Niki McGlynn
Organised Mind

The primitive reflexes develop during pregnancy or shortly after birth and their role is to assist with the birthing process and the early stages of movement. They develop and become integrated in a particular order allowing the next reflex to emerge. The primitive reflexes are followed by transitional reflexes, then postural reflexes, which allow standing, walking and eventually running.

 

When reflexes don't integrate, they can interfere with normal development. Active reflexes can cause anxiety, allergies, and problems with such diverse issues as digestion, behaviour, reading and writing, concentraion, impulse control, balance and eyesight. 

 

This is a short list of the main reflexes, the approximate order in which they appear, and the problems they can cause!

 

Fear Paralysis Reflex

The first reflex to emerge and underpins the maturation of all other reflexes. The purpose of this reflex is for self-preservation and protection and it does this by shutting down the system.  If active beyond when it should be, it reduces a person’s ability to tolerate stress.  Linked to: oversensitivity to sensory stimuli; touch, smells, sound, light can all feel overwhelming. Sudden changes in visual field, proprioception or vestibular system can trigger the reflex to respond.  This can cause problems with balance, anxiety, motion-sickness, sudden drop in blood pressure, obsessive-compulsive thought patterns, breath holding, difficulty in making eye-contact, poor sleep routine and dislike of change.  Social withdrawal, selective mutism, problems around food - particularly food aversions and issues with allergies.  There may be problems with assimilation and absorption of nutrition and cravings for carbohydrates as they are more easily absorbed.

 

Fundamentally it affects emotional and behavioural maturation.

 

Moro Reflex

The Moro reflex is the second primitive reflex to emerge in utero. Closely linked to the first reflex, the FPR, which causes the system to freeze, the Moro reflex will activate the system and trigger what we would recognise as fight or flight response.  An active Moro reflex can create a state of constant inner stress, interfering with good sensory processing.  Pupils can be slow to respond to light, they might need to wear dark glasses.  Hypersensitivity to noise, specific noises or difficulties in shutting out background noise.  Hypersensitivity to touch, firm or light touch, and problems with textures.  Problems with balance, dislike of swings, slides, roundabouts, rides, or a love of those activities.  The Moro is the reflex of fight or flight, so it can cause a tendency to withdraw socially, if circumstances are overwhelming, and problems with transitioning from one activity or environment to another.  However the fight part of the reflex can show as explosive reactions to overwhelming environments, aggression, domineering behaviour or manipulation.  The reflex has a sensation of feeling unsafe in the world so there is a desire to manipulate the environment to make themselves feel safer.

 

When this reflex is active it can cause digestive and bowel issues, nausea, IBS, colitis and ulcers.

 

 

TLR – Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex

The TLR is one of the three neck reflexes that we check, it has two components, forward and back. If the forward part is retained then it is triggered by moving the head forwards beyond the centre of the shoulders or looking down.  This causes a sensation of the body wanting to collapse forwards, spatial problems, motion sickness, poor posture and low muscle tone, visual perceptual difficulties, poor sequencing and poor sense of time.  The head can be thrust forwards leading to a hunch in the upper back, weak neck muscles, hunched or rounded shoulders, and over flexible joints (hypermobility).

 

If the backwards part is retained it is triggered by looking upwards or tipping the head backwards beyond the centre of the shoulders.  It inhibits the development on the postural life long reflexes, results in poor balance and co-ordination, poor organisation skills, sequencing and stiff, jerky movements.  Particular problems are caused when going upstairs or travelling upwards on an escalator.

 

The TLR can be reactivated after an injury to the neck, particularly after a car accident or similar injury. 

 

ATNR – Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex

This is the second neck reflex that we look at and it is activated when turning the head to one side the arm and leg on that side want to extend and the arm and leg on the opposite want to contract.  It’s associated with the birthing process and stimulates the balance mechanism and increases the connectivity between the left and right sides of the brain. If retained it can cause problems crossing the midline and interferes with establishing a preferred hand, eye, leg and ear which can limit a child’s learning style, affecting academic performance.  Functionally this affects handwriting, and can lead to poor execution of ideas and visual perceptual difficulties – particularly with tracking smoothly from left to right.  Therefore it will cause issues with reading, writing and maths.  It causes problems in balance activities, such as riding a bicycle as when the head is turned, balance is affected.  It can trigger swerving when driving if the driver looks to left or right.  It can cause problems with grip and hand press when writing.

 

 

STNR – Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex

The is the third neck reflex and is a transitional reflex.  It works to separate the shoulder area from the pelvic area, increasing spinal mobility and posture. When retained, this reflex affects posture, hand eye co-ordination and any activity where the top and bottom half of the body have to move separately from each other, such as in swimming.  It creates weakness in the core so can result in ‘slumping’ when sitting at a desk, ape like walking, clumsiness and messy eating.  This reflex affects the development of muscle tone in the eyes causing difficulties with binocular vision, slowness in eye accommodation between a near and far distance, convergence and eye tracking from corner to corner.  The STNR is partly responsible in those who have difficulty doing a somersault, using monkey bars or press ups and learning breaststroke.  It can cause a sense of instability so those retaining it may ‘W” sit on the floor, to increase surface area or wrap their legs around chair legs or sit on one leg in order to feel more stable.

 

Spinal Galant Reflex

This is a spinal reflex and helps facilitate the birthing process by encouraging the baby to wriggle down the birth canal when pressure is applied to either side of the spine.  It is important in the development of posture, walking style and mobility.  When retained it can cause late bedwetting, IBS type symptoms, scoliosis and lower back pain.  It’s the main reflex that causes fidgeting and problems with focus and attention.  When this is retained there is often a dislike of tight clothing around the waist, issues around labels at the back of pants, skirts and trousers and difficulties with sitting with the back against the chair, instead a tendency to sit forward on the edge of the seat with the top of the back against the chair.  There can also be issues around listening (rather than hearing) as the spine is the first mode for conducting sound vibrations. This can cause issues with working memory.  Older children and adults can fixate the lumbar spine and this can cause scoliosis if only on one side.

 

Amphibian

The Amphibian reflexes a life long reflex and it is part of the development of crawling walking and running.  If not present then it can be suggestive of a delay in the inhibition of other primitive reflexes. This reflex works with the other postural reflexes to form bilateral co-ordination.

 

Landau

This is a transitional reflex, which enables the infant to raise its head from the floor. If retained, it affects the muscle tone of the neck and back so there may be difficulty keeping the head upright.  It can also affect coordination between head, and legs – such as breaststroke. It can cause a clumsy lower body, with additional tension in legs and inefficient coordination between upper and lower parts of the body. 

 

Babkin and Palmar Reflex

These are two of the hand reflexes and work together.  They are indicated in poor fine motor coordination in the hands: difficulties tying shoe-laces, doing up buttons, poor handwriting, unusual pencil grip, dislike of dirty hands and tendency to hold the pen too tightly..  Retained hand reflexes can also affect speech, articulation, phonological awareness and show up in involuntary mouth and tongue movements when writing, playing an instrument or using scissors. Also can be observed in hypersensitivity to touch on the palms or face.  They can be responsible for hoarding, nail biting, compulsive eating and often relational issues.

 

Plantar Reflex

One of the two foot reflexes, the plantar reflex separates the front and back parts of the feet, helping the development of balance and mobility. It facilitates muscle tone and provides vestibular stimulation which in turn stimulates the balance mechanisms. If retained it will impede the cross pattern crawling which is important for hand eye co-ordination and integration of vestibular information with the other senses.  Gripping of the toes, issues with balance and posture and may cause toe walking.

 

Babinski Reflex

The second of the foot reflexes, this prepares the feet for walking and helps with the maturity of coordination between the legs, hips and lumbar spine, and good development of muscle tone in the lower body.  This reflex can be undeveloped or retained.  If undeveloped it can be evident in flat-footedness, slow pace, dislike of walking, walking on the inside of the feet, pronated and weak ankles.

If the reflex is retained then a tendency to walk on the outside of the feet, with legs rotated outwards and increased muscle tension in their legs and feet.

 

Head Righting Reflexes

These are life-long reflexes, that help with balance and spatial awareness, with head movement.  If underdeveloped its effects can include

 low muscle tone, posture, muscle tension in the neck and shoulders, uncoordinated movements, poor spatial awareness, disorganisation, forgetfulness, difficulty separating eye movements from head movements, and motion sickness. In the classroom; may find it difficult to copy from the board, affects reading ability, poor time keeping skills, easily distracted. Handwriting is also affected. Listening and looking at the same time, is challenging.