Primitive reflexes.
Happy 4th (Americans)! Funny I just discovered these videos on Independence Day. I’m on a binge right now!
Okay, so has anyone else seen Dr. Josh Madsen’s youtube videos yet? He’s a pediatric functional neurologist and it looks like he’s spreading the word about the link between primitive reflexes and adhd and autism. I learned some of this info (like 1-2% maybe) from my child development classes in college in the early 2000’s. But this is blowing me away tonight.
Basically, when one of the steps of infant-toddler sensory & gross motor development gets skipped, it has a huge impact on cognition & executive functioning… and the fight or flight response (the meltdowns many of us get to enjoy). 🫣 And when certain milestones or processes are skipped, we hang on to our associated primitive reflexes.
Anyway, there are tests to see if individual reflexes are still present or have disappeared yet. When certain reflexes are still present, like the moro ‘startle’ reflex, it leads to things like poor impulse control, poor ability to focus, short attention span, and anxiety and exaggerated fight or flight responses.
I feel awakened! This explains so many things in myself and the child. (And actually, my late dad, too, come to think of it.)
Good news: it’s almost never too late to retrain the brain so the reflexes get dropped & the prefrontal cortex can mature. And the behavior changes can be fast (depending in their age). Happy educational awareness!!! I hope we all remember to ask our doctors to check at our next appointments!