Grebennikov has chosen to present to the contemporary gaze, the so-called "absolute" concepts of Maria Montessori regarding normalisation and deviation in childhood. Grebennikov has focussed on the issue of challenging behaviour and the "deviations" identified by Montessori 100 years ago. His discursive treatment of the topic complicates Montessori's simple point: that it is adults who largely create the problems of deviancy when they place obstacles in the way of the child. Unlike Grebennikov, however, the author suggests that Montessori differed from the deficit view he takes of the child. In referring to Balson, a popular writer who dispenses behaviourist advice for the primary-aged child and classroom, Grebennikov appears to miss the solution for the younger child. It was a pity that Grebennikov did not look to the field of positive psychology rather than to the behaviourists, for it is here that fruitful links have been made to Montessori's ideas.