What are reflexes and what is reflex integration?

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Primitive reflexes are the neurological building blocks of learned skills, motor development, coordination, cognitive skills and behavior patterns.

 

These reflexes are automatic movements that happen without conscious thought. Reflexes help us to survive, search for food, protection, avoid danger, and to walk.

 

Reflex integration is when specific reflexes naturally fade into the background of our nervous system because they are no longer useful or necessary because we have learned the motor, sensory, and cognitive skills to survive.

 

If the reflex pattern remains past the age it was supposed to fdae into the background, those involuntary movements can affect an individual throughout the lifespan. Unintegrated reflexes can affect an individual's capacity to process sensory input, delay motor patterns, and add stress to the nervous system and require intervention to integrate them.

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Signs of unintegrated reflexes

There are many signs or red flags for reflexes that aren't integration. Here are just a few:

• Sensory and regulation challenges

• Difficulty with gross motor movements, such as crawling, running, jumping, catching, throwing, etc.

• Difficulty with fine motor skills

• Communication challenges

• Difficultt crossing midline or bringing hands together

• Difficulty with eye tracking

• Wetting the best past the age of 5

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How a professional trained in reflex integration can help

 

A child, adolescent, or adult with unintegrated reflexes could benefit from skilled reflex integration therapy which will train an individual's brain by establishing efficient sensory and movement patterns that support higher level motor skills or cognitive tasks.

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This intervention could benefit individuals with

✓  Cerebral Palsy

✓  Brain Injury

✓  Trauma

✓  Dyspraxia

✓  Aggressive Behaviors

✓  Autism

✓  Developmental delays

✓  Genetic disorder