Primitive Reflex Integration Case Studies

Submitted by Heather Dubose

When I began the Brain and Sensory Foundations program with my daughter Jaelyn almost 11 months ago in late February, she was 5 years old and the primary challenges we were seeking to address at that time were sensory and behavior issues — primarily intense meltdowns over small issues, defiance and prolonged emotional outbursts, as well as some mild challenges with hyperactivity and aggression. She was resistant to doing the Rhythmic Movements (RMs) with me in the beginning, so I started by doing them while she slept for about 5 minutes each night. I later re-introduced the RMs while she was awake at bedtime and she loved it, so that became our regular routine.

Due to the unforeseen circumstances we all suddenly found ourselves in during the Spring of 2020, after completing only two sessions, I ended up putting the Brain and Sensory Foundations course on hold for the next six months. During this time, I continued to do rhythmic movements with my daughter, but since I had only learned one reflex at that point in the course, I did not introduce any reflex integrations with her until I resumed the course in September. With Jaelyn’s preschool closed for the rest of the 2020 Spring semester, I began working with her on Kindergarten readiness skills and soon realized she was struggling with some learning challenges, which was then added to our goals of issues to address with the Brain & Sensory Foundations program as well.

When I resumed the course and began the reflex integrations with Jaelyn four months ago, I chose to use almost all of them since the reflexes are so entwined and she has some indications of unintegrated activity for all of the primitive reflexes. However, I decided to focus primarily on ATNR [Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex] for learning challenges and FPR/Moro [Fear Paralysis Reflex] to address the anxiety/emotional outbursts, meltdowns and hyperactivity.

We also used the 5 Step Balance [from the Brain and Sensory Foundations program] with the goal of integrating her hand reflexes and improving her confidence and ability to form letters accurately and easily when writing. Since she is still young (now six years old), I chose to use mostly developmental play for reflex integration during day time activities and RMs at bedtime, though we did also do a little of the ATNR isometrics a few times as well.

In addition to using Heart Connection while working with Jaelyn on reflexes and during episodes of meltdowns and other challenging situations, I have also been using it in the morning before she gets up, when dropping her off and picking her up from school, while helping her with school work at home and when going to bed at night. Basically, I use it as much as possible and whenever I think of it!

Jaelyn is not a huge fan of the brain tune ups, but when she’s willing to do it, we use that before starting school work at home. The cross crawl was very difficult for her to do on her own the first few times, but after some practice she could do it quite well!

Progress often feels slow and non-linear, but since the beginning of this program 11 months ago — and especially in the past four months, from the time I started stimulating and integrating the primitive reflexes — my husband and I have both noticed an overall improvement in many areas, including Jaelyn’s emotional regulation; ability to independently get ready to leave the house on time (as well as other tasks that frequently triggered meltdowns in the past, like putting away toys and getting ready for bed); her ability to remain at the table for meals has improved; we see more of her loving nurturing side coming out, plus the more playful rough and tumble nature rather than the angry aggression she had been displaying; and we’ve also observed noticeable improvement in her learning skills.

Defiance has decreased significantly so that she is much more willing and able to perform routine tasks when asked, such as washing hands before dinner, and now she’s even excited about setting the table for dinner! The meltdowns do still happen, but the frequency, intensity and duration have all decreased. Her handwriting improved drastically after the first month or so of beginning ATNR reflex integration, and although the tripod pencil grip is still not natural for her, she has switched from preferring all four fingertips on the pencil to only three, which I’m hoping is a sign of progressing to the tripod grasp. Kindergarten has been challenging for her in terms of some of the academic work and we’ve had to put in lots of extra practice at home after school, but thankfully she does listen well in class, follows her teacher’s directions and participates, and she is proud of herself for persevering and trying her best. I am excited to see how much more progress she will make by the end of this school year as we continue working on integrating her reflexes and learning becomes more natural and stress-free for her.

The following is a bit of a side note since it does not relate directly to the primary challenges we have been seeking to address, but it was just so exciting for us when it happened that I want to share this as well: About a month and a half after starting rhythmic movements [from the Brain and Sensory Foundations program] with Jaelyn (I had not started any reflex integrations at this point), she was finally able to master pumping on a swing so that she could swing all by herself! (I’m not sure if this skill improvement was a direct result of the RMs since she was still only five and half years old at the time, but she had never been able to do it before and had worked very hard at it.) She was so excited when she finally got it! About four weeks later, she suddenly mastered the skill of riding her bike with no training wheels! Prior to starting the RMs, she was way too scared to even try pedaling without training wheels, so it was very surprising the day she asked to have them off and away she went all on her own!

Throughout the course of using these Brain & Sensory tools with Jaelyn, I have learned to prioritize my own heart connection with her. I’m so glad the Heart Connection tool was included in this class because although I have used similar ideas previously, the Heart Connection from this program has “stuck” with me more effectively, and combining it with the Tune Ups especially helps me apply more compassion and patience when I find myself in challenging situations with Jaelyn. As mentioned in the course material, I do recognize that (1) Children tend to absorb and reflect back the neurological state of others around them — especially parents, so having tools to reduce stress and anxiety all around is so important, and (2) Improvement in neurological function and progress with reflex integration happens much easier when there is a stable, peaceful environment and the child experiences a true sense of unconditional love and security. I am so thankful for this course and all these wonderful tools that have been added to my “toolbox” for parenting, coaching my kids through life and giving them the best possible foundations for succeeding not only in school, but also for succeeding in life — being and becoming all that they were created to be, the best and truest versions of themselves.

[Edited, emphasis added]