Does Reflexes Integration Play Well with Other Therapies?

You go to the G.P., they send you to the O.T., that recommends the P.T, that suggests the speech therapist who says you should see the vision therapist and so on and so on. By the time most parents get to my door they are overwhelmed by choices, completely confused and don’t know where to begin. How will it benefit my child? Can I balance my resources to take on another therapy? Because, let’s be honest here, these all take time, money and patience so how do reflexes add to the mix?

If you think of reflexes like the foundations of a building understanding their importance and where they fit into the hierarchy of therapy becomes a little clearer. We love reflexes precisely because all the unconscious movements just happen without a moment’s thought but imagine having to think about every breath or heartbeat while driving, learning to read or cooking dinner. It would be impossible to get anything done! However, the brain is a very inventive thing so when reflexes aren’t working as designed it will provide behaviors and compensations to fill in the developmental gaps. Now the brain is using multiple behaviors to implement actions that should be happening in a much more efficient way, it’s the neural equivalent of taking up more bandwidth to achieve your objective.

For example: the Babkin reflex is the hand to mouth motion infants use to hold the breast as we nurse which then evolves into the hand bringing food to the mouth. If you’ve ever watched someone’s mouth help when writing or using their hands you’ve witnessed a persistent Babkin reflex.

Retained Babkin affects:

• Mouth overflow movement (i.e. mouth “helps” when hands are working)

• Increased sensitivity to touch or pressure in hands and fingers

• Poor grasp of pencils, scissors or tools

• Hand fatigue from awkward grasp positions

• Badly chapped lips from chewing or licking

• Irritation inside the mouth from chewing cheeks or tongue

This can affect the quality of your life when you deal with these inefficient, unconscious actions which are required for writing. You’re splitting your bandwidth between the physical act of writing and what you want to say.

But here’s where things get interesting! A teacher points out problems with pencil grasp, illegible writing, and keeping up with assignments. She suggests an occupational therapist who shows the proper grasp, dispenses soft pencil grips and shows the most efficient way to make your letters which is all very helpful but you are still struggling against the underlying brain to body connection of the reflex. Change happens but it’s a slow, uncomfortable process and requiring a lot of frustrating effort.

Doing reflex work before or during occupational therapy the Babkin will become integrated, the unconscious body driven movement no longer automatically directs the motor function. The upper brain takes over directing the action, giving you choice over your focus. The mouth no longer helps the hands, sensitivity is reduced, grasp changes and all those compensation behaviors no longer split the focus of your neural bandwidth. When we are no longer wrestling against the body’s unconscious automatic response, the upper brain now has a choice, you are ready for what the therapist wants to share now progress comes much quicker with less struggle. And this is just one example of how a reflex can impact our daily activities, there are so many more! Be it occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech, feeding or vision therapy integrated reflexes can help support and advance all your hard work.

Questions are always welcome! I am at the Clear Speech Therapy house the second Tuesday of every month from 6:30 to 7:30 for an information open house or contact me for a 30-minute complimentary phone consultation.

Remember: Every body should be a comfortable place to live in!