Retained Primitive Reflexes
Primitive Reflex Assessment & Integration in Perth
Primitive reflexes are part of normal early development. When some of these early movement patterns remain active beyond the stage at which they would normally integrate, they can continue to influence the way a child moves, learns, regulates and responds to the world around them.
I work with children and families in Wembley Downs, Perth, using a targeted approach to primitive reflex assessment and integration informed by many years of developmental work, INPP training, Brain Therapy training and extensive hands-on experience with babies and children.
Does my child have a Retained Reflex Profile?
By asking tailored questions that bring together what you’re noticing across movement, learning, sensory responses, regulation and developmental history, we can start to see where the strongest reflex patterns are. Everyone has the odd retained reflex, and there is a spectrum of integration, but what we are looking for is whether there is a cluster of retained reflexes that can be supported to integrate as intended.
Could retained primitive reflexes be part of what you’re noticing?
Sometimes the things a parent notices don’t seem connected.
A child may struggle with movement or coordination, find sitting or handwriting unusually tiring, become overwhelmed easily, avoid particular sensory experiences, have difficulty reading or copying, or need far more effort than expected for everyday tasks.
- poor balance or coordination;
- unusual sitting positions or constant fidgeting;
- clumsiness or difficulty with ball skills;
- toe walking;
- awkward or tiring handwriting;
- difficulty crossing the midline;
- difficulty reading, copying or visually tracking;
- sensitivity to movement, touch, sound or clothing;
- motion sickness;
- strong startle responses;
- difficulty settling once upset;
- bedwetting beyond the expected developmental stage;
- movement that appears unusually stiff, jerky, floppy or poorly organised.
One observation on its own doesn’t tell us that a primitive reflex is retained. What becomes useful is the pattern across a child’s development and everyday functioning.
What are retained primitive reflexes?
Primitive reflexes are automatic movement responses that begin developing before birth and are present during infancy. They support early survival, feeding, movement and development.
As the nervous system matures, voluntary movement increasingly takes over and these early reflex patterns are normally inhibited or integrated.
Sometimes elements of these early patterns remain active beyond the stage at which they would normally be expected to integrate.
A child can compensate extremely well, particularly when they are young. As physical, academic, sensory and developmental demands increase, however, those compensations can become harder to maintain.
The signs can change as your child grows
A reflex pattern does not necessarily look identical at age four, nine and fourteen. The disappearance of one visible behaviour does not automatically establish that the underlying pattern has integrated.
That is why your child’s developmental history, as well as their current presentation, is relevant. Looking at both helps identify patterns worth assessing without making assumptions from one behaviour alone.
Explore your child’s Retained Reflex Profile
The Retained Reflex Profile brings together the things you observe across your child’s movement, sensory responses, learning, everyday tasks, regulation and developmental history.
Your answers are analysed as a pattern rather than as isolated symptoms. The strongest clusters give us useful information about the reflexes and developmental responses I will assess first.
The profile identifies the pattern. Assessment confirms retained reflexes.
A more targeted approach to primitive reflex assessment
Traditional reflex assessment can involve systematically provoking and testing a large number of primitive and postural reflexes.
That can provide useful information, but after many years of working with children, I no longer believe every assessment needs to begin as though we know nothing about the child.
Parents already know an enormous amount.
Before your child’s appointment, you complete the Retained Reflex Profile and we have a 30-minute Parent Consultation Call.
That gives me information about your child’s developmental history, what you see in everyday life, the areas causing difficulty and patterns that may not appear during an hour in a consulting room.
By the time your child arrives, I already have an informed starting point. I can assess the reflex and developmental patterns highlighted through the profile, confirm what is actually happening and begin supporting integration.
That means less unnecessary blanket testing and more of your child’s appointment spent investigating and working with the patterns that matter.
What is reflex inhibition and what causes reflex integration.
Primitive reflexes are early automatic movement responses. As a child’s nervous system develops, voluntary movement and increasingly mature postural responses take over more of the work.
Reflex inhibition or integration describes this developmental shift: an early response becomes less dominant as the child gains more selective, organised and voluntary control.
Integration is not simply the disappearance of one visible behaviour. Assessment considers how movement, posture and related responses are organised now, together with the child’s developmental history.
Primitive Reflex Assessment & Integration Session
Includes:
- Retained Reflex Profile
- 30-minute Parent Consultation Call
- 60-minute child appointment
During the appointment I will:
- assess the highlighted reflex/developmental patterns;
- observe how they present in your child’s body and movement;
- explain the findings;
- identify areas needing attention;
- begin supporting integration.
What happens after the first session?
Where further integration support is needed, follow-up appointments are 30 minutes and $180.
They are generally scheduled approximately one to two weeks apart.
Many children require a number of appointments, often around five sessions, so the active integration-support process commonly takes place over approximately one to two months.
Some children need fewer sessions. Others need more. The process is guided by what your child presents with and how they respond rather than by a fixed package.
What is the INPP method?
I am trained in the INPP Method, developed by the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology.
INPP uses assessment of neuromotor development together with a structured developmental movement program practised consistently over time.
It remains an important and valuable part of my understanding of primitive reflex inhibition and integration.
The main difference is the delivery model. INPP relies heavily on repeated developmental movement over many months, while my current in-person work allows me to assess and work directly with the relevant reflex patterns during appointments.
Experience that began with babies, not textbooks
My developmental background includes:
- a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education;
- six years owning and running a GymbaROO centre;
- my first developmental and reflex-integration training through GymbaROO;
- face-to-face work with thousands of babies and young children;
- daily observation of development, movement and integration;
- later INPP training;
- later Brain Therapy and Bruno Chikly training;
- subsequent years of direct primitive-reflex work.
Today, I don’t assess a child through the lens of one particular method.
I use what I know to determine what is happening for this child and what needs to be addressed next.
Primitive Reflexes and Research
Primitive reflexes are an evolving area of research.
There is research examining relationships between retained primitive reflexes, neuromotor development and aspects of motor, learning and developmental function.
The strength of evidence varies across individual reflexes, proposed associations and specific integration approaches.
What is Brain Therapy for neonatal reflexes?
Brain Therapy for Neonatal and General Reflexes is one of the practitioner-based approaches informing my current integration-support work, alongside my broader developmental and reflex training.
The approach uses gentle, hands-on techniques to work with the reflex and developmental patterns identified through assessment.
The video on the left demonstrates Brain Therapy for the Spinal Galant neonatal reflex.