Let’s rewind back to when your child was born, I am sure you still remember that over-whelming joy at seeing your baby rooting and sucking for the first time and how when you placed your finger in their tiny hand he/she was able to grip it tightly. These automatic stereotyped movements made by newborn babies are called primitive reflexes.

 

Every baby is born with a set of primitive reflexes which is their tool kit for survival and early learning during the first year of life. As a baby grows these reflexes should mature and start to weaken through movement and eventually integrate or ‘go to sleep’. This allows the postural reflexes to develop along with related motor skills like, sitting, crawling, walking, running and jumping. If, for any reason, there is a deficit of normal movement, Primitive Reflexes with their associated complication may remain, and Postural Reactions may not fully mature.

 

This can lead to the difficulties with not only subsequent motor development, but also visual functioning needed for reading, hand eye co-ordination needed for writing, and perceptual skills. The presence of primitive reflexes and the lack of postural reflexes provide evidence of Neuro-motor and sensory immaturity in the functioning of the central nervous system which can act as a barrier to learning and lead to behavioural problems such as concentration difficulties, frustration, poor impulse control and general under achievement. The following reflexes are the ones most often retained: