Neurodevelopmental approach to improving function with ADHD
Research by Annabel Thomson
Reviewed by Lilly Barton
The previous blog discussed The Key Clinic’s drug-free approach to ADHD that examines the biochemical imbalances causing ADHD symptoms, and how through our BioIndividuality programme, we work with our clients to rebalance their individual biochemistry to restore optimum health. However, what most people don’t know (and what most drug treatments ignore) is that more often than not, every person is unique, and where one person’s ADHD may be caused by gut imbalances, another’s might be caused by retained primitive reflexes.
Primitive reflexes are innate in every baby when it is born. They are responsible for causing stereotype responses to specific stimuli that are hardwired into the brain from birth. They are there to protect the baby in the first few vulnerable months of life, to defend the baby and seek for its own needs. Well recognised examples of primitive reflexes would be the rooting reflex for example, which is a response to stimuli on the face, encouraging a baby to turn its head and open the mouth, rooting or searching for the breast or bottle.
However, as a baby develops, those reflexes are no longer needed for protection, and should be gradually ‘inhibited’ and transformed into ‘postural’ reflexes or reactions. This later group of reflexes, both individually and collectively, give a child good subconscious control over posture, balance, and coordination, so the child doesn’t have to think about how to sit or stand. If all the postural reflexes are working correctly, the brain is then free to think about all the more important things such as processing information from the environment. Reflex integration is the process in which those primitive reflexes are inhibited in the first 6-12 months of life and are gradually replaced by postural reactions.
Children with retained primitive reflexes can appear to be similar to children with ADHD. They have difficulty sitting still in a normal, upright seated posture, often slouching, fidgeting, and having decreased attention to tabletop tasks. They may feel they’re ‘fighting against a perpetual invisible force’ as Sally Goddard phrased. This may be as a result of a retained spinal galant reflex for example. Those with a retained spinal galant will find that simply leaning against the back of the chair or the elastic of their waistband is enough to activate the reflex and inflict discomfort and irritation thus, translating into ‘fidgety’ behaviour.
Harald Blomeberg ‘Movements that Heal’ page 73 “Children who are easily disturbed and have display difficulties filtering out irrelevant sensory information may have a retained Moro reflex”. The Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex (TLR) helps the infant to adapt to ne gravitational conditions affecting muscle tone and proprioception ; “if the TLR is not integrated well into the whole body movement system then as the infant gets older every head movement backward and forward will continue to change muscle tone involuntarily which confused and stressed the balance centre “…reference page 74 …
Similarly, children with a retained STNR may experience discomfort sitting in a chair as the reflex works against their ability to maintain the intended upright posture. The child moves and adopts abnormal sitting postures because they can often find the conventional sitting posture to feel uncomfortable. This affects their ability to focus and is perceived as ‘fidgety’ behaviour. This ‘fidgety’ behaviour is characteristic of ADHD, but is merely the result of retained primitive reflexes.
At The Key Clinic, our NeuroMature therapy is a targeted neurodevelopmental exercise programme, designed to give the nervous system a second chance to develop and mature. We carry out an initial physical assessment that checks for any retained primitive reflexes and assesses balance, coordination, eye functioning, and hand-eye motor coordination, seeking aspects of neuromotor immaturity sufficient to explain some presenting difficulties. If immaturities are identified, we create a customised exercise programme designed to eliminate these frequent blockers of potential. Within the programme, we replicate normal infant movement patterns in a slow motion, stylised way, to give the brain and the body a second chance to remake the connections that should’ve been made the first time around to secure the remaking of those neurological pathways.
Our programme stimulates the brain via the body to heal itself. The brain’s ability to rewire itself is present throughout our lives and this is known as ‘neuroplasticity’. We achieve these neuroplastic changes without recourse to drugs (which often merely masks symptoms). This is achieved through movements and via the ears to encourage the brain to rewire itself in order to overcome former difficulties.
The next blog will explore our BrightBeatz™ auditory therapy which improves functioning with ADHD by re-educating the ears to hear in a more balanced way.