 As part of her work, she visited asylums in Rome where she observed children with mental disabilities, observations that were fundamental to her future educational work.She also read and studied the works of 19th-century physicians and educators Jean Marc Gaspard Itard and Édouard Séguin, who greatly influenced her work.Montessori was intrigued by Itard's ideas and created a far more specific and organized system for applying them to the everyday education of children with disabilities.