Reggio Emilia approach

Domain XV · Nature, philosophy, social & rites of passage · Loris Malaguzzi · 1945 · Reggio Emilia

What it is

The Reggio Emilia Approach is an early-childhood educational philosophy and municipal system, not a psychotherapy. Reggio Children describes it as resting on an image of the child as having strong potential and as a subject of rights, who learns through the "hundred languages" and grows through…

Format

• No phases, session counts or stages are published for clinicians; the approach has no therapy protocol. Two frameworks are useful.
• A. The setting's own cycle (as published). Reggio Children describes progettazione (designing): teaching, environments, participation and staff development are designed in close link with daily educational research, and documentation makes learning processes visible and open to evaluation for…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• History in outline: after the Second World War, residents of Villa Cella built their own school (1945); the municipality opened its first preschool, Robinson, in 1963 and its first infant-toddler centre in 1971; the city council approved the Regolamento for the municipal preschools, drafted by parents and teachers, in 1972; the exhibition that became The Hundred Languages of Children was first shown in 1981; Reggio…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Evidence status in one line: a non-experimental evaluation of five Reggio Emilia cohorts found positive effects mainly against no formal childcare, and few consistent differences against other preschool types.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• role blur and parents seeking informal clinical advice. It is working when roles are clear to everyone.
• a child saying what adults want to hear. It is working when the child's own perspective appears in the plan.
• diluting a diagnosis until it means nothing. It is working when educators can say what they will do differently.
• idealising or blaming the school for later difficulties. It is working when the client can hold a nuanced story.
• dual relationships if you also consult to their workplace. It is working when the client sets limits or plans changes.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.