Bad Brain | Retained Primitive Reflexes in Children

Have you ever gotten annoyed with your computer or phone when it won’t work properly, start up, or is slow? Did you know your child’s brain is an electrical system that can have similar issues??

PRIMITIVE REFLEXES

If you have kiddos you’ve maybe hear the term “primitive reflexes,” but chances are you haven’t! I myself didn’t learn about them till after all my schooling was done! However, if you know an Occupational Therapist, they could likely talk to you all day about them.

Primitive reflexes are those simple reflexes that are formed in the womb that helps the baby survive the birth and those first few months of life! Did you baby hold your hand? That’s a reflex! Did they bounce and turn their head trying to find your breast to nurse? That’s a reflex!

There’s a number of those types of reflexes babies are born with, which is amazing how God created that to happen! NORMALLY, those reflexes fade as they aren’t needed as baby gets older. However, sometimes they don’t go away. When that happens they’re called RETAINED REFLEXES.

Now, having a cool reflex past the point of it’s use may seem like no big deal, but your brain says otherwise. When those reflexes fade away, it’s because certain synapses in their brain happen like they should. When the reflex stays, that synapse didn’t occur. AKA, the electrical connections in the brain that need to happen didn’t.

In the early days, there are more obvious signs that this connection didn’t happen. You may recognize some of these signs, and maybe even thought they were cute! (Because, let’s be real, baby’s are adorable at almost everything they do) A few of those signs are:

• Toe walking

• W sitting

• Butt scooting

• Eyes jumpy

• Rolling only one direction

Any of those sound familiar? No matter your kid’s age, these reflexes can be evaluated and corrected! And it isn’t hard! But it’s so important to make sure your kiddos brain is firing all the necessary synapses to be at 100%!

Here are some more symptoms of a retained reflex you may notice if you have an older child!

image from: https://ilslearningcorner.com/2018-04-how-retained-primitive-reflexes-are-holding-my-child-back-in-learning-and-motor-development/

Sound familiar?

Good news! I can help!

Like I mentioned, correcting these reflexes is easy, but first we need to evaluate to see which (if any) are present in your child. I have been trained to look for these signs and can give you specific exercises to do at home to help your kiddos brain fire on all trillions of synapses cylinders. The longer you wait, the longer it takes to correct the reflex.

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