Primitive Reflexes
What are primitive reflexes?
Primitive reflexes is terminology that might of been thrown around while in the delivery room, at your first check up visit, or just while scrolling on the internet. But you might be asking, what are they really? Do I have them? Primitive reflexes and involuntary movement pattern that is a survival mechanism for a newborn. They are automatic movements controlled by the brainstem and require no conscious thought. At the doctors office, the MD might test for these reflexes to assess integrity of the infant’s central nervous system. Most occur in utero, and slowly integrate over time. We generally see all primitive reflexes integrate by 12 months of age, but for some, they might integrate by 2 to 3 years or for others they might not integrate and be retained.
Why is it important for them to integrate?
When primitive reflexes integrate they are creating new neurological patterns to develop more mature movements as the infant grows up. If those reflexes do not integrate, the child might have difficulty obtaining higher-level skills. We will go into more detail about those skills more.
Why are they retained?
Before you read on… you have not done anything wrong!!! There is no specific research that has indicated a concrete explanation to why some reflexes are retained. Full transparency, when I was learning about reflexes and tested them on myself, even I tested positive for some! I will say though, that there are potential factors that could have an affect; trauma during, C-section, trauma before or after birth, exposure to toxins, drugs, or tobacco in utero, stroke in utero, decreased ummy time, short or lack of willingness to crawl, walking too early, chronic ear infections, head injuries, prolonged jaundice, problems with feeding, developmental motor delays, and premature birth. Again, I would like to reiterate that this list is just that, a list. If something on this list is familiar to you, that does not mean that your child or you have retained reflexes. Another note, I want you to know that you should never feel guilty. You are reading this and visiting my clinic because you care and love your child so much. There is not blame to be had!
How would I even know if my child has retained reflexes?
For starters, I conduct a thorough assessment while identifying how the body responds to different positions. I also observe different positions through play to see how the child fatigues, reacts, or modifies the position to make it more comfortable. In addition to that, characteristics that might be associated with a retained reflex are; anxiety, motion sickness, balance difficulties, posture instability, poor coordination, decreased handwriting skills, challenges with sequencing, sensory sensitivity, W-sitting, toe-walking, picky eating, oral motor challenges, bedwetting after the age of 7, early diagnosis of ADHD, and/or diagnosis of autism. This again, is a short list of some characteristic associated with retained reflexes.
Now What?
Before you start to get upset or panic, there is nothing wrong with you child. At Sensory Sprouts, we continue to emphasize that we need to meet your child where they are at, not changing who they are because who they are is a beautiful unique thing. With retained reflexes, there are specific exercises that we can complete through play based activities that help integrate those reflexes.
Primitive Reflexes
MORO
This reflex is associated with our startle reflex. It is our sympathetic nervous system fight or flight reaction. Characteristics that might be associated with retention of MORO: Motions sickness, decreased eye contact, light and sound sensitivity, allergies, poor immune system, anxiety, challenges with eye-hand coordination.
Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex (TLR)
This reflex is our foundation for postural stability in our larger muscle groups. Characteristics that might be associated with retention of TLR: decrease balance, poor spatial awareness, toe walking, poor posture, decreased ability to climb, atypical head position, vision challenges, difficulty crawling, auditory processing challenges, dyslexia.
Palmar Grasp Reflex
This reflex is the response to a stimuli on the palm of your hand. You know the feeling when your baby wraps their little fingers around yours? That is actually a reflex. This assist with their development of grasping objects before it is purposeful. Characteristics that might be associated with retention of palmar reflex: delayed FM skills, challenges with handwriting, challenges with self-care, poor visual coordination during handwriting, correlated speech and hand movements, dysfunction of tactile and proprioceptive sensory system.
Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (ANTR)
Remember all those kicks while your baby was in utero? That was actually the baby’s ATNR reflex. Movement of the head to one side actually elicits movement of the other sides arms and legs to help build muscle on both sides of the body. Characteristics that might be associated with retention of ATNR; Difficulty crawling, challenges with establishing a hand dominance after the age of 7, inconsistent identification of L/R after the age of 8, challenges with gross motor skills, poor handwriting, problems with math and reading, difficulty crossing midline, and poor visual motor skills.
Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (STNR)
This reflex actually goes hand and hand with the TLR and helps assist it in integration. This is foundational reflex in crawling. Characteristics that might be associated with retention of STNr; poor posture in standing, poor seated posture, messy eater, poor hand-eye coordination, W-stting, clumsiness, challenges with reading and writing, low muscle tone.
Spinal Galant
This reflex is associated with assisting in vaginal birth. Actually, stimuli applied to the lower back to infants will produce movements of the spin and hip to sway away from the stimuli. This assists in the birthing process by swaying away from the contractions within the birth canal that allows the infant to get out of the birth canal. Characteristics that might be associated with retention of spinal galant; challenges in developmental milestones, challenges with natural gain, bedwetting beyond the age of 5 or 6 years old, tactile hypersensitivity, challenges with focus, attention and sitting still (ADHD symptoms), misalignment of the pelvis, pain in lower back, hyperactivity, decreased lower body coordination, decreased endurance and tension in legs.
How Can We Help?
Some activities to consider:
- Climbing
- Ball Games
- Superman
- Cat / Cow
- Crawling
- Obstacle course
As always, you can consult a skilled OT to look at assess your child’s reflexes!
Sensory Sprouts Pediatric Clinic 