Primary Movement Program and Dyslexia

The program focuses on retained reflexes that interfere with the normal functioning of the child. It aims to encourage these reflexes to integrate into the body properly as should have happened when the child was younger. The child follows a movement pattern that has been prescribed by a qualified Primary Movement teacher. It is done at home and takes about ten minutes, five times a week. It does not require any special equipment and calls for minimal adult supervision. The practical benefits are, that in order to follow the program, the student is not required to attend a clinic nor is a professional required to come to their home. The sessions fit into the individual timetables of the household. They are very manageable.

The Reflexes

To understand the program, It is helpful to know how reflexes work. There are over 70 known primary or primitive reflexes. The first movements made by a foetus are the result of the primitive reflex system. They are essential to

a) help the foetus/infant survive while he is not able to control body functions and
b) allow the development of proper motor control.

The reflex system originates in the cerebellum, can be observed as early as six weeks and follows a predictable pattern. Each reflex has a particular job to do and a typical length of time in which to do it. As the reflexes work through the body’s immature system, the baby develops life skills such as strong eye movements, convergence, crawling, sitting, standing, walking, running, bladder control, sucking, grasping and many, many more.

However, if these reflexes are retained past their time, they can cause problems that can be linked to literacy difficulties, such as poor eye functioning, weak gross or fine motor skills, or emotional immaturity. We see children who have balance and coordination problems, may be clumsy, dislike sport, wobble on bicycles, and fail to develop literacy skills. Children will display different combinations of indicators and to varying degrees. It can be extreme such as cerebral palsy, or to a mild degree such as not being very sporty.

The Research

In normal neurological development, just by doing the reflex movement, the infant wears out the reflex and it becomes properly integrated into the body. No-one knows why some children do not manage to achieve this. But the fact that it happens caused researchers to ask the question; would it be possible to give the body a second chance by repeating movements that imitated the reflex?

Researchers from the Dept of Psychology, Queen’s University, Belfast began research into the effect of such movements on the performance of dyslexic children and completed in 1999. It involved dyslexic children between the ages of 8 and 11. There were three groups; one experimental, one control and one placebo. After one year on the program, the reading ages were retested using the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability. The control and placebo groups had average increases to their reading ages of 7 months. The experimental group made between 15 and 23 months gain in the same period. The main researcher, Martin McPhillips, has presented several papers at the British Dyslexia Association Annual Conferences on the effect of the cerebellum in the development of Literacy. The results of the research have been published in The Lancet Journal, Feb. 12 2000, vol. 355.

The Australian Experience

The Western Australian (WA) experience has been similar in terms of results and parents comments. Parents are giving regular testimony to the positive changes in their children’s educational and physical performance. More than anyone else, parents usually have detailed knowledge of the particular problems their children have. They know how long they take to do things, how confused they can be about content, how much effort they have to put into activities for the limited rewards they achieve. For the children in WA the changes have been significant. Often there are significant changes without even completing the full program. Without exception, those who have completed the program far exceed their previous rate of reading progress. This is monitored using standardized tests such as The Neale Analysis of Reading Ability with changes of one to more than four years in a one-year period.

Another common problem for many of these children is the difficulty of getting work finished within class time. They regularly have to bring work to finish home from school. Inside a few months, they often report that they no longer have to do this or are no longer one of the last pupils to complete the written tasks. Their speed of processing information can change quite a lot. Often this is an issue with their eye tracking or eye-dominance. Saccadic eye movements (the amount of movement in the eyes) was also monitored in the clinical research and found to reduce significantly.

Changes are also evident in the quality of their handwriting and drawing. The fine motor skills can improve, leading to an improved ability to control the pencil. Consequently, the student is able to concentrate more on the content than before. Participation in sports and music also increase. This can have a very positive effect on self-esteem and confidence. The student often has the best school report ever. The ripple effect of these benefits reaches into their home, school and social life.

The Conclusion

Primary Movement is not a cure-all. It does not remove all difficulties but as mentioned at the start, it can significantly improve a student’s situation. It does not replace the need to have extra help or tuition but it allows extra tuition to be more effective as the student is in a better position to absorb this teaching. It is proving to be a very useful strategy to help children achieve closer to their potential.

Maire Bree
B.ED.,RSA DipSpLD
Primary Movement Teacher & TLP Provider,
+61 8 9331 7202
May 2004

• Exercises 'aid dyslexic pupils' - Children with dyslexia could be helped by the introduction of special movements and exercises into school sports lessons, research suggests. Special routines, designed to tap into reflexes from birth, lead to better co-ordination which in turn can improve reading and writing skills, according to psychologist Martin McPhillips.