Retained Primitive Reflexes

[Bobobab]

Looking for opinions and experiences... has anyone tried treatment for this? I've searched mumsnet and it seemed to be a lot of older posts and actually they were quite positive about how it helped. Has anyone used a practitioner in NW England?

[Dorothyparker010]

I looked into in and found it really interesting but there were red flags for me that it’s not evidence based really so decided not to go ahead. There’s a place in Romily I was looking at at the time. Sometimes I do wonder if we should try it still but TBH my daughter is so demand avoidant I’d never be able to get her to do the required daily exercises anyway 😅

[Bobobab]

Thanks for the reply and this is where I am with it... it's tempting to try just to see but then we could spend that money and time on something more worthwhile. It was the place in Romiley I was looking at too but struggling to find recommendations or anything on local SEND parent groups.

[Dorothyparker010]

Yeah we had a course of sensory integration therapy through the children’s OT NhS service and I came to the conclusion that that is the way to go. The waiting lists are crazy though 😞.

[Bobobab]

We've just gone private for a sensory integration assessment (waiting for the report) In our area they do a 2 hour parent training course then you are discharged 😡

[UsernameFail]

I'm interested in retained primitive reflexes. Our OT did a sensory profile and said there were retained reflexes but we've parked it for the time being as we're focussing on keeping DS regulated.

[carriebradshawwithlessshoes]

Yes, been there, did exercises religiously daily for 2 years. We travelled to BIRD (charity). The people were lovely but for DS despite him losing a number of retained reflexes over that time in terms of his presentation it made no difference/ there were no improvements.

[UsernameFail]

Do you mind me asking what you were hoping it would improve in your DS @carriebradshawwithlessshoes ??

[carriebradshawwithlessshoes]

Not at all… I was hoping it would improve his focus/ attention, speech (still NV) and fine motor (pen holding etc.)

[UsernameFail]

Thanks @carriebradshawwithlessshoes
This is helpful to know

We also have fine motor and focus issues here

Oh to have a magic wand to help our children

[Ch4ng3dn4m3]

I know this thread is a little old but my DC is just starting sensory integration therapy, they've been assessed positive (retained) in 3 areas. I just wondered if any more of you had had therapy and whether it proved beneficial.

[Bobobab]

I haven't explored it as yet... we have a sensory integration plan that we are working to and we've seen some impact of that although always hard to know during development.

Like a pp said I'm not sure my ds would cooperate as I think the exercises are very specific with repetition but it may be something we consider in future.

[Wowzel]

We are considering trying it with our DD, the behavioural optometrist we saw has recommended we do it.

DD gets very anxious and upset easily and has quite low self esteem, so i am hoping it will help with her focus, reading and writing.

[fightingthedogforadonut]

The biggest issue I've had is getting my son to do the exercises regularly enough, they are repetitive, fiddly and complex (thus tricky if you have a kid who has a short attention span and is strongly on their own agenda and prone to non-compliance...)

We tested my son at 6. He's now 10. My guess is all three retained reflexes he had are still there but to a lesser degree than when he was younger. The ATNR has almost gone. The Moro is still there. We actually worked with an OT for 2 years and saw big gains from that.

Basically it's still a work in progress....

[Ch4ng3dn4m3]

Thanks all for your updates, we're only 3 weeks in, so very early days but had a session at home as holidays and it was fascinating to see the impact from some of activities they're doing, we haven't started any exercises at home yet but will be soon. I think we're starting with work on the Moro then STNR then the Spinal galant. The OT is suggesting a referral to a behavioural optometrist for vision therapy. @fightingthedogforadonut did you go through NHS or private for behaviour optometrist?

[Wowzel]

We went private for behavioural optometrist, couldn't find anyone on the nhs

[Bobobab]

@Wowzel can I ask where you went? Probably not in the same area as us but still thought it was worth asking. I've approached one and we've been given a questionnaire to complete first. I'm still unsure whether to try x

[Wowzel]

I sent you a pm!