In this episode, Rachel and Jessica will introduce you to primitive reflexes. They will share general information regarding what they are, why we have them, and what happens if our bodies don’t integrate them properly. They will also briefly discuss activities that can be completed in order to work on integrating some of the different primitive reflexes in order to increase overall sensory integration.
Be sure to check out the show notes on our blog at Harkla.Co/Podcast.
Brought To You By Harkla
This podcast is brought to you by Harkla. Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special needs live happy and healthy lives. We accomplish this through high-quality sensory products and child development courses.
Podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla with the discount code "sensory". Head to Harkla.co/sensory to start shopping now
Important Links:
DISCLAIMER
ADDITIONAL LEGAL DISCLAIMER
In this episode, Rachel and Jessica will introduce you to primitive reflexes. They will share general information regarding what they are, why we have them, and what happens if our bodies don’t integrate them properly. They will also briefly discuss activities that can be completed in order to work on integrating some of the different primitive reflexes in order to increase overall sensory integration.
Be sure to check out the show notes on our blog at Harkla.Co/Podcast.
Brought To You By Harkla
This podcast is brought to you by Harkla. Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special needs live happy and healthy lives. We accomplish this through high-quality sensory products and child development courses.
Podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla with the discount code "sensory". Head to Harkla.co/sensory to start shopping now
Important Links:
DISCLAIMER
ADDITIONAL LEGAL DISCLAIMER
Hey guys, Rachael and Jessica here with episode 15 of the sensory project show. We're gonna dive into a pretty heavy
subject today:primitive reflexes.
Jessica:So we're going to talk about what primitive reflexes are, what they look like, the effects they have, and how we as occupational therapists work with them. We're gonna try to keep it as simple as possible, and hopefully we don't freak you guys out.
Rachel:Are you guys ready for this? Welcome to the sensory project show with Rachel and Jessica. We're here to share all things sensory, occupational therapy, parenting, self care, and overall health and wellness from a therapists perspective providing honest, fun ideas and strategies for parents and families to implement into daily life. Thank you so much for joining. It's just important to be aware of these things. If you have an infant, or if you have a child with special needs, or even a neurotypical kiddo, just to be aware of, just to keep your eyes open, and be prepared to talk to your pediatrician or your occupational therapist about this. So here we go.
Jessica:But wait a second. What are primitive reflexes?
Rachel:Oh, my goodness!
Jessica:This is the tricky parts.
Rachel:All right. Oh, can you can you give them like the scientific term?
Jessica:Okay, I'm gonna read this verbatim. Okay, so primitive reflexes are automatic, stereotypical movements directed from the brainstem, and require no cortical involvement or thought. They are needed for survival and development in the womb, and in the early months of life. However, as higher, more sophisticated centers of the brain begin to mature, these primitive reflexes become a nuisance, and must be abated in order for proper neurological organization of the brain to develop.
Rachel:Oh woah!
Jessica:Look, I did that pretty well.
Rachel:That was good.
Jessica:I did that pretty well. That's a lot of info.
Rachel:I mean, we would never say that to a parent though.
Jessica:Oh, gosh, I don't think I've ever said any of that in my life. In that order.
Rachel:No. So let's talk about what that stuff actually means in layman's term.
Jessica:Okay, so basically, when a child is born, they have primitive reflexes that are different movement patterns that help them basically be safe.
Rachel:Yeah, keep them alive.
Jessica:Keep them alive and then as they start to get older, these primitive reflexes, these movement patterns, will begin to change. And this is typical, they should change and go away. And that's when we say that they are integrated.
Rachel:Yes. So these retained primitive reflexes, if they are retained, or if they're not integrated within the first year of life at the latest. And some reflexes are different, we'll get into that a little bit more, but they can really interfere with social, academic and motor learning.
Jessica:So a lot of times, you're gonna see these primitive reflexes retained in children with different learning disorders, ADD and ADHD, autism, and a lot of other neurodevelopmental disorders. These primitive reflexes just kind of hang out and cause dysfunction.
Rachel:Yeah, and each reflex is associated with the sensory processing system. And we've talked about all these before, but it's just crazy to think that these reflexes that, I mean, most people don't think about, but
Jessica:I would never have thought about it.
Rachel:Yeah!
Jessica:Until I started doing what we do. You know,
Rachel:It's crazy, and the huge effect that they can have on these kiddos if they don't go away.
Jessica:And I mean, every single parent that I talked to, they are kind of like, wait, what are you talking about? What is that? It's not something that you hear about normally, but it's, they have such a huge impact that we should be talking about them more.
Rachel:We should. I think we should start a movement. We should like to create a hashtag. hashtag integrate reflexes, or something like that.
Jessica:Something.
Rachel:Integrate your reflex, something with a little bit more of a flow to it.
Jessica:Yeah, we'll come up with something and let you guys know. We'll keep you updated on that one.
Rachel:That way when you're working on all these activities and you're getting your reflexes integrated, you can say hashtag, retaining my reflexes or not retaining
Jessica:The opposite of what we want. We want to integrate.
Rachel:You can saw hashtag integrating my reflexes, yo!
Jessica:Definitely with the yo at the end.
Rachel:Oh, gosh! I like it.
Jessica:Don't freak out, though.
Rachel:Yeah. I mean. It's, it's a scary topic and there's, there's a lot of research on it. But like we've always said, it's all going to be fine.
Jessica:It'll be totally fine.
Rachel:Its' going to be great.
Jessica:And I'll be honest with you, I have some reflexes that aren't 100% integrated in myself
Rachel:and look at you!
Jessica:and look at me functioning on a podcast.
Rachel:I know, it's pretty crazy. Yeah.
Jessica:So chances are you or someone you know who is functioning successfully in life might have a reflex that's not fully integrated and it'll be okay.
Rachel:Yep. I remember when I was going through school, testing everybody's reflexes to learn and to figure out how to do it. And my sweet husband, he'll be so mad if he knows what I'm talking about it. But his his ATNR is not integrated and one of the symptoms is laterality, directionality, confusion, and we'll be driving down the road and he'll say turn right. And I'll turn right now. No, I meant turn left.
Jessica:Oh, dear. Yeah that is confusing. That's hard!
Rachel:Yeah. So let's talk about some of the causes of retained reflexes.
Jessica:Sure. So children born via c-section, or if there's a traumatic birth,
Rachel:or if they've experienced trauma.
Jessica:If they've been exposed to toxins, or anesthetics.
Rachel:Yep.
Jessica:Those children are more at risk at having retained primitive reflexes.
Rachel:Yep. And some of the other causes might be not enough tummy time as an infant. Maybe they didn't tolerate it at all. So they just were never on their tummies.
Jessica:Creeping and crawling is a big one. If your child skipped those stages of creeping and crawling that can be a cause.
Rachel:Yep. Even those early walkers. If they skip those phases, and they start walking before
Jessica:they're ready. Yeah, before they're ready. Yep, totally. Head injuries.
Rachel:And going along with that excessive false.
Jessica:Chronic ear infections. This is one that I found really interesting because we have a lot of kiddos who deal with ear infections all the time.
Rachel:Yep.
Jessica:And it just has such a negative impact.
Rachel:But you don't be don't think about it ever. Like your child has an ear infection, you put them on antibiotics, and it clear up. I mean, you wouldn't think about all of the negative reactions to that sort of stuff.
Jessica:And this is going a little bit off topic. But let's just think about this. Is it the ear infections or is it the antibiotics? And I know that's a whole nother topic. But it's just something to think about when you're putting these chemicals into your body. What effect does it have? So, anyways, I won't go into that anymore. And I just did for a second.
Rachel:Okay, so we are going to talk about and focus on the reflexes that we work on in OT, because that's what we're familiar with qnd that is what we see impact these kiddos the most.
Jessica:Because there's a lot of reflexes out there that are smaller, I guess you could say they don't have as big of an impact, but also just that we don't work with. So we ourselves are not even as familiar with them. So we're not gonna talk about those ones.
Rachel:Yeah. And we're going to try to rapid fire these. So if you guys have any,
Jessica:you know how our rapid fire goes.
Rachel:I know we say that every time.
Jessica:I like it, we try.
Rachel:So if you guys have any more specific questions, please don't hesitate to just send us an email or shoot us a message on Instagram or Facebook because we are happy to help and to clarify some of these because it's pretty confusing. Especially if you're not surrounded by it every day.
Jessica:True.
Rachel:Okay, so let's start with the Moro reflex.
Jessica:Okay, so this one is also known as the startle reflex and this is one that a lot of families are actually familiar with because they remember their child having this startle reflex.
Rachel:Alright, so this reflex should disappear between the ages of two and four months of age and if it's retained, you might be hypersensitive to other senses. And
Jessica:So hypersensitive to sound.
Rachel:Uh huh.
Jessica:Okay.
Rachel:Yeah. Or light or touch or
Jessica:vestibular input?
Rachel:Yeah.
Jessica:Oh, we just did an episode on that did.
Rachel:Alright. Okay. So where was I? So you might overreact to the stimulation and be in a constant fight or flight. And I really wanted to emphasize that constant fight or flight because that is what a lot of our kids deal with. And they can't express that to us, but they're just, they're feeling that inside. It's like they think
Jessica:anxious, they're anxious
Rachel:or an adrenaline rush.
Jessica:Yes.
Rachel:They constantly have that feeling of an adrenaline, an adrenaline rush or anxiety.
Jessica:And that's because this primitive reflex works with the adrenal glands and it's kind of like over demanding of the adrenal gland. And and this causes the child to become fatigued. And because they're in that constant fight or flight, they have that adrenaline adrenaline rush. They're constantly anxious.
Rachel:Yep.
Jessica:And so their body is not going to be able to fight infections as well. So they're gonna suffer from allergies or chronic illnesses.
Rachel:Yeah.
Jessica:Of all kinds.
Rachel:That's crazy to me.
Jessica:That was so interesting. There are a couple of other things that you can kind of look for that are related to the Moro reflex.
Rachel:If it's not integrated. So what you might see in an older kiddo is they might not be able to focus on one thing at a time. They have poor impulse control, they struggle with emotional regulation, they might be timid or shy, and also they are very easily distracted. And they might have some challenges playing ball games, they might be aggressive, anxious, and excitable.
Jessica:Okay, the next one is the ATNR and that stands for asymmetrical tonic neck reflex. Don't worry about the name, just ATNR. Okay.
Rachel:Yep, so this reflex is also referred to as the fencer position and to elicit this reflex while your baby's laying on the back, turn their head to one side, and you should see the arm and leg on the side of the head that he's looking towards extend or straighten, and the other side will flex or bend.
Jessica:I know I thought about doing the fencer position.
Rachel:It's like a dab. There you go.
Jessica:So again, when we started talking about primitive reflexes, we talked about that these are normal movement patterns that occur, but then go away. So the ATNR, is the movement pattern that prepares the baby for future transitional movements, like rolling. And then it also helps develop hand eye coordination and activities that require crossing midline.
Rachel:Yeah, and crossing midline is such a huge skill. And again, I don't think it's talked about it enough.
Jessica:Oh, we could do an episode about crossing midline.
Rachel:Totally could.
Jessica:Good idea we should do that.
Rachel:Okay. So also the ATNR is involved during the birthing process and if it's weak in utero, it might lead to the baby becoming stuck in the birth canal.
Jessica:Oh, traumatic birth.
Rachel:Yep. Okay. And it's reinforced by having a natural birthing process.
Jessica:which, okay, you guys, this is not something that's always necessarily under your control.
Rachel:Exactly.
Jessica:So we don't want you to think like, oh, I caused this because that's not that's not true now, but it's just something to think about.
Rachel:maybe aware of
Jessica:to be aware of, but we don't want you guys thinking that it's your fault in any way. Nevermind, don't ya don't even go there. Forget we said anything. So the ATNR should be gone by four to six months of age.
Rachel:And what you might see, if the ATNR is retained in an older kiddo, they might have scoliosis, poor handwriting, difficulty expressing ideas in written form, difficulty with eye tracking and eye hand coordination, difficulty with tasks that require again crossing midline, and bilateral integration as well. So using both sides of the body.
Jessica:and older children or even adults who have this reflex, still, they might complain of chronic or recurrent shoulder or neck injuries.
Rachel:Yeah.
Jessica:And it might always be on the same side, because their body's just not working together correctly and so, yeah.
Rachel:Well think about Daniel, you know, he doesn't know his right and his laughs consistently.
Jessica:Yeah. That's so tricky. It's crazy.
Rachel:I know. I mean, don't tell him I said that. Okay.
Jessica:Daniel, if you're listening, you're okay. Its fine. All right. Next one.
Rachel:Okay. So the next one is the TLR. And I apologize if I butcher the name, but I never say the full name because it's really is hard.
Jessica:Who came up with these names?
Rachel:I don't know. I think a scientist. I don't know, it's silly. So it's calledthe Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex.
Jessica:I think you did it right.
Rachel:We'll see.
Jessica:Okay, someone's gonna correct. Lets be real.
Rachel:Oh my goodness. Okay, so with this reflex, tilting the head back while laying on the back causes the back to stiffen and even arch backwards. This causes the legs to straighten, stiffen, push together, causes the toes to point, causes the arms to bend the elbows and wrists and causes the hands to become fisted or the fingers to curl.
Jessica:Oh my gosh, just try that like replay that and put yourself into that position and just feel like what that feels like. That's just crazy.
Rachel:Yeah.
Jessica:So this reflex is going to prepare the baby for rolling over, kind of the ATNR, but also crawling, standing and walking.
Rachel:Yes.
Jessica:In that order, ideally, typically. So this reflex should be gone by about three and a half years of age. So this one kind of hangs around for a while. But again, because it prepares the child for all these different transitional movements, including walking, then that's kind of, I mean, your child's mastering walking by about three and a half years of age, so.
Rachel:And you also want to think about tummy time. you can work on this reflex just by putting your kiddo on their tummy. That's why it is so important for you guys, if you have an infant, put them on their tummy right now.
Jessica:Let them cry it out. They'll be fine. They were they'll start rolling over.
Rachel:It adds character.
Jessica:It's true. So true.
Rachel:Okay, but honestly, there's a reason why they don't like it at that age and so that's why it's important.
Jessica:Yeah. And I don't think that any infant likes tummy time, the first couple of times, they do it.
Rachel:That is accurate.
Jessica:Because it's new, it's different. It's hard until their muscles start to develop and get control. And then it causes it to be easier. So I mean, they do have to learn how to hold themselves up. So that's how you do it. Okay, so for some of those older kiddos from a social and learning standpoint, if they still have this reflex, they might have trouble paying attention when they're sitting at their desk, when they're reading, they're going to potentially have poor posture and balance, they might get motion sickness, they might be dyspraxic. That means they're going to have trouble motor planning their movements.
Rachel:So they can also be toe walkers and like we said earlier, oftentimes kids with autism don't have their primitive reflexes integrated. So there you can see that toe walking, and they might have low tone or high tone, they might not, this is a funny one, that they might not like PE, the class.
Jessica:Because they're not gonna be good at it.
Rachel:They're not gonna be coordinated.
Jessica:It's not gonna be fun.
Rachel:They're not gonna have a great sense of rhythm and timing. So think about those metronome activities. They're gonna have ocular motor challenges, orientation, and spatial awareness. So there's a lot that goes into this, you guys.
Jessica:Yeah, that'sa big one. It's a really big one.
Rachel:That one's a tricky one to integrate to if it's not integrated.
Jessica:Okay, let's go to the spinal galant. Did I say that? Right? So yeah, like I said it right. This one is demonstrated by a holding or laying your newborn on their stomach and stroking along one side of their spine.
Rachel:Yep.
Jessica:And the normal reaction is for the newborn to flex sideways towards that stimulated side. So if you run your finger down on their left side, then that left side is going to move and have a reaction. And so this is interesting. This is actually one of the reflexes that they test newborns to help rule out any brain damage at birth.
Rachel:So you know, when you have your baby and they take them away, they go over and they do those reflex tests in order to make sure that things are checking out okay. So this is, this is a big one that they do at birth to make sure that things are working okay.
Jessica:So this reflex should be gone by about three to nine months of age. So this is a funny one because if your child's super ticklish, they might it This one's hard to tell because I've I've seen kids who are super ticklish who will just like I'll, you know, be testing their reflexes and I'll start to do it and they'll just like start giggling and laughing and I'm, I'll be like, I didn't even hardly touch you and they're like, I'm just so ticklish. And then I'll have them kind of calm down a little bit. We'll try it again and they won't have a reaction. So this one's kind of a tricky one. I don't know.
Rachel:It is. But in older kiddos,
Jessica:Totally off topic. Sorry.
Rachel:In older kiddos what you might see if it's not integrated, these kiddos might not be able to sit still. There those kids with ants in their pants, and they also might have some scoliosis, poor concentration and posture, hip rotation on one side while walking, digestive issues, chronic digestive issues, maybe that's my problem.
Jessica:Oh, maybe. That could be it.
Rachel:And another big one is bedwetting beyond the age of five.
Jessica:And this is a common complaint that we get from families who have a higher functioning child with sensory processing challenges, not necessarily a diagnosis of autism. But those kiddos who are pretty functional, but they maybe they have like ADHD type symptoms, or just their sensory seeking kiddos, and they're still wetting the bed into their, you know, 8, 9, 10 year old. And it's, you know, there's that primitive reflex, but.
Rachel:Well, and what we didn't say earlier was when you have an infant, apparently I haven't tested this before, but if you stroke both sides simultaneously, that will elicit urination. And I mean, it all makes sense if that reflex is retained, and it's not going away. Why you're gonna have bedwetting issues. There's so much tactile and proprioceptive input while you're sleeping.
Jessica:So both sides.
Rachel:Yep.
Jessica:Yep. Totally.
Rachel:There it goes.
Jessica:Definitely. That one's crazy.
Rachel:Yeah, I know.
Jessica:Okay, one more. STNR, the symmetrical tonic neck reflex.
Rachel:Okay, so we did the asymmetrical, now we're doing the symmetrical tonic neck reflex. So what do you guys think is the difference between those? Any guesses?
Jessica:We'll give you five seconds. Okay, hope you're right. Go for it, Rachel.
Rachel:Okay, so this reflex is also referred to as the crawling reflex. So a normal response in infants is to assume the crawl position by extending your arms and bending your knees, not yours, but the child's when the head and neck are extended. So you're in a crawling position is what we're going for here.
Jessica:And this one should be gone by about nine to 11 months of age.
Rachel:Yep. And it's going to be gone when neurologic and muscular development allows for independent limb movement for actual crawling.
Jessica:So this is basically we call it dissociation, when you can separate movements from different parts of your body. So you can move your head up and down without your arms and legs also moving while you're in that crawling position.
Rachel:Yep. And also, on the contrary, turning your head side to side. I mean, think about all the activities that you do. turning your head side to side, and if every time
Jessica:driving
Rachel:yeah.
Jessica:Oh my gosh!
Rachel:Going to the bathroom.
Jessica:Wait, why do you turn your head side to side when you go to the bathroom?
Rachel:Peri care.
Jessica:Oh, yeah,
Rachel:Yeah, that's the reason why I brought that up is because I was like, wait, what do you remember with our live video? We were talking about the balloon wiping game. Yes, that was one of the things that we were working on was that trunk rotation and dissociation. So things that you probably don't even realize.
Jessica:Clearly. You guys, I learned something new today.
Rachel:So just keep that in mind you guys. And let's talk about a couple of the challenges you might see in the older kiddos if it's not integrated.
Jessica:Yes for the STNR, so you might see poor posture, which you might see that slumping when they're sitting. You might see w-sitting and that's a whole nother topic of conversation.
Rachel:We could do a whole episode about that too.
Jessica:And maybe we should. I think we will. You might see Ooh, how do you say this simian?
Rachel:I would just say like an ape walk a walk like a very, very primitive walk?
Jessica:Oh, yeah, definitely. Poor hand eye coordination. messy eaters, like to the point where they don't even notice that they're messing. Your child might be more clumsy. You might see difficulty with ocular motor skills. So for example, being able to copy from the board, their eyes have to move from the board, down to their paper and back, and that's going to be really hard. And maybe they might have poor swimming skills.
Rachel:And you think about that one, your head has to extend while you're swimming
Jessica:and moving your arms and legs separately.
Rachel:Yeah.
Jessica:Totally.
Rachel:I know. Like we said, it's all connected somehow.
Jessica:All of them are so huge. They're so big. They have such huge impacts and that's why we like to work with them because they affect so many things. Yeah, it's definitely good to be aware and to know kind of what to look for. But again, I want to be really clear with you guys that every single thing that we're talking about, it's not really, we don't want to scare you guys, right? Like when we're talking about here. What we want to do is just make you more aware, but also remember that if your child is functioning successfully, despite a couple of challenges, then they're going to be okay. It's really only when these challenges impact their ability to get successfully through their day. That's when you need to dig deeper to find help.
Rachel:Yeah, and also, we'd like to give you guys the confidence and the knowledge to be able to stand up for your child and advocate for them, whether it's to your OT or your pediatrician and say, You know what, I really am concerned about this. Where do we go next? What do we do and to be able to say, these are the challenges I'm noticing? And to not back down if someone says, No, I think it's fine.
Jessica:Or no, it's just a bad kid.
Rachel:Yeah, yes. Yeah. So you guys got this. You got this, take this and put it in your back pocket. And when you need it, you'll have the knowledge, bookmark that, you know, use his bookmarks anymore anyways, but
Jessica:I know who reads geez.
Rachel:I actually just checked out a book from our little community library.
Jessica:You went to the library?
Rachel:It's a library in our community center of our neighborhood.
Jessica:Oh, she lives in this really fancy neighborhood.
Rachel:It's not fancy.
Jessica:It is pretty fancy. They have their own library.
Rachel:I don't have a service at my house.
Jessica:They have their own gas station.
Rachel:Anyways, off topic, I was very excited about it though.
Jessica:Hey, what did you check out?
Rachel:It was a John Grisham book.
Jessica:Oh, yeah. That was pretty good.
Rachel:I think his name's John Grisham.
Jessica:I think that will be fun for you.
Rachel:I think so too. Yeah,
Jessica:Some recreational reading.
Rachel:I think that's good to find balance.
Jessica:It is. It's good. Okay, so let's go back. So if you think that your child might have unintegrated primitive reflexes, and it's affecting their ability to get through their day successfully, what the heck are you going to do?
Rachel:What are you going to do? Well, if your child is an OT, definitely talk to your ot at the next session.
Jessica:There are specific exercises for each reflex that can be done on a daily basis to help, ideally, help integrate those reflexes.
Rachel:Yes.
Jessica:And so your OT, hopefully should, I mean,
Rachel:they'll create a program. Yeah, ideally, they'll create a program.
Jessica:Give you a schedule to do these exercises every day and then check back in a couple of weeks and see how it's going.
Rachel:The challenge is, you as a parent, have to make sure your kiddo is doing them. And that yes, that's half the battle. That's hard. Yeah. One more thing for your schedule.
Jessica:It is yes. And because these exercises are very specific, and you have to coordinate them correctly and sequence them correctly. You don't want to do them wrong, because if you do them wrong, I mean, it's not going to have a positive effect.
Rachel:Absolutely.
Jessica:So talk to your OT, see what they say.
Rachel:Yep. And again, if you're not in OT or
Jessica:sorry. Or if you are in OT, but you want to work on it, either before you talk to your OT, or along with the exercises.
Rachel:That's not what I was going to say.
Jessica:Oh, sorry. Try again.
Rachel:I said I was gonna say what was I gonna say?
Jessica:Oh my bad.
Rachel:Oh, no, if you're not in OT, or if you're waiting to get OT, because I know some of the wait lists are kind of crazy right now, chat with your child's pediatrician and see if they can give you some resources and they can maybe get you on a referral list to another place where you can I don't, I don't know in your area what what's available. I know there's
Jessica:talk to everyone.
Rachel:Yeah, just talk to everyone. Talk to your friends. Talk to your mom, your friends, whatever.
Jessica:Okay.
Rachel:Well, you know, maybe if you talk to your friends, they can say oh, my kids primitive reflexes probably aren't integrated. And then you know, you're spread the word hashtag integrate reflexes.
Jessica:Wait, did we decide what it was? I'm integrating reflex or integrating my reflex
Rachel:hashtag integrating reflexes.
Jessica:That what you want it to be?
Rachel:I don't know. You have to say it like that too.
Jessica:Your hiding behind your microphone.
Rachel:Oh, embarrased. It's not good.
Jessica:Okay.
Rachel:All right.
Jessica:So there are other things you can do just throughout your day or your child's day that can help work on those reflexes.
Rachel:Yeah. And think about all of all of the positions we chatted about today. Think about the positions, think about the movements, and then incorporate activities and games to address those skills. And so here are a couple of our favorite ones.
Jessica:So actually, I was gonna go back to what you were just saying, oh, so yeah, have your kid do activities while laying on their stomach propped up on their forearms. Don't let them hold their head up because that's going to work on that next string. But doing activities laying on your stomach is the perfect way to work on which primitive reflex I hope you remember.
Rachel:And then also, you can have them on their hands or their knees in a crawling position. If they're older
Jessica:to do activities
Rachel:to play some different activities and
Jessica:different games.
Rachel:Yep. So just think about those movements and just just try to facilitate that to help them get those jump started.
Jessica:Yes.
Rachel:But anyways, some of our favorite games. The first one is called the infinite loop track game and works a lot on the eye coordination, eye coordination. It works a lot on hand-eye coordination, and bilateral integration and motor. I mean, it worked. I love that game.
Jessica:It is such a fun game. We'll link it in our show notes. Another one is loopz with a Z. And this is a fun one again, to work on that hand eye coordination, it's going to work both sides of the body. And it's the perfect game to play laying on your stomach.
Rachel:There you go. Yep. And then another all time favorite one is bop it, believe it or not, that works on a lot of skills. We do it in therapy, and we incorporate a lot of different skills with bop it.
Jessica:Including primitive reflex integration.
Rachel:Yep. And it's great.
Jessica:Some of their gross motor activities that you can do would be like jumping jacks, climbing rock walls, because that's going to really work both sides of the body.
Rachel:Riding bikes, so think about that bumper car that we posted about on our therapy Thursday. And then our favorite obstacle courses.
Jessica:Yes, get those obstacle courses. Get your kids crawling, army crawling, crawling on all fours, having to navigate left and right.
Rachel:You just think about it, all of these activities are working on so many skills and they are incorporating a ton of motor planning and gross motor skills and just all the things.
Jessica:bilateral integration
Rachel:All the things you guys
Jessica:Play catch.
Rachel:I love catch. My dad and I played a lot of catch growing up.
Jessica:Frisbees, baseball,
Rachel:capture the flag
Jessica:capture the flag would be a good one. That's a really good one. I like it.
Rachel:Foursquare.
Jessica:Oh, yes. Foursquare is so fun. I did not play Foursquare growing up.
Rachel:Oh, really?
Jessica:No, I did not know how to play Foursquare until it started working at the clinic. So anything you can think of if you guys think of some specifics, have your kid do it, video it or take a picture, post it on your Instagram on your feed or your stories and tag us. We would love to see those.
Rachel:And hashtag integrate reflexes. Yo!
Jessica:I think it could be better than that.
Rachel:It will. We'll come up with it.
Jessica:Or you guys. Maybe you guys should send us some ideas on what you think the hashtag, the hashtag movement should be. Clearly I'm done talking.
Rachel:Yes, the hashtag movement. Let us know what your favorites would be. That's fun.
Jessica:I can't come up with anything.
Rachel:That's okay.
Jessica:Okay. All right. So I think that's it for primitive reflexes.
Rachel:Yep.
Jessica:We've covered what we wanted to cover.
Rachel:Yeah.
Jessica:Hopefully we helped you out.
Rachel:Don't hesitate to ask us any further questions that you guys have.
Jessica:Definitely. So make sure you subscribe to our podcast. Make sure you leave us a review on iTunes.
Rachel:Yes, you guys are great. We need to hear.
Jessica:We like you here! Is that a song?
Rachel:I want you.
Jessica:Yeah, that's a song.
Rachel:Yeah, it is. I need you to need me.
Jessica:Anyways.
Rachel:It's Friday night, guys.
Jessica:It is Friday night, which is probably why I'm so tired.
Rachel:Yeah, it's been a week.
Jessica:Okay. Well, let's finish this.
Rachel:Okay,
Jessica:So next week.
Rachel:Next week, we're gonna talk about discipline with young sensory seekers. Dum Dum, dum.
Jessica:I like that.
Rachel:Yeah, it's tricky. Well,
Jessica:Yeah, that'd be great.
Rachel:You guys, rock. Thank you for spending your time with us.
Jessica:Yes, thanks.
Rachel:We are so excited to work together and to help create confidence kids all over the world and work towards a happier healthier life. So, this is general information related to occupational therapy, sensory integration, and overall health and wellness. We do not know you or your child. We did not know that therefore, you should always refer back to the pediatrician or your occupational therapist