In discussions I have had with parents and other people in the community, it seems that there is a growing awareness of primary reflexes on Autism and ADHD. If you have found this article, then obviously you are interested in it to some degree for one reason or another, so let me take just a couple minutes of your time to help educate you. After you finish reading this article, I encourage you to take just 3 more minutes to read another post titled “My Child is Already Getting Help With Primary Reflexes, Can Integrate & Thrive Still Help?” to learn how the work I do with primary reflexes is deeper than what seems to be becoming popular in the marketplace and therefore has a
better chance of actually helping.
Here at Integrate and Thrive, as you may already be aware, we do the work of Masgutova Neurosensorimotor Reflex Integration (MNRI). The goal of MNRI is to restore reflex pattern function. By doing so we are allowing the body to provide the protection it expects and relies on from these reflexes but also paving the way for proper neurological development - which the body also relies on these reflexes for. Integrating or regulating these reflexes allows the child or adult to react appropriately to the environment around him or her.
Okay, great. What the heck does that mean in real life? Well let me give you a couple of examples. Imagine a child having to sit still in a classroom but cannot stop fidgeting. Maybe he is tapping his toes and chewing on his pencil while he is supposed to be writing a short story or solving a math problem. This constant movement is likely because his body is either overwhelmed by the input it is getting or a retained primary reflex is constantly getting triggered. Both of which, we can help with. Basically, the child’s brain is focused on the unnecessary triggering of this input instead of being able to “ignore it” and learn.
PS. Learning occurs in the frontal lobe of the brain. So any input signal has to go through all the other “checks” in the brain before it reaches the frontal lobet. If a primary reflex is retained then it is going to be quick to “flag” an input because the number one job for these reflexes is for protection and survival.
Let me give you one more example. A child is going bowling with her family on a Friday night and quickly gets overwhelmed by all the music, people talking, balls crashing into pins, other children cheering, etc. What is happening is that her brain is taking in all this input and flagging it as a threat so she responds by hiding under a chair (flight) or acting out (fight). Likely, all we need to do is regulate the input she is getting so that her brain can let it “pass by” with no reaction. Did you know that this was possible and really that simple? Let us show you how.
If you want to learn more about input signals and how they translate to the output check out the post titled “How Is Integrate and Thrive Different Than the Other Modalities/Techniques/Treatments I Have Tried?”
By improving the reflex function, we will then improve the ability to function in the world no matter the environment we are in (social, learning, etc.). At Integrate and Thrive we strongly believe that everyone, no matter the age, can find improvements by integrating their primary reflexes - some may even find complete recovery but this is dependent on you or your child’s exact situation. We have seen some pretty miraculous things and never want to put limits on what you or your child can achieve. Let’s work together and see how much more ease we can bring into your life.
