Identify retained primitive reflexes

Case study

Jason lay on the PE mat totally relaxed (which was very unusual) and listened to the instructions. I told Jason that one of the two adults present would touch either his hand or foot very gently with the flat end of a pencil and asked if that was all right with him. Both adults were well known to Jason in the school. Jason closed his eyes and I then touched his right palm with the pencil. There was no response and after a few seconds I asked if he had felt anything. He asked me to have another go. My colleague touched the bottom of one of his feet with a pencil and again there was no response. He then very calmly asked if he could sit up and look at where we were touching so that he could give us an answer. I was totally stunned and realized what a frightening place the world must be for him if he could not tell where he was unless he touched and looked at everything at the same time. No wonder he would run round a room touching the walls and furniture when entering it without this he could not get a sense of where he was and if he was safe.

Fortunately after a carefully worked out program within a few weeks, Jason could feel all touch accurately. Surprisingly he also physically grew, emotionally began to mature and started to access learning more successfully. Jason was also receiving other therapy simultaneously and thus it must be accepted that other input may also have had positive effects, but without a doubt his enjoyment of the sessions and the improvements seen, provided much evidence of the need for this type of intervention.

Primitive Reflex: Moro

How to help: In this case a specific training program was necessary.

Other children who may have retained primitive reflexes may include those who do the following:

■ constantly wriggle in their seats;

■moving their tongue around their mouth when writing;

■ dribble a lot;

■ continue to use an immature pencil grip;

■ cannot kick a football accurately or throw and catch a ball;

■ cannot ride a bike without help.

This indeed is only one approach to developing motor skills, but it is one that I have found helps children with these problems develop a link between their inner world and the outer world. With the changing curriculum in the past thirty years, combined with the changes in society, the need to support the physical development of children appears to be vital. If this is not acknowledged, not only will their physical, emotional and social skills be impaired, but their learning potential will also remain unfulfilled. Russell (1992: 7) supports this view, identifying some negative outcomes that could arise if motor learning problems are not correctly managed: ‘motor learning problems have been shown to be a persistent characteristic associated with educational failure, social isolation, anxiety, withdrawal and depression persisting into adolescence and beyond’ (my emphasis).

I now cannot imagine just giving desk-type exercises to children with motor difficulties and just looking at their cognitive achievements, and all too frequently their failures, for guidance. All educators, I believe, need to consider the whole child when trying to construct an intervention program. Without this level of inquiry many children will continue to be learners who cannot retain knowledge and new concepts, not because they are not concentrating or trying, but because they do not have secure foundations. The Bible story that uses the image of a house built upon sand being knocked down by the sea, and a house built on rocks remaining firm and steady, clearly illustrates the point that, without the foundations, the later additions can be built on top but will not be retained.

This topic is only a brief visit to an area of need utilized to develop educational skills, but as Goddard (2002: xv) says, although learning takes place in the brain; ‘it is the body that acts as receptor for information and then becomes the vehicle through which knowledge is expressed’. In fact ‘movement lies at the heart of learning’ (ibid.: xvi).