Brain balance has a bottom up approach to achievement. Rather than focus on tutoring a child with academic challenges, or finding programs for behavioral challenges, they start from the bottom (developmentally speaking) and move up from there. At the bottom of the pyramid are primitive reflexes. Brain balance tests for eight of these and scores each one. Level 4 is the highest level, meaning that particular reflex is still at the level of a newborn. The reflex hasn't been integrated at all. Level 0 means the reflex doesn't show up anymore. At level 0, the reflex has been fully integrated. New, more efficient neural pathways have been created, which basically takes things from a state of survival (which the infant needs) to exploration and learning (where a toddler should be). When primitive reflexes are fully integrated, higher level learning is more efficient.
So what are primitive reflexes? They're reflexes developed in the womb (mostly) that are meant to aid in the birth process and help an infant survive when he/she is born. Most people have heard about the sucking reflex and many are also familiar with the rooting reflex. Both reflexes aid the infant in feeding, an extremely important aspect of survival. Many people have also experienced the death grip an infant has when they put their finger against the palm of an infant. That, too, happens automatically. It's a primitive reflex. I knew all this before my reading began. What I didn't realize was how many reflexes infants have. There are a whole heck of a lot of them and if they don't get fully integrated, they can cause all sorts of different problems in development.
Brain balance tests for eight primitive reflexes and works on integrating those reflexes. There is actually a lot of research around retained primitive reflexes and their effect on child development, and yet it doesn't seem to be common knowledge, even within the medical field. Doctors know about infant reflexes and pediatricians test infants for them, but I don't know of any pediatricians that test toddlers to see if they still have them present after a year. I'm not sure why that is exactly, but it's so strange to me.
Why do primitive reflexes matter? Basically it's less efficient wiring of the brain. It causes kids (and adults) to react to a given situation automatically rather than being able to fully think it through and decide how to react. It keeps one or more areas of development (behavioral, emotional, cognitive) at the survival stage instead of fully allowing higher level thinking to take place. The degree to which it affects children varies greatly, but basically that's the best way I can think to describe it. I'll try to explain it in a little greater detail and give examples when I talk about each reflex individually.
There are a lot of reasons this can happen. I find myself picking apart every little detail of my life and finding ways to blame myself for the challenges my children are facing. Not exactly healthy. A lot of it is difficult to control. Stress and nutrition before and during pregnancy (in both women and men), environmental toxins, long, difficult deliveries, cesarean delivery, premature birth, etc. The list of risk factors is extensive and a bit overwhelming. In my opinion, it is best to focus on these types of details before you have children to help give your children the best chance of proper development possible. It is also helpful when trying to decide if your children may have retained primitive reflexes to be aware of things that may increase the likelihood. However, I think the tendency to blame oneself for a learning disability or behavior problem is unhealthy. Most parents are doing the best they can and truly want the best for their children. So dwelling on the past too much can be detrimental. If you want more details, I highly recommend purchasing "Disconnected Kids" by Dr. Robert Melillo. He discusses many risk factors in great detail. There is also a genetic factor that he believes affects 38% of children with a brain imbalance. The other 62% is thought to be environmental. I believe our clan happens to fall into the 38% that is genetically predisposed to some crossed wires in the brain, although for sure there are environmental factors that influenced the development of our children.
So for the purpose of this post, I will not go into great detail about why a child may end up with retained primitive reflexes. We parents have enough guilt. However, there are two I will discuss because I feel that they have a much bigger impact on child development than we realize, and parents actually have a great deal of control over these two factors. The first one is movement (or lack thereof), and the second one is screen time. Here's the thing. In order to integrate primitive reflexes, infants need A LOT of movement. We're not talking active toddlers here. I'm talking about little babies. Their movements are small and seemingly insignificant most of the time, but they're actually super important. Lying on their tummy, lifting their head off the ground, turning their head, focusing their eyes on moving objects, putting their hands and feet in their mouth and realizing they're attached to them, etc. It's actually hard work being a baby! Those little movements have to happen over and over again in order for a new and better neural pathway to be formed and eventually utilized. So...what does that really mean?
Limit contraptions as much as possible. Yes, we have to strap infants in car seats, but don't leave them in there when you're not driving. Put them in their bed, on the floor, or carry them. They need to feel natural movement and have the ability to move their head, neck, arms, legs, and feet as often as possible. So basically everything you can avoid, just do. Bouncy chairs, swings, saucers, etc. Swings serve a purpose because they are at least rocking the infant, but they still limit head movement so it's best to use them occasionally and not solely rely on them. Infant contraptions are necessary sometimes and impossible to avoid altogether, but the tendency today is to overuse them. Less is best for sure!
Limit screen time. Every time I mention this one, people get nervous. They already think they are limiting screen time or they justify what screen time they do give their kids because it's "educational." To give you an idea of what is meant by limiting screen time, Dr. Melillo suggests that children should not even see a screen before the age of 3. In Brain Balance, they limit screen time to 30 minutes a day. You can save up your screen time over the week and use it in a larger chunk if you want. That's what we have opted to do. My kids generally watch one movie a week (90ish minutes). They save up and usually watch a movie on Friday night. We have chosen not to do more than that during the week because school often requires some screen time and that way we feel they still stay under the recommended time allotment even if they have to watch a 5 minute YouTube video about Shakespeare or complete a math assignment on the computer. We have always been careful about screen time and I'm sure are quite extreme compared to most, but when we started the program, we realized how much more we had to limit. We still do not own video game systems or ipads. Part of that was a decision we made long ago, part of it is financial, and now the decision is based on what we believe our kids need. I know it's tempting to use the TV as a babysitter so you can shower or make dinner. I SO GET IT!! My boys had way more screen time when they were toddlers and preschoolers than I wish they would have. They were educational shows and "good wholesome" programs. They even helped them learn their letters and numbers. But they were not what they needed. Movement and sensory experiences are what young children need. Period. Love, a healthy environment, nutritious food, and lots of sensory experiences - hearing music, smelling a flower, feeling mud and water between their fingers and toes, tasting healthy foods with different textures, etc.
Because I feel that primitive reflexes are SUPER important, I'm going to try to explain each one in greater detail in future posts. Hopefully it won't be a month before my next post. ;)
