Why does SSP sometimes cause such extreme “adverse reactions”? Why is it so transformational for other people?

Emma Ashfield of Move2Connect and Carol Ann Rowland of Halton Therapy & Neurofeedback in Georgetown, Ontario explains…

This post contains vital information for remote clients of the Safe and Sound Protocol as well as for those researching the programme.

If you are looking for information on what the SSP is, please refer to this post – https://move2connect.com/2020/05/01/introducing-the-safe-and-sound-protocol-digital/

As you probably already know, the Safe and Sound Protocol is a five-hour listening programme, based on Dr Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory.

When we work with the nervous system, less is always more. “More” is like stretching a perished rubber band to breaking point – you’re bound to see side effects as a person grows into their “more”, whereas with less, a person can still grow into a more settled system, but gradually.

The Safe and Sound Protocol is designed to help a person process trauma as well as improve social engagement, language and cognition. The protocol was originally intended for children with developmental trauma as well as to improve social communication for children with autism, but it is in widespread use by psychotherapists and other trauma therapists globally for complex trauma in adults, as a powerful non-talking intervention that helps people to process trauma effectively.

Your practitioner NEEDS to be trauma-informed and it is essential that they also that they understand how to work with the nervous system. This means they need to be trained in trauma and understand both trauma and the polyvagal theory in depth. This doesn’t mean simply banding the word “trauma” around or citing a couple of books they’ve read. A practitioner MUST have a thorough knowledge of how the SSP works and they must work with you to ensure that they understand exactly how much listening you need every day as well as the volume you should use, whether to complete in clinic or digitally and so-on.

A thorough administration of SSP involves a lot of preparation and support on the part of both you and your practitioner, and success is equally dependent on you fully engaging with what you are doing as it is on your practitioner working ethically and knowledgeably with you.

Carol Ann Rowland of Halton Therapy & Neurofeedback in Georgetown, Ontario is an esteemed colleague and valuable member of the SSP practitioner community. I asked her to encapsulate why it is so important to find the right practitioner with the right level of experience and sensitivity – rather than focussing on price:

People looking for an SSP practitioner are often tempted to go with whoever has the lowest rate. Unfortunately, practitioners who strive to offer the lowest price are often cutting corners in how much time they are investing in their clients’ processes. At best this may lead to the process being much more difficult than it needs to be.  At worst, there is the potential that, if dysregulation gets big enough, that improvements may either be reduced or sabotaged completely.  In some cases the process will end up costing even more when intially taking a budget approach as it may become necessary to then find another practitioner who is able to help repair where things went wrong.  Worst of all, someone who has a difficult experience with SSP may never be willing to repeat it again, which is heartbreaking given that SSP can be life changing for many. With SSP I often see shifts that usually would have taken decades of hard work before showing up.  It is well worth investing in a quality practitioner who will ensure that you have the best and gentlest possible experience, while maximizing the potential for signficant improvements.

Carol-Ann Rowland

Let me give you a couple of case studies – one positive, one negative, in order to illustrate my point further about the importance of being trauma-informed.

Adverse reaction to SSP in a 6 year old

William, aged 6 did SSP last year at home with his parents. He had a history of lengthy hospital stays and trauma. It is worth mentioning that our health and social care system in the UK had not identified the link between invasive early childhood hospital stays and behaviour, and hence William had been placed on a diagnostic pathway for autism and ADHD.

His practitioner advised starting with 15 minutes of listening, but unfortunately his mother decided that because he was looking relaxed and happy while listening, she would leave him to listen and play with Lego while she went to do the dinner. She forgot he was listening, and he did a full hour. She admitted this to the practitioner, who took a deep breath re ignoring instructions, and said it would be wise to give it a break the following day. Unfortunately, this advice was not heeded, and so William did a second hour-long session the following day… after which he threw a cat down the stairs, kicked a hole in a shed door and threw his mother’s mobile phone in a fish pond. When his mother asked the practitioner whether this was a normal reaction, the answer had to be very measured considering the fact that all instructions had been completely ignored.

It took William FOUR months for anyone to see any benefits. By this time, he was on a final warning at school for violent outbursts. However, once he had settled, his progress was fantastic: he was able to vocalise his anger so much better, and in the meantime, sleep settled right down too.

Since the initial round of SSP, William’s mother has also done SSP for herself and he has had a repeat of days 3-5.

In fact, the above is still a positive result, despite appearing to be an adverse reaction. In fact, William was merely responding to his environment after being overwhelmed by too much challenge to his nervous system in one hit. It is also worth mentioning that the reason why an experienced practitioner may suggest that a parent also completes SSP themselves is that it is essential for parents to connect deeply with their children during this process. Leaving them to play Lego while they listen is not going to provide the magic bullet they think they are paying for, and neither is completely disregarding carefully given instructions.

A client rescued from a bad experience with a cut-price SSP experience with a practitioner, who did not offer any support during the programme

A mum contacted Move2Connect, desperate for help with her teenage son, who had got to day 4 of a third round of SSP and was suffering from extreme sensory overwhelm.

When Move2Connect asked when the previous rounds had been, we were alarmed to find that this parent was sharing physical SSP equipment with another 5 families – and using SSP once every 6 weeks! Given that SSP continues to take effect for up to 8 weeks post SSP, repeating quite so often is ill-advised.

We decided to complete day 5 of SSP, but VERY slowly (5 minutes every day or two, depending on reactions), and incorporating external (bodywork) support for the vagus and facial nerves.

The mother then followed up with a course of cranial osteopathy.

The teen went from being totally shut down (eyes tightly closed, hands clasped over ears, non-verbal, distressed, sleeping all the time), to smiling, relaxed facial muscles, laughter and expressing desires in language. A fantastic transformation!

Please beware of cut-price SSP practitioners, lack of supervision and lack of titration knowledge.

A wonderful experience for an adult with PTSD

Annabelle, a 40 year-old with PTSD following survival of a terrorism incident, first did SSP in December in clinic, following many years of talking therapies, EMDR and somatic experencing.

She completed the SSP in half hour slots on a Monday and Friday over 5 weeks. Even after her first half hour, she noticed incredible gains in terms of ability to connect with strangers. After completion of day 3, she had a job interview and got the job, where she remains happy to date. She completed the five-day protocol and reported a fantastic shift in terms of anxiety. However, she decided to undertake a booster of days 3-5 remotely using the Digital SSP in April 2020 due to stress over the Covid-19 situation, which she reports to have made her feel noticeably calmer and better able to sleep through the night without 3am wake-up-and-worry sessions.

What has happened, and why was this so successful? Annabelle fully engaged in the process. She researched SSP and the Polyvagal theory thoroughly in advance and engaged with her practitioner every single day to give the required feedback so the programme could be tweaked if necessary.

So, how do we avoid having a William situation, and ensure a peaceful Annabelle situation?

1. Research your provider.
2. How long have they been qualified to deliver SSP?
3. What is their background?
4. Don’t be scared to ask how many clients they have worked with.
5. What kind of client they specialise in?
6. Do they specialise in SSP or are they a jack of all trades?
7. Are they trauma-certified? Do they work with nervous systems as part of their discipline?
8. Ask them to explain how SSP works – can they do this clearly?
9. Ask what sort of side-effects they have seen and how they deal with them.
10. Do they ever refuse clients? (you want them to say yes, and explain why – you would also want them to explain that they cannot deal with those stuck in a “freeze” state, and will ideally need to see them face-to-face in clinic).
11. How do they work out how to work with clients?
12. How will communication take place during the protocol? (you want them to say that they are on call for you all the time by email and/or telephone).
13. What will happen post-SSP? What is their go-to follow up? Do they insist on you following their programme or do they have a network of other therapists they refer to?
14. How will they prepare you for SSP? How do they use the SSP Connect Programme?
15. In addition, are they strikingly cheap or strikingly expensive?
16. Do they have a website? Have a really good look around it and research several providers.

I have been providing SSP for getting on for three years now, and have worked with over 200 clients to date, with a variety of presentations and different nervous systems.

I have a mentorship programme for anyone wishing to incorporate SSP into their practice, and regularly advise and collaborate with Unyte-iLs on training/clinical practice.

For any questions about the Safe and Sound Protocol, either as a client or a practitioner, please contact me.

You have undoubtedly found this blog post because you have an interest in retained primitive reflexes.

Welcome!

Have you been thinking about doing it yourself? Either with YouTube videos, or even by purchasing an online course?

Or perhaps you have been trying a do-it-yourself approach, using books, videos and online off-the-shelf DIY training… In which case, have you seen the results you wanted over a period of time?

I remember when I first heard of primitive reflexes and how it was like bright lightbulb switching on. My son was always very slow to develop milestones, such as sitting and crawling, but once he had them, he’d do them beautifully. I always had a feeling that there MUST be a way of giving his development a little nudge and a confidence boost. The concept of retained reflexes made absolute sense.

So the first thing I did was to google. I googled like mad. I found YouTube videos and watched them avidly.

I didn’t do any of the movements/exercises that I found on youtube for myself, though – nor did I get my children to do them. I thought that if it’s that simple, why would people charging money to see people in person?

So we went to see a practitioner… and eventually, I started training myself, having seen miraculous change – you know my story already if you’ve been following my page for a while!

I have recently had a couple of prospective clients who have told me that they’ve been following YouTube videos to integrate reflexes, and I’ve been trying to find a polite way to explain why this isn’t a good idea. I’ve also seen people asking about this in various online support forums, and my response would always be to see a professional.

In once case, I noticed that someone had been doing this by themselves from books for the last three years. Apparently, things had moved very fast in the first couple of months, but thereafter, had plateaued.

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.

Gill Brooksmith, an educational kinesiologist, who has been working with reflex integration for twenty years or so has worked with a client who had trawled the internet and applied everything she had garnered day in and day out to her child.

The child was completely discombobulated and struggled with proprioception – he had absolutely no idea where he was in space. By working gently with the child, she was able to rebuild her foundations”.

It took quite a while to gently integrate. We have reflexes for a purpose and they need to seamlessly slide in and out, propping one moment, integrating the next. We are perfectly created, we only need gentle tweaking with love.

Gill Brooksmith – educational kinesiologist, RMTi, Touch for health and BrainGym trainer, and owner of developing the brain

Svetlana Robertson is a neuro-developmental therapist based in Bedfordshire. Like me, she has worked extensively with her own family before qualifying in reflex integration and the Safe and Sound Protocol herself. I asked Svetlana whether it would be possible a person who has just discovered the concept of retained reflexes to identify ALL the reflexes affecting themselves or their child, using YouTube and books. This is what she says:

If you have just discovered the concept – and this is one good feature of YouTube videos and online research overall – if that made you think about the concept and start looking into it in more detail – this is where the role of YouTube ends. It is useful to wonder, observe and research, and some parts of your observations may prove correct. However, there are so many nuances within each individual reflex pattern, and there are so many reflex patterns, interrelated intricately, that YouTube is powerless to fully address and explain.

I then asked what the dangers of parents (or even other professionals, for that matter) self training, using videos from YouTube or online reflex integration training courses. Svetlana says:

At best, a lot of time will be spent with not much progress. It is, however, possible to confuse the body even further which may mean worsening of the deficits we are trying to address and creating new difficulties, having to ‘undo’ even more counterproductive movement patterns with a qualified specialist. In both cases, one would end up going to a qualified specialist to address the problem. The assessment and recommended movements may look very easy and simple in the videos – it is deceptive however; many people who come to train in reflex integration admit that they only started understanding it when they practised the process over the course of many months, sometimes years. One has to work in person with a qualified specialist to ensure the correct process is being followed

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 years of practice to fully understand how this works enough to unravel a child’s difficulties sufficiently to make consistent, visible progress.

Additionally, an experienced 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.

Please, folks, just don’t try this at home!

I have been working with a child who has all the dys- specific learning difficulties: dyslexia, dyscalculia (the maths equivalent of dyslexia), dysgraphia (extreme handwriting challenges) and dyspraxia (a lack of spatial/temporal awareness/personal organisation), as well as ADHD, both with and without hyperactivity.

Through movement and work with his Fear Paralysis and Moro reflexes, I’ve seen him shift from having extreme sensory challenges and very poor social skills to being better connected with reduced sensory meltdowns – they are still there, but dramatically reduced. Through working with his Asymmetrical Tonic Neck reflexes, I saw him suddenly start to ride a bike by himself. However, although reading has become easier – and something he wants to do voluntarily now, his maths has been completely stuck – approximately two and a half years behind his year group.

Recently we decided to do the Safe and Sound Protocol – a five-hour listening programme, which reduces anxiety by bringing a person out of their fight/flight/freeze/fawn cycle and into their social engagement system by stimulating the cranial nerves.

It sounds like a very strange approach – after all, how can a listening programme help learning? Well, essentially, if we are living in survival mode, down in our brainstem, connections to our emotional and rational/thinking brain do not work as efficiently. This will affect learning before we even get into how strongly retained reflexes are.

So, we recently did SSP together. I facilitated a session together with the mother, in person. I then allowed them to do the protocol at home with daily calls from me.

In this child’s case, fortunately the only obvious side effect while on the protocol was extreme fatigue and a couple of sulks with friends, both easily resolved through early nights and lots of cuddles and understanding from mum.

However, a week later, I received a call to say that this little guy had suddenly been put up a reading level, his handwriting has improved, and he is now able to do the “floss” rapidly. She sent me a video of him saying “hey, look at me”, wiggling in a coordinated fashion at a rate of knots! This was a child who’d had NO rhythm at all when I started working with him.

The significance of being able to perform rhythmic movements AND being able to cross the “midline” (an imaginary line from your nose to your navel, which those with specific learning difficulties often have challenges crossing with their hands/arms/legs) is enormous – it is a sign that both sides of the brain are working in together.

I’m writing this piece because I’m astounded at the shift – I was expecting a shift in anxiety and social awareness – but not in “dys”s. I’m waiting for further updates, but was so excited that I wanted to get this down in writing.

I have been working with a child who has all the dys- specific learning difficulties: dyslexia, dyscalculia (the maths equivalent of dyslexia), dysgraphia (extreme handwriting challenges) and dyspraxia (a lack of spatial/temporal awareness/personal organisation).

Through movement and work with his Fear Paralysis and Moro reflexes, I’ve seen him shift from having extreme sensory challenges and very poor social skills to being better connected with reduced sensory meltdowns – they are still there, but dramatically reduced. Through working with his Asymmetrical Tonic Neck reflexes, I saw him suddenly start to ride a bike by himself. However, although reading has become easier – and something he wants to do voluntarily now, his maths has been completely stuck – approximately two and a half years behind his year group.

Recently we decided to do the Safe and Sound Protocol – a five-hour listening programme, which reduces anxiety by bringing a person out of their fight/flight/freeze/fawn cycle and into their social engagement system by stimulating the cranial nerves.

It sounds like a very strange approach – after all, how can a listening programme help learning? Well, essentially, if we are living in survival mode, down in our brainstem, connections to our emotional and rational/thinking brain do not work as efficiently. This will affect learning before we even get into how strongly retained reflexes are.

So, we recently did SSP together. I facilitated a session together with the mother, in person. I then allowed them to do the protocol at home with daily calls from me.

In this child’s case, fortunately the only obvious side effect while on the protocol was extreme fatigue and a couple of sulks with friends, both easily resolved through early nights and lots of cuddles and understanding from mum.

However, a week later, I received a call to say that this little guy had suddenly been put up a reading level, his handwriting has improved, and he is now able to do the “floss” rapidly. She sent me a video of him saying “hey, look at me”, wiggling in a coordinated fashion at a rate of knots! This was a child who’d had NO rhythm at all when I started working with him.

The significance of being able to perform rhythmic movements AND being able to cross the “midline” (an imaginary line from your nose to your navel, which those with specific learning difficulties often have challenges crossing with their hands/arms/legs) is enormous – it is a sign that both sides of the brain are working in together.

I’m writing this piece because I’m astounded at the shift – I was expecting a shift in anxiety and social awareness – but not in “dys”s. I’m waiting for further updates, but was so excited that I wanted to get this down in writing.

Here you are, walking your parenting tightrope.

You are considering therapy for your struggling child.

The Safe and Sound Protocol is still not so widely known about in the United Kingdom, so it may not be your first port of call.

The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is a five-hour auditory therapy based on the Polyvagal Theory, which trains the middle ear to filter out low and high frequencies, to focus on the prosody of the human voice – mid-range frequencies.

It should, hopefully, one day be the go-to therapy for attachment disorders, anxiety and trauma. This is because, unlike most other auditory interventions, it is based on more than four decades of solid science.

The Safe and Sound Protocol was originally marketed to help those with ASD with auditory processing disorders and anxiety, but as the Polyvagal Theory grows in fame, and is introduced into Psychology degrees and trauma therapies, people are starting to talk.

However, it is not just a question of giving a practitioner a call, ordering the SSP and doing it by yourself. Any practitioner prepared to allow unsupervised, unmonitored listening should be avoided, as should anyone who tells you this is a five day intervention, that it’s non-invasive or that it is suitable for anyone.

A person who does not feel safe cannot access their emotions or executive functions. You might find this simplified explanation of the way the brain deals with threat by Dan Siegel useful:

In order for a child to use the Safe and Sound Protocol, practitioners should be assessing parents as much as the child they are working with.

Let me give you an example of what we’ve seen repeatedly:

Parents who want a quick fix their child.

It is natural. We all want to do the best for our children!

Guess what: the Safe and Sound Protocol *may* be able to help. However, the key to SSP is understanding the concept of Neuroception, and how a child’s environment needs to be SAFE and GROUNDED in order for them to benefit.

You see, children will pick up on their children’s anxieties and reflect them back, and then some. I fell into this trap too – we threw money at our child, but not at ourselves.

We also see parents who want to race their child through SSP in the week before school starts. They get annoyed when we say no, because why would we not want to help? We are saying no precisely because we DO want to help, and because we want your children to make progress with the SSP.

We sometimes have parents ask why they need supervision and monitoring through SSP, mistaking it for programmes such as Tomatis or Johansen, which do not need any supervision.

We see parents totally unprepared for their appointments with us – they haven’t even looked at my preparation page, for example, let alone signed their agreement. People who have not done any background reading or preparation will more than likely not benefit long term from SSP.

Additionally, we have enquiries from parents whose children are on programmes with other practitioners, who use other modalities. We tend to turn these people away too, because we respect our colleagues and do not want to interfere with their programmes. If you are on another programme, please clear it with your practitioner and get them to contact me to confirm BEFORE you request SSP with me.

On the other hand, we sometimes see parents who are desperate to go through the process themselves first! This really is music to our ears – literally. By first working with a parent, a child will have a supportive role model to work with. A parent who can engage with the process and recognise and regulate their own autonomic state is absolute gold, and a sign that SSP will bring positive change, removing those barriers to social engagement and learning.

If you would like to know more about why it is so important to be in tune with your own nervous system before you can work with your child, please watch the following TED talk by the author of Grounded, Claire Wilson:

For support with your neuroplasticity journey from other parents, moderated by professionals, please join this Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/739754809477939/

Our Facebook page for the Safe and Sound Protocol is at https://www.facebook.com/SafeandSoundProtocolSSPUK/ and website www.safeandsoundprotocol.co.uk