10/03/2026
The validity of Reflex Integration.
This is a great post by a fellow reflex integration practitioner explaining why reflex integration is so important and the history of this cutting edge therapeutic modality that is ever evolving and requires specific training.
As a mum of three, when the medical and educational professions could not explain why my children were not achieving their full potential, I had to dig deep to find the missing piece of the puzzle.
This led me to training with INPP Ltd and becoming a holistic developmental trauma specialist.
There seems to have been a spate of negative social media surrounding the subject of reflex integration as a therapeutic intervention. There are a few misinformed posts circulating. None of them written from an actual experience of the work. Isn't that interesting?
I would like to address some of the common concerns. I apologise for this long post...
* Research papers
One of the main criticisms is apparently a lack of independent research. The drivers behind a lot of research, are people who work with reflex integration day by day. The therapy is not widely understood beyond those circles. To get independent research done, requires a lot of money and also researchers who actually understand the work. You cannot understand, unless you have training. So, a bit of a catch-22 situation.
Another criticism seems to be that the research is restricted to their chosen modality. Given that that is how they know to work with reflex integration, how can we expect anything different? It is also a way of testing and monitoring that their modalities do work and do get results.
However, the body of research is growing. I do have a seven page document with hyperlinks to research. If you would like a copy, please message me, as I am not able to load it here.
* Training in Reflex Integration:
As a therapeutic practise, we are still in early stages of development, relatively speaking. So, it is run by small networks of therapeutic approaches, such as: MNRI, INPP, RMTi, Melillo Method, QRI and many, many more.
I do wish there would be a collaboration of understanding from all modalities and approaches. They all have their strengths and their weaknesses. They are all constantly evolving - striving to be better, striving for more understanding and reflection. Collaboration would be awesome, but as yet, that is not the case.
We are also a very long way from seeing it adopted at university level or degree status - though that would be truly wonderful to see. This would require well trained lecturers who understand the developmental implications of reflexes, not just patterns that are tested in paediatric assessments.
Why do we test for primitive reflexes? Why should all babies respond, if it didn't matter for ongoing development?
Research into the individual function of reflexes have actually been ongoing for over fifty years. And still we are being accused of making things up, of being questionable as a practise. Please can someone tell me why paying attention to the foundations of development is so terrible?
So, unfortunately, if you want to train in this work and understand it more, you do have to go through one of the groups that are more internationally active and recognised. Yes, I would like to see the quality of training more regulated and monitored. It would be great to have one world-wide governing body monitoring and regulating the quality and understanding.
* Claims at curing neurological differences:
No self-respecting properly trained reflex integration therapist/neurodevelopmental therapist would or should make such claims. We are an educational approach - teaching nervous systems how to regulate sensory processing and motion, more efficiently, more effortlessly and strengthening the nervous system in the process. The simple difference, is that we go back to the original building blocks and do the best we can to ensure the nervous system puts them into place. The goal, is always to increase an individuals access to choice. Choice around how they are able to understand their bodies in space, choice around regulating safety and attachment, choice around motion, choice around emotional regulation. As reflexes integrate, the foundation blocks for neurological resource, strengthens. Reducing the level of challenge one lives with, is always the goal. Retained primitive reflexes are simply one piece of the puzzle when trying to understand a person's level of difficulty with life and living.
* It's just monetising movement:
This argument floors me. We are human beings. We are created to be able to execute incredibly complex movement. Please tell me which therapeutic movement programs are not monetised? Occupational Therapy? Physical Therapy? Chiropractic? Osteopathy? Sport? Tai Chi, Martial Arts, Gym workouts.
I could go on.
These have all been around for a lot longer and have had more time to become accepted as therapeutic intervention, when dysfunctional motion is identified. The difference with reflex integration, is that we go back to the original building blocks of motion. We want to make sure the reflex arcs for motion have actually been able to connect in the nervous system. The more they connect and fulfil their role in our nervous system development, the more efficient the connections between different hubs in the brain, become.
Yes, there are some modalities out there who charge an eye-watering amount for their treatment. But, not all of them are like that. It's the same with all movement based interventions, whether they recognise, or understand the role of primitive reflexes or not.
You pay for the cost of training they have undergone, to build their understanding and you pay for their experience. As you would for anything.
* Reflex Integration is:
Reflex Integration is about looking at the whole child/ the whole person. We are looking to connect dots, as to why difficulties exist in the first place. Trying to identify the root cause, is the key and finding a solution. Can we reteach the nervous system to fulfil what it struggled to do, earlier? Can we give the nervous system a second chance?
We do not believe in coping strategies or having to learn to compensate. But we do recognise the nervous system's extraordinary capacity to do this. We see it again and again in the work we do.
Reflex Integration is always functional. Reflex integration should respect the state of a nervous system and work with each individual, with kindness and care. As function improves, this is evidence that neurological connections and synapses are firing better. Sensory processing and motion are a complex dance within the neurology of our brains. This is a key piece of our training, too. Everything is connected.
* What are Primitive Reflexes?
Primitive Reflexes primary role is to teach us how to survive. How to thrive. They teach us how to move. How to control our muscles optimally and our senses in balance. So, whenever they have not been able to fulfil their role, it can lead to our nervous systems having to adapt and compensate. Compensation takes effort.
Retained reflexes simply means that the reflexes have not fulfilled their role yet. As a consequence, the brain apportions energy in different ways. Integration = more effortless function.
Retained reflexes are connected to Sensory Processing Difficulties. They underpin our ability to develop the senses in the first place.
If the nervous system is struggling to process sensory processing, there is a reason. We function by how well we process sensory information from inside us, as well as from outside of us. The efficiency of that input, then determines the efficiency of the motor output. It is how our nervous systems function.
If a primitive reflex has fulfilled its developmental role in our nervous system, then our brain masters voluntary control over the movement pattern and it can always call on it, when the demand is there. We can function in a more balanced, effortless way.
Primitive reflexes have a crucial role to play in our nervous system development and our function. They are not a disease. They are not something we have to get rid of. They are not something to be feared. They simply need a little help to do what they were originally designed to do. They should emerge, develop and integrate or transform into lifelong postural control. Therapists who work with retained reflexes, are trained to understand this developmental journey and identify when an individual may need help with integration. Different modalities approach integration in different ways.
Retained primitive reflexes are far more common, than you would think. It simply depends on how much of an impact they have on your function, and if you would like to invite your nervous systems to develop stronger resources.
Most children and adults who come to us, have already tried many, many other things to help them. For me personally, it was the missing link after seven years of other interventions, for my son. Hence why I am here, today. Many parents and trainees I have worked with over the years, will say exactly the same - but of course that is anecdotal. It's not research.
