Primitive Reflexes?I've seen that webpage before but with different tests. MY computer won't let me view them. Says something about plug-in not working. I will try to get DH to help me. I really want to view those videos. Thanks! I got that message the first time I clicked on one of the movies, but when I clicked on "see it big" (or something like that, the middle button anyhow) it worked.Yeh, I tried that also the first time I saw it. I'll see what DH can do.I found these links on reflexes, with short films of simple neuro tests for babies/toddlers and adults, but I couldn't find the pigeon-toe or penguin walk tests in either of them. Thought I'd give you the links anyways: http://library.med.utah.edu/neurologicexam/html/introduction .html - adults http://library.med.utah.edu/pedineurologicexam/html/home_exa m.html - babies/toddlers That is the most interesting article about crawling. My son didn't crawl he had the asymetrical movement where he dragged himself on the floor and scooted his leg underneath, like was described in the article. Wow... I had no idea that was a sign of autism... Not sure if this is related or not but in the field of ADHD a few researchers believe that some ADHD is a result of The Asymetrical tonic neck reflex ( sp) ....they wrote a book called Stopping ADHD and have a protocal of various crawling exercises that they recommend to mature this reflex.Makes me want to get the baby pics out to check! Finally found SOMETHING ANYTHING on the pigeon-toe stuff. This Washington Post article describes kids undergoing Sensory Motor Integration therapy at GMS Institute. "Other kids were tracking footsteps arranged in pigeon-toe and duck-walk patterns to stimulate their reflexes." http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A20533-2004Nov29?la nguage=printer Here's GMI's website. Looks like we might find some information there, but I don't have time to browse there this morning. http://www.gmskids.com/smi/smiindex.html Has anyone had these tests done? Believe it or not, our vision therapist told me that there was a simple way to test for some reflex-motor integration issues. My 8y HFA son doesn't even have VT but I was talking about his handwriting to him. The simple test: Stand like a penguin---toes out. Walk. If the arms straighten with palms/inside of arms face out----not normal. Stand pigeon toed---toes in. Walk. If elbows go up, forearms dangle down-- 90 degree or so position----not normal. To my utter surprise---I tried this on my son. He could not even get his feet into the positions. I had to manually position them. He tried walking and couldn't. He could take 1-2 tiny steps. Not normal at all! As soon as I put him pigeon-toed, his elbows popped right up into the weird position without even walking. I guess it has to do with the sensory issue of propriceptive-motor integration. I could not really find anything about these simple tests the VT told me about. I did find something interesting though: http://www.learning-connections.org.uk/2005/12/inhibition-of -primitive-reflexes-to_02.html I believe that some of these tests are tests a neurologist might try. The human body will show physical symptoms of neurological dysfunction. A good OT eval can spot this, too, as yours did. One of the classic things doctors do as a screening for a possible neurological issue is have you cross your knees and hit the knee. If the knee doesn't automatically pop up, that is an indication of a neurological issue. Autism IS neurological (as opposed to psychiatric). Since it affects volutary behavior, it oftentimes gets treated through a psychiatrist, but it is actually something that is hard-wired into the individual's brain, so it's considered "neurobiological."OMG, Holly_WA, why haven't I heard of this before?!!! I did some further research at the "University of Google" and found some stuff I think might interest you. I sure don't expect you to read every link, but I've put a very short summary and my comments about each, and I'm very interested in what you think about this whole issue. I'm definitely going to try those tests of yours when the boys come home from school. Primitive reflexes and autism Do you remember doctors checking to see if reflexes had disappeared during well-child check-ups? I don't remember reflexes being covered except for at the newborn stage. Since all doctors are trained to check reflexes, I think this would be something that we could have doctors check (especially if we're trying to monitor the development of a younger sibling because the older sibling is on the spectrum). The big name in this area of autism is research is Teitelbaum (a married couple out of the University of Florida). Here's a quote from their work: "As shown earlier by us, almost all of the movement disturbances in autism can be interpreted as infantile reflexes "gone astray"; i.e., some reflexes are not inhibited at the appropriate age in development, whereas others fail to appear when they should. This phenomenon appears to apply to AS as well. Based on preliminary results, a simple test using one such reflex is proposed for the early detection of a subgroup of children with AS or autism." This video is a good introduction to their work: http://cbs2chicago.com/health/Asperger.s.University.2.318683 .html - news video that shows how to do the tilt test with babies. Click on the text to the right where it says "Researchers have new theory on detecting autism" Here are their 2 original articles by Teitelbaum: http://www.movementnotation.com/publications/docs/ReflexesGo neAstray.pdf - "Infantile Reflexes Gone Astray in Autism" by Teitelbaum et al. Includes photos of babies turning over. I remember my oldest son didn't turn over the right way, but unfortunately I don't think I have it on tape. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/101/32/11909 - Abstract from "Eshkol-Wachman movement notation in diagnosis: The early detection of Asperger's syndrome" by Teitelbaum et al. Eshkol-Wachman is simply a way of writing down movements, originally developed for dance. The above quote was from this abstract. Here are some articles on their work in the mainstream press: http://www.autismspeaks.org/science/research/initiatives/bio marker_initiative.php - Current research building off of Teitelbaum's work. http://www.autcom.org/articles%5CMovementRelationship.html - More on Teitelbaum's work, which talks a little more about gait. http://news.ufl.edu/2004/07/26/autismmove/ - reader-friendly article on Teitelbaum's work, which mentions that putting the child on a swing can help. My younger son had an infant swing and had a much more normal development. My older son did not have an infant swing and had strong vestibular issues, but ended up seeking out swinging when he got to school age (self help!). http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6201-strange-movements -may-signal-autism.html - "Strange movements may signal autism" article in New Scientist. Mentions the "Moebius mouth" but I couldn't find a picture of it. Potential treatments: 1) Brain Gym http://www.centeredge.com/article2a.htm - examples of kids with different problems related to unresolved primitive reflexes. This article is connected with Brain Gym, which is the subject of scientific skepticism according to Wiki. 2) Applied Kinesiology Chiropractics http://www.yourbodyworks.com.au/Retained-Neonatal-Reflexes-p g4855.html - the problem with primitive reflexes is also called "retained neonatal reflexes". This article is from an Applied Kinesiology Chiropractic clinic. I wonder if we have any here in Norway??? 3) Vision therapy (starts with Behavioral Optometric Exam) http://www.minnesotavisiontherapy.com/retained_reflexes.aspx 4) Others??? Misc. http://www.autismone.org/uploads/2006/Rentschler%20Mary%20re flexes.doc - An outline overview of various reflexes and how to assess and treat. Awesome links! Thank you! My son doesn't even have OT. My 11y dd has OT and VT. It was the eye Dr telling me about these tests. How he would know---I don't know. I will mention it to dd's OT and hopefully get Jacob re-eval'd. She used to work on sensory only stuff. Never any reflex-motor skills. He really never did need it. I notice more uncoordination the older he gets. I tried to test my boys this evening, but they had a heck of a time walking with their feet pointed out or in for long enough for me to observe their arms. But I think I saw a problem with my eldest son. And my gut feeling is that retained primitive reflexes do in fact play a part in his developmental delay.
Here's the full version of "Eshkol-Wachman movement notation in diagnosis: The early detection of Asperger's syndrome" by Teitelbaum et al. (I only had the abstract above). It included an illustration of the Moebius mouth. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/101/32/11909 OMG!!!! I took dd to the dr;s when she was like three weeks old when she wasn't using her left side at all. The dr did agree with me that it was not normal but had no idea what was going on. Thank goodness he didn;t think I was crazy!!! DD had mri and x-rays but physically she is fine. But she does have autism. wow that is some intersesting articles Problems with primitive reflexes would probably fall under the term "neurological soft signs", a term I just learned today. "Neurological soft signs (NSS) may be defined as minor abnormalities in the neurological examination in the absence of other features of fixed or transient neurological disorder.1 They have been associated with behaviour,1 2 coordination,3and learning difficulties.4 Other authors believe they represent a developmental lag rather than a fixed abnormality.5 Studies have found a high incidence of soft signs in children following premature6 or low birthweight7 birth, meningitis,8 and malnutrition.9 10 " "Six neurological soft signs were assessed following the protocol devised by Shafer and colleagues.12 The signs assessed were stereognosis, graphaesthesia, dysdiadokokinesis, mirror movements, motor speed, and involuntary movements." Stereognosis - being able to tell what an object is by touching it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzBW529ToZo Graphaesthesia - being able to tell what is written on the skin without looking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCITnfTG57g Dysdiadokokinesis -ability to do rapidly alternating movements. It is commonly demonstrated by asking the patient to tap the palm of one hand with the fingers of the other, then rapidly turn over the fingers and tap the palm with the back of them, repeatedly. This movement is known as a pronation/supination test of the upper extremity. A simpler method using this same concept is to ask the patient to demonstrate the movement of trying a door knob or screwing in a lightbulb. When testing for this condition in legs ask the patient to tap your hand as quickly as possible with the ball of each foot in turn. Movements tend to be slow or awkward. The feet normally perform less well than the hands. [1] Motor speed - this is often checked with a finger-tapping test. Good description here. http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/Halstead-Reitan-Battery .html Involuntary movements includes tremors and tics Mirror movements - "In a normal infant there is tendency for movements of one limb to be accompanied by similar involuntary movement of the opposite limb. This tends to disappear before ten years of age coincident with myelination of corpus callosum. Persistence of this involuntary, synkinetic movement of one side of the body, usually the hands, that occurs as mirror reversal of movements of opposite limb is considered pathologic." A book called "Primary Care Pediatrics" says that the tongue moving while writing is an example of mirror movements. (The book can be viewed on google books) "Primary Care Pediatrics" also says to check coordination by having the child run the heel along the opposite shin and have the child's thumb touch his fingers in rapid succession (the opposite hand should not show mirror movements).
Interesting articles! Thank you thank you, as always!! |
||
|
Copyright Autism-PDD.net |