You have undoubtedly found this blog post because you have an interest in retained primitive reflexes. Welcome!
At this point, you might be wondering what reflex integration going to cost you. I’m afraid that the answer is: how long is a piece of string? Every person is a complex web of experiences, reflexes, trauma, and established compensation. For this reason it’s not possible to predict how long someone will need to see a therapist.
It has been discovered that it is possible to create new synapses into old age. This means that we all have the potential to make changes if we want to.
In order to make positive changes, it is necessary to engage fully with your therapist. Video your sessions, if required, so that you have an accurate record of how to perform movements along with any little tips you might forget once you get home.
It is also EXTREMELY important to follow the programme you are given EVERY SINGLE DAY – no days off for holidays, birthdays etc. When you pay your fee to your therapist, you are making a serious commitment to make positive change. The odd lapse isn’t going to matter too much, but it’s when parents tell me they haven’t noticed a difference, and I then discover that they did the movements for about two days that I find slightly annoying.
It is also very important to know that if the very foundational reflexes have not been integrated, emotions and behaviour will be more than likely be negatively affected. That is why it is important to understand that when a professional assesses, we are looking at the earliest point at which development was disrupted – that is where we start.
The other thing I’ve heard people say is “oh yes, we did primitive reflexes, but he/she plateaued after a while so we didn’t think it was worth continuing”. Or people say it simply hasn’t made any difference, in which case, I would question whether they have been doing exactly as they’ve been told. And is there REALLY no change? Most of the time there is, but it can be very subtle – especially at the start. Additionally, if you are not consistent in doing the movements regularly – at least five times a week – you will not see such rapid or obvious change.
Even when we work with clients and show them movements and explain signs of overwhelm, we tend to get people thinking that the more they do, the faster it will “work” – this is NOT the case at all – it’s always a case of less is more when working with a sensitive central nervous system.
In particular with the Safe and Sound Protocol, I’ve had parents simply not able to take in what I tell them, who have then massively overstimulated their child, who, surprise suprise, then has a huge meltdown or dreadful sleep disturbances because they are in overwhelm. Proof of how important it is to work with someone who knows what they are doing – and LISTEN – and ask questions… because there are NEVER any silly questions, and you can never ask the same thing too many times.
The other option is to train yourself by going on courses with RMTi or MNRI, but the caveat here is that it will take several rounds of training sessions and several months or years of practice to fully understand how this works enough to unravel a child’s difficulties sufficiently to make consistent, visible progress. So whether this is efficient really depends on whether you are prepared to spend a lot of money repeating training courses.
On the matter of cost, your therapist has trained hard to become an expert in what they do. Discounts are not necessarily appropriate. If you want efficient and effective therapy that will make a noticeable, positive change, I’m afraid it is not cheap – and nor should it be. Your therapist also needs to pay for room hire, ongoing training, stationery, etc, as well as being able to pay their own bills every month. So please don’t ask for a discount.
Additionally, a good neuro-developmental therapist will know their limits and when to refer to a cranial osteopath, when to use the Safe and Sound Protocol or refer for a therapeutic listening programme, or when to give a person’s system a break to allow integration.
Neuro-developmental therapy is NOT magic. We understand how it works in order to give the nervous system a second chance to create those all-important brain-body connections: This is science in action.
Shop around, find a therapist you like and trust, and stick with the programme religiously. Ideally, you should book in for sessions every four weeks, as it takes a couple of weeks to form the new synapses and a couple more for new patterns to become established. The best way to do this is to NOT wander out of the session without booking another one: pin your therapist down and make a follow-up appointment there and then.
That is how you make a commitment for ongoing change.
And making a commitment is how you will see the best possible progress.
