The Problem of Immature Primitive Reflexes

Primitive reflexes are crude automatic responses that a baby has at birth to help it survive. They are the building blocks of Attention/Arousal, Balance, and Co-ordination.  Often these reflexes are retained in immature form into childhood and adult life, in which case the underlying problems with the ABCs of attention, balance, and coordination may lead to problems as diverse as anxiety, car-sickness, inability to write and think at the same time, inability to sit still, difficulty with eye-tracking, distractability, and so on. Over the past ten years since Mike trained at INPP Chester in the diagnosis and remediation of immature primitive reflexes, Mike and Chie have helped hundreds of children and adults with their ABCs.

Under-Achieving Children

The first group we have been able to help is children with so-called "specific learning difficulties" such as: • dyslexia -- reading, writing and communication difficulties • attention deficit disorder (ADD) -- inability to concentrate; inefficiency in focusing  physical and mental energy • dyspraxia -- poor co-ordination, clumsiness These children are generally suffering from a cluster of improperly integrated, or immature, primitive reflexes. To understand what a primitive reflex is, follow the You Tube links on our Internet Links page. Medically, the importance of, say, the asymmetrical tonic neck reflex (ATNR) in preventing a baby's arms from crossing the mid-line, is well understood -- as explained on the You Tube clip. What is generally less well known is the extent to which immaturity of this reflex makes it difficult for a school-age child to cross the mid-line, not only with messages from brain to arms and legs (dyspraxia) but also with the eye tracking from left to right which is necessary for reading (dyslexia).  When a child has particular difficulty with handwriting, in one hundred cases out of one hundred, in our experience, immaturity of this primitive reflex, the ATNR,  is implicated.

Developmental Questionnaire for Children
	Click on the link underlined below to take the INPP Children's Questionnaire. Seven or more 'yes' answers on this Questionnaire gives a strong indication that the child is suffering from a cluster of immature primitive reflexes. If this describes your child, please contact us for an initial consultation.   Developmental Questionnaire

An Alexander Approach for Children

Primitive reflexes, whether they are properly inhibited as nature intended, or whether they are "aberrant" or immature, are the building blocks of how a child uses himself or herself. When the reflexes are properly inhibited the child will tend to exhibit good use. When the reflexes are immature the child will invariably exhibit poor use -- for example, awkward posture when sitting at a desk, with legs wrapped around the chair legs; or lack of ease when walking or running, with arms and legs all over the place; and especially holding of the breath during any challenging task. Holding the breath is a hallmark of what FM Alexander called "poor use," and it is a habit we are confident of being able to help any child to overcome. Alexander on Under-achievement

An Alexander Approach for Adults

The second group we serve, in working with the reflexes, is adults. Adults suffering from immature primitive reflexes invariably have strongly developed compensatory mechanisms. A man with immature primitive fear reflexes, for example, may compensate for his fear by training as a martial artist or a rock climber, but the underlying source of irrational fear will still be there. A woman with immature tonic neck reflexes, which make it dificult to sit still, may have learned to compensate by stiffening and bracing when she is working in her office. Because of the problem of layers of compensation, remediation for adults tends to be more complicated than it is for children. For this reason, our policy for adults is only to do reflex inhibition work with Alexander teachers and students -- that is, with those who are committed to the Alexander process of re-education on a general basis. Reflex-rooted problems with ABCs  lead invariably in later life to problems with Direction of Energy. But reflex inhibition work, conjoined to Alexander's principle of conscious inhibition, helps the adult sufferer  to lead himself assuredly in the direction of Freedom from Fear.