MARIA MONTESSORI, the first Italian woman to receive degrees in the fields of engineering and medicine, became involved with education as a doctor treating children labeled retarded. In 1907 she was invited to open a day care center for the children of desperately poor families in the San Lorenzo slums of Rome. Her rigorous scientific observation and her understanding and compassion for children led her to use what she had learned to teach normal children, DEVELOPING THE FIRST MODEL OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION. Her interest in the elementary-age child followed and in 1912 she began to develop a model for children from childhood to adolescence. That was more than 90 years ago. Today the method flourishes on every continent of the world.