I., Drury, P., & Chang, H.-C. (2023). The impact of Montessori-based programmes on individuals with dementia living in residential aged care: A systematic review. Dementia, 22(6), 1259–1291. https://doi.org/10.1177/14713012231173817
