Retained Primitive Reflexes
Primitive reflexes appear in infancy and during the first year of life. These include movements such as crawling, sucking, swallowing and rolling to name a few. They are the starting point for brain development and usually begin to integrate after the first year of life so that more mature reflexes can develop to help with balance and coordination. Integration refers to losing these primitive reflexes at an appropriate developmental stage. When these are retained, there is an interruption to higher level brain pathways or within the central nervous system. Some causes can include issues in utero, c-sections, birthing complications such as injury or trauma etc. These reflexes can sometimes be seen in adults who have had a traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Some signs and symptoms of retained primitive reflexes include the following:
* Lack of impulse control
* Developmental delays
* Poor body awareness, balance and coordination issues
*ADHD; visual processing and attentional difficulties
* Fine motor and sensory integration issues
* Sleep issues and bed wetting
* Impulsivity; social and emotional issues
Both Occupational therapist and physical therapists can assess children to find out if these retained primitive reflexes are present and provide strategies to integrate these appropriately. This can be a lengthy process but working through this for children with disabilities can provide them with greater access to other therapies such as vision and speech not to mention improvement in cognition allowing for more success in the classroom.
Stay tuned to learn more about specific primitive reflexes and how to best help children integrate them.
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