First, let's define some words for easier understanding:

Reflex: an action that is performed as a response to a stimulus and without conscious thought.

Retained Reflex: Retained Reflex Syndrome is the retention of fetal or primitive reflexes.

Integrated Reflex: Reflex integration is a process to help create a neurological arc that has both a specific stimulus and a predictable response or responses work more efficiently.

1. We all have reflexes - when something is about to hit us, we flinch, when dust gets in our eyes, we blink, when we have a tickle in our nose, we sneeze. These are all normal reflexes.
2. When a baby is conceived, there are primitive reflexes available to them in utero, and these reflexes continue to develop after birth.
3. Reflexes that are normal and natural are available to the baby at birth to survive, such as sucking, swallowing, breathing, and startling.
4. As a baby develops, postural reflexes begin to mature to help the child achieve balance, coordination, and sensorimotor development.

What is a retained reflex?

1. When a baby is not able to move past a reflex, and is, in essence, controlled by the reflex it is considered a retained reflex.
2. This is especially noteworthy after 1 year of life when most reflexes should be integrated.
3. A retained reflex movement pattern is not integrated into the normal functions of the nervous system and the baby is hijacked by the reflex, unable to develop higher-level neurological skills.

Why do some children retain these reflexes?

There are a variety of possible reasons, including those that go beyond this list:

1. An overload of stress hormones in utero, (cortisol) for the baby to process at the cellular level for extended periods of time.
2. Low birth weight.
3. C- section birth
4. Birth trauma
5. Feeding issues during the first 6 months of life
6. Illness with a high fever.
7. Toxins, seizures.
8. History of recurring ear, nose, and throat infections.
9. Allergies
10. Multiple birth - twins, triplets, etc.
11. Prolonged jaundice

Retained reflexes, therefore, are an indicator of developmental delays which can lead to disorders, such as:

• ADHD/ADD
• Sensory Processing Disorder
• Autism
• Learning Disabilities
• Oppositional Defiance
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• Gross motor and Fine motor dysfunction
• Visual motor dysfunction
• And many more…

Why don't all doctors know about this?

Doctors are trained to test for the basic life-supporting reflexes at birth and shortly thereafter. However, they are unlikely to do a routine assessment within the first year of life to determine if they have been fully and properly integrated.

Neuro-immaturity, or as the world likes to call it, neurodiversity, is another way to describe retained primitive reflexes and is one of the most prevalent issues in children with learning disabilities and developmental delays.

Currently, American medical literature primarily recognizes neuro-motor immaturity in cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injury, or in diseases affecting motor skills, such as Alzheimer's.

Physicians are only beginning to recognize neuro-motor immaturity in infants and children with developmental delays, and it is at such a slow pace that it is not meeting the needs of our children across the country.

Instead, we have recently seen the CDC lower the standards for the developmental milestones of children. For example, previously it was in the normal range to expect a 52-word vocabulary by the age of 2. They have now moved that milestone to age 3. Changes such as this will only continue to allow developmental delays to go undiagnosed, even though you, the parent, know in your gut that something is wrong!

It is crucial to address issues as early as possible due to the rapidly developing brain within the first year; however, the good news is that our brains have something called neuroplasticity, which allows our brains to continue to grow, adapt, and fill in gaps where dysfunction lies. God created our bodies so that we can heal, and our brains are malleable enough to make new pathways and connections as long as we live!!

Think of it as a train track - a single nerve cell connects to another cell and to another until the information is shared across the body. If there is a gap in the track, then the train will derail and stop running. Repairs are needed to keep the cargo moving to the intended target. This is how your brain functions. We must repair the gaps in communication for the body to operate normally. This encompasses motor skills, cognitive skills, emotional skills, and many other skills and functions.

With gaps in development, you are likely to see some of the following:

• Poor coordination
• Lack of balance
• Low energy levels
• Poor impulse control
• Low muscle tone
• Toe walking
• Sleep issues
• Poor manual dexterity
• Poor sensory perceptions and processing
• Panic attacks
• Speech problems
• Impaired social learning
• Impaired emotional learning
• Impaired Intellectual learning
• Poor concentration
• Poor short-term memory

Integrating Retained Reflexes

One of the most effective and foundational methods of integrating reflexes is a Reflex-Inhibition Program. By following a series of movements/exercises, you extinguish or inhibit the primitive and postural reflexes. In effect, you will be integrating many of the sensory systems at the same time.

The goal is to activate and fatigue as many of the reflexive neurological connections as possible so that your child can begin to perform at a more age-appropriate level as the reflex is integrated.

Let me encourage you here -- there is HOPE.

God intricately made your child and loves your child even more than you do!

He will come alongside you and give you everything you need to follow through on this program.

You CAN do this!

Leave any guilt behind. You did your best up to this point in your child's life with the information you had, and now you have MORE information!!

You are becoming equipped to help your precious daughter or son THRIVE and develop their GOD-GIVEN POTENTIAL! You and your child are loved!

Now it's time to get to work!!