Praise For: The Role of Primitive Reflexes in Neurological Organization

Primitive reflexes are essential for proper neurological development. They need to be there and go away on time. I use the rungs on a ladder with my patients now. They get it when you tell them if you miss a rung climbing up a ladder, you as an adult get jarred. Neurological development is not about getting jarred. It is about flowing smoothly. Climbing without jarring insults.

I was frustrated at pediatricians prior to this class for telling our mutual patients that their infants did not need this milestone or that one. I was adamant that they did. Now I admit and I go into deeper explanation as to why. I say have your pediatrician call me so we can talk. LOL they NEVER call.

Zander is an amazing boy who has emotional outbursts. I found out on Tuesday that he never crawled correctly or rarely did. I looked at him and said, “You and I have work to do.” He is 4. He looked at me and said, “We drove all the way here to see you. You need to fix my head. No one else does.” Zander started seeing me at almost 2. Then they moved away. Now I understand why even though adjusted he was still having problems. AND if his cranials and spine are not subluxation free, he is full of energy and not in a good way. As a chiropractor, I learn new things every day. Some from classes like this. Some from my patients. Both are awe inspiring.

Yes, I would recommend this course. We need this material as essential information when working with children. It is a deeper dive into the knowledge we already have.

Knowledge is blank unless applied and used. Thank you for increasing my knowledge base in a way that is shareable and applicable. I am truly blessed to be learning from all of you. Thank you!!!

My takeaway is that any class I have taken I always find good information that serves either as a reminder or good clinical pearls.

It increases my certainty and clarity about working with infants and children.

Doing a quick assessment of the reflexes before an adjustment and then seeing them gone after.

Yes, I would recommend it. Even though taught before, it is always a great reminder and helps with your certainty with kiddos and other pediatric professionals.

It was a good class.

The program was very helpful at learning how to assess and grade the retained reflexes. It gives a clear path as to how we need to observe our children for the developmental milestones and discuss the challenges that parents may be experiencing with their development not only physically but socially and cognitively as well.

It has helped me view the children in my office with an additional lens. Since COVID we have been seeing parents seeking more information and other avenues for some of the challenges their children are experiencing.

A young patient who during COVID was treated for leukemia ( isolated more than typical due to society changes and immunosuppression) presented for adjustments after returning to hockey. During the conversation with the dad, they had been taking him to vision therapy for treatment with “ADHD and dyslexic” type behaviour. I asked if they had heard of retained reflexes and explained what they were. I asked if they knew if they had investigated the retained reflexes in vision therapy. I found he had retained Moro, Galant, palmar, plantar, ATNR and STNR. We have started treating him and working on some integrative exercises.

If you want a pediatric practice, you will come across the retained primitive reflexes. It is key that we can recognize and test for these to benefit the child most in our care.

Although the adjustment is the most critical piece of integration and the brain body connection, the program could benefit from some examples of the exercises or activities that would be most beneficial. We live in a community where people will travel 3 hours for an appointment and can’t do that more than a few times a month weekly if we are lucky (weather dependent). Parents are looking for some tools to have at home that can help to maximize the impact of Chiropractic care and continue the momentum of healing when at home.