Primitive Reflex Integration Case Studies

9-year-old now able to handle auditory input and car rides, is more relaxed in general

This young girl was highly sensitive to loud noises, such as from blenders or vacuums. She was often fidgety and tense, and experienced motion sickness. See how her mother used rhythmic movements and reflex integration to help with all of these issues.

Submitted by AY, parent

My daughter is 9-years-old. As a baby, Willow struggled to roll from her tummy onto her back. She would throw herself over rather than roll. Willow currently struggles with loud sounds like hand dryers and vacuum cleaners. She finds the sound incredibly overstimulating and painful to her ears. She can occasionally struggle to process/identify certain sounds, particularly speech. Her hearing has been tested and is okay. She tends to feel uncomfortable talking to unfamiliar adults, her body becomes tense and her voice takes on a higher pitch and faster pace. Willow has a tendency to feel motion sickness. She can be rather fidgety and unsettled. She has an air of feeling ‘on-edge’ and tense. 

I started with Rhythmic Movements (1, 2a & 2b, 3 and 4) with heart connection [from the Brain and Sensory Foundations course] to create a gentle and solid foundation. Willow was not keen on Rhythmic Movement 1. Her body looked uncomfortable and quite rigid whilst I performed the motion passively. So, I initially dropped the movement and instead focused on movements 2a&b, 3 and 4. I noticed that sometimes her body would unconsciously stiffen in movements 2b, 4 and occasionally 3. I would stop and re-set the movement and her body would move smoothly again. I emailed in about this for the live Q&A. I implemented the changes suggested and found that Willow was much more relaxed in the movements.      

I performed the rhythmic movements passively and for about 1 minute per movement to give Willow’s brain a chance to mature without overstimulating her. I chose to try the Brain Tune Up [from the Brain and Sensory Foundations course] as I felt that would help her. She found it very accessible, enjoyable and regulating, I think because she was able to actively perform the movements (rather than me performing a passive movement on her). She would choose to perform the Brain Tune Up before her schoolwork, before joining any new groups/activities and if she found herself feeling stressed or perhaps unable to settle at bedtime.  After 3 weeks, I added in the playful developmental movements and games [from the Brain and Sensory Foundations course] for Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex, Asymmetric Tonic Neck Reflex, and Spinal Galant (she has a very active Spinal Galant reflex on the left hand side) because these felt like fun play rather than ‘work’. It gave her a sense of enjoyment and she would ask to play the games. Given the initial challenge with the Rhythmic Movements I wanted to give her a feeling of success and pleasure around this work. I felt the isometrics may have hindered that feeling (at that time). After 2 more weeks, I added passive Rhythmic Movement 1 back into the program. She was able to receive it much more comfortably, her body looked so much more relaxed. We continued with only 1 minute per movement so as not to overstimulate her.    

After 6 weeks I have added in Fear Paralysis Reflex and Moro integration techniques [from the Brain and Sensory Foundations course]. She enjoys all of these movements. Willow can now perform all of the rhythmic movements actively, apart from the first one. When she tried it herself her movement looked very jerky and tense. So I now perform all of the movements passively for 2 minutes each and then she will perform movements 2a&b, 3 and 4 actively for as long as she wishes. Every few weeks I will re-check her ability to perform rhythmic movement 1 actively. I plan to add in the isometrics to help further integrate her reflexes. I intend to work on Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex next and then the hands and feet reflexes. I want to integrate all 11 reflexes. I will keep checking them alongside a maintenance program in the future. 

Willow recently FaceTimed a friend who lives far away. Her friend was away from the screen and Willow noticed her friend’s mother appear. With a very calm and relaxed voice and body she greeted her and asked how she was. It was a very noticeable change from how she usually responds to this person.    

Willow is so much more comfortable with noises like the blender and vacuum cleaner. She now vacuums the floor. We have a very loud blender, normally she would wear ear defenders whilst I used the appliance. Recently, she chose to lightly place her hands over her ears rather than use the ear defenders. When I said I would use the blender she reacted as though it wasn’t a big issue, when usually I could see her tense up. She was so much more comfortable with the noise. I have also noticed her hearing sounds that I cannot hear (the telephone ringing or someone knocking at the front door whilst we are in the garden).

Willow is so much more relaxed in general. Before, she would be very unsettled, fidgeting, getting up and down from the sofa, squirming and shifting position in her seat, now she can comfortably lie or sit still for over half an hour as she reads.

Her motion sickness has improved greatly. She is now okay in the car but may feel nausea after spending a bit of time on play equipment at the park, but that soon passes. 

I learned that real progress can be made even when not doing all of the rhythmic movements or when having short sessions. Doing less has proven to be so successful.

We did pretty much daily Brain Tune Up and rhythmic movements (1-2 minutes each) although we would take days off if it felt appropriate to do so. Playful developmental movements and games 3-4 times per week for 5-10 minutes for 6 weeks. So, approximately 35 sessions. Approximately 5 hours so far. 

(Edited, emphasis added)