Published Research on Improved Classroom Outcomes

Developmental immaturities, and reflexes that fail to integrate within the first twelve months of life, may lead to educational challenges for children when they reach classroom age. Right now, we’re beginning to see linkages between infants born during or after the pandemic and a reduction in cognitive function, likely due to stress and retained primitive reflexes. Powerful research is emerging around this topic. 

According to a 2023 study published in the Journal of Neurology & Experimental Neuroscience, students may benefit significantly by the incorporation of rhythmic movements in a classroom setting. Over a ten-month period, the study found that a statistically significant increase in reading scores across a group of children ranging from six to eight years of age. The children were divided into two groups, with the test group participating in RMT exercises for five minutes at least four times weekly.

As infants mature and children grow, their primitive reflexes integrate and are replaced by cognition and active choice. Movement pathways are the key to this integration, and the exercises selected for this classroom-based study targeted the cerebellum for its support in attention and concentration. 

Feedback from the teachers participating in this New Zealand-based school study was remarkable. The test students all showed signs of improved confidence, participation and interactivity with the reading work. Not only were reading scores improved, but steady, sometimes larger than normal, jumps in progress were reported. 

RMTi is extremely beneficial for young students struggling with classroom activities. When it comes to MAP scores and other methods for measuring progress, proper developmental milestones need to be met in tandem with coursework challenges. By incorporating key movements into a young student’s week, their learning will not only improve but just may soar.

JOIN ME to learn more about exercises like those in this study, that support focus and academic success.

/0 Comments/by

The Power of Cross-Body Connections

Twelve-year-old Leo has been going to Thrive since June 2023, working with Elizabeth on a number of areas of development. As a child that used to refuse school and withdraw from activities, he’s shown tremendous progress while working on integrating his defensive reflexes. 

From an early age, Leo has also worn bifocals and was diagnosed with a form of convergent eye deviation called accommodative esotropia. The strong lenses were put in place to help his eye muscles better work in tandem, but the routine ophthalmologist visits had been bleak. Each time, they’d hear his eyes were the same, sometimes worse.

Elizabeth has been incorporating new exercises into Leo’s sessions, focused on cross-body midline movements that impact eye tracking and teaming. This work calls upon Leo’s vestibular system with head movements that support balance, coordination and his visual motor development. 

After a recent visit to the ophthalmologist, Leo’s mom reached out with good news:

“He was lit up. For the first time ever, his eyes weren’t the same or worse. The exercises were making his eyes stronger.”

For this first time since his diagnosis at age 5, his eyes are showing signs of improvement. In fact, this means Leo may now even be a candidate for contacts, a reality that’s very exciting for him!

The eyes, tongue, hands and feet are the last parts of our bodies to develop refined movements. Crossing movements and coordination exercises create the foundation for those fine motor movements. Simple yet powerful movements, like wiper blade motion, helps to rehearse and integrate these reflexes. 

Leo’s work at Thrive has unlocked his interest in golf and tennis for the first time, as he explores new ways to move his body with confidence. In fact, the work at Thrive Therapy has unlocked Leo’s ability to tie his own shoes for the first time in his life.  

The vestibular system helps with balance, coordination and spatial awareness. From daily tasks like tying a shoe and sitting upright to swinging a golf club, the reflexes that help us be successful in those activities may be underdeveloped and benefit from consistent cross midline exercises.

/0 Comments/by

Breaking Down School Refusal

Leo would not get out of the car. He was always a bit shy and definitely the quieter twin, but Leo’s mom saw a change in his daily behavior around age 10. On bad days, he resisted school with all his might, often physically unable to get out of the car at drop off. Drum lessons, family outings to a restaurant, any activity outside the home was met with refusal. For Leo, the noises were so loud and the lights were so bright. His family watched his struggle to connect and make new friends. 

Leo’s mom remembers when they first started at Thrive Therapy. Her son was frustrated and he was ready for help. Elizabeth met him with understanding and exercises that quickly tapped into the immaturities in his defensive reflexes. Withdrawal, or retreating behavior, like Leo experienced when leaving home is a sign of fear paralysis. His session with Elizabeth calmed him.

“After the first visit, I just knew it was good. He wanted to go back. He loved it there,” says Leo’s mom. “When he left, he was happy. He would never refuse a trip to Thrive and for me, it was a sign that it was working.”

After 12 weeks, Leo met his first set of goals and showed massive strides. He bravely walked into school each day and even started interacting with his friends more deeply. With his weekly sessions, his isolating behaviors started to diminish and his confidence grew. 

Today, Leo is preparing for a performance at the local children’s theater. He’s ready to shine on stage, singing and dancing with his tap shoes. He’s asking to go out to eat and has a growing group of friends. 

“We’ve seen considerable improvement in a lot of different areas for him,” says Leo’s mom, who continues to bring him to Thrive every other week. “I’m excited to see what more he can unlock.”

/0 Comments/by

Know Thyself. The Role of Interoception in Therapy

Elizabeth Hickman is traveling to Canada, taking the critical work of Thrive Therapy in Elmhurst to Montreal alongside somatic therapist Karen Hargot.

We’ll explore foundations for learning and development in the nervous system through a practice called reflex integration, taught for the first time locally in English. This course is open to those looking to know themselves more deeply, as well as those working with others in a therapeutic setting.

The RMTi workshop calls upon rhythmic movement to address unintegrated reflexes and has impactful results in strengthening those connections and building stronger neurological foundations. The practice simulates what a baby does in the first year of their life and in-utero, yet is impactful to clients of all ages. By rewinding back to early-stage movements, this therapy can more deeply address reflexes that were underdeveloped due to trauma or developmental detours.

Join Elizabeth as she explores the fundamentals of reflex and our body’s response system, and embark on an important step in a client’s overall therapeutic journey.

REGISTER FOR THE NOV 8-10 WORKSHOP HERE

/by

Do I Feel Safe?

When I shared my work with Karen Hargot, a somatic therapist in Montreal, reactions came almost instantaneously. Through her work with adults facing complex developmental trauma, feelings of trust, safety and security are fundamental to the healing process. As we explore connections between the body, the nervous system and how clients experience both of these in tandem, the impact of unintegrated reflexes becomes clearer. 

By integrating RMTi into her practice, Karen has seen phenomenal results. Importantly, in this work, we’re watching how the body responds. We’re facilitating that understanding with clients, working together and choosing how and which movements to attempt. Karen’s clients have gained a greater understanding of their experience and less shame. It’s an appreciation for how their primitive reflexes might not have integrated as they should have earlier in life. 

I’m traveling to Canada this November for a workshop in RMTi fundamentals, teaching even more therapists and caretakers the meaningful connections that Karen now incorporates in her practice. Our goal is to spread the word, so we may refer the waitlists of patients to a greater number of practitioners that employ rhythmic movement therapy.

Interested? JOIN US IN MONTREAL Nov 8-10th

/by

HOW ARE YOU SUPPORTING EDUCATION THIS SCHOOL YEAR?

Being ready for reading, ready for writing and even ready for focusing on the day’s curriculum involves key brain connections established from an early age. A few weeks in, if you’ve noticed a child who struggles to sit at their desk or pay attention to their teacher, there may be primitive reflexes that require strengthening, or integration.

Thrive hosts a two-day School Readiness workshop that not only digs into the fundamentals of reflex integration, but also unpacks those brain connections critical to learning. Rhythmic movement training, which strengthens and supports those pathways in the body, can help improve stress release, empower speech and social-emotional skill building and address behavioral challenges. 

The course, open to therapists, teachers and caretakers alike, explores specific reflexes applied in a classroom setting. Connections that impact posture, positioning of hands and feet in gross and fine motor activities as well as reflexes for emotional stability will be explored in detail. Importantly, we will also explore why unintegrated reflexes are often a major factor in students experiencing emotional and behavioral difficulties, including sensory processing disorders, dyslexia, ADHD and autism.

The workshop will also focus on the role of rhythmic movement exercises on the senses and the importance of play in practicing reflex integration with young children. Throughout the session, participants will model therapeutic exercises and learn how to put key movement patterns into practice through classroom games and activities. Through an interactive, hands-on approach, the Thrive team will also share techniques for bringing movement-based therapy into a family’s daily routine for successful development, during the school year and beyond.

Participants will leave the workshop with a solid understanding of reflex integration, brain connections critical to classroom learning and core exercises to address physical and emotional behavioral challenges. They will learn how to implement therapeutic movement into a child’s routine and how to recognize the positive impact of the process.

/by

SLEEP WHISPERER

I’m often asked how quickly one might expect to see changes with the activities I teach. Some changes are immediate, while others take time. Here’s a text that I received from a family earlier this week:

Hey Elizabeth! Just wanted to share! Last night Emma was so restless, rolling all around, not able to sleep. We did bottom rocking with her and she immediately calmed and fell asleep within a couple of minutes!!!

This crossing midline movement can be very calming for the nervous system. It helps to bring in the parasympathetic nervous system (the rest and digest system) allowing the body to relax. Additionally, it is a passive rhythmical activity that stimulates the spinal reflexes which can be at the root of restlessness.

Parents and caregivers do this movement innately with babies to help lull them to sleep. Yet, it is a wonderful lifelong tool to use at any age.

Many of the movements and activities I use in my practice help to build new neural networks in the nervous system. Changes may take time, yet often I receive reports of  instant gratification from parents. This text is a perfect example of a simple, yet an incredibly impactful change for this child and family.

/by

“Gravy” on Top!

From a clinical perspective, I often send a follow up text message to see how a client responds to our time together. Here is a message that I received from a mother of a client, with regards to her middle school-aged daughter’s response. 

Melissa was actually really good the rest of yesterday and this morning. She had some pretty involved homework to do and she just got it done. 

She had her first volleyball practice today. I am the coach of her team. I was shocked when she walked in and started overhand serving after never being able to get the hang of it last year. It wasn’t that she didn’t have the power, she just couldn’t make all of her body parts sync up to do it. I think she was shocked too! When she came home she was giving you all the credit.

You know I brought her to see you to address her challenges with school. So this is some “gravy” to the work she is putting in. She was super excited about it!

Melissa said on the way home from her session with you yesterday that she really loved trying the upside down exercise. Even though she was scared, her body wants to try it again.  She said it made her feel like she was just more even keel after doing it.  Thank you for checking in and for all the work you are doing with her.  We are definitely seeing progress.

Through the evaluation process, Melissa showed immaturities with reflexes that impact one’s ability to establish good connections between the vestibular and visual sensory systems. These immaturities have impacted her ability to track information across the page for reading, writing and math activities. Although she has a very strong IQ, prior to starting reflex integration work, she was having to compensate for her limited foundation.

These same reflexes underpin our ability to learn to coordinate our upper and lower body, front and backside of our body, and right and left sides of our body together. By offering integration activities and working on movement patterns, Melissa not only has seen a significant improvement in her reading, math and organization skills; yet she is seeing a change in the coordination of her body allowing for greater ease in executing a higher degree of difficulty in sports related skills.

One of the things that I love the most about reflex integration work, is that it impacts numerous developmental domains: safety and security, regulation and bonding, social and emotional regulation, speech and language skills, fine and gross motor skills, memory and learning abilities and higher executive functioning.

/by

MICHAEL HAD A BREAKTHROUGH!

I love sharing stories with you about some of the transformations my families experience. They demonstrate the amazing benefits of reflex integration. Read about Michael’s recent breakthrough after an RMTi session:

I just wanted to share something that has been happening since Tuesday’s session.

Whenever characters on TV (like Daniel Tiger) ask a question of their listeners and wait for an answer, Michael has always hidden under a pillow since he can’t handle them looking through the TV at him.

Our other son has always done it just fine, and enjoys the interaction with his favorite characters.  Since our last session, Michael has started answering the characters on TV!!  It’s been so fun to watch!! 

Daniel Tiger: “What do you think I am pretending to be?” 

Michael: “A horse!  No, a sheep!”

This child’s nervous system shows immaturities in the ability to assess the safety of social interactions depicted on screens and various forms of technology. His limbic system, or emotional center, continues to use immature patterns and senses fear with the unnatural eye contact.


Through a session using reflex integration techniques followed by home program activities, this child has been able to build stronger neural networks through his safety and security system. This mother’s feedback exemplifies his increased ability to distinguish between the unpredictability of social cues experienced through screens.  

/by

A GROWING NUMBER OF HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS RECOGNIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF REFLEX INTEGRATION MODALITIES

Published in RMTi Rhythm, February 2023

I am delighted to have been asked as a Physical Therapist who consistently blends the teachings of RMTi into my professional practice to share my thoughts and experiences. In the last 10 years, there has been a growing interest by health care providers in the United States to learn more about reflex integration. Just this morning, I spoke with a young women who is finishing medical school. She explained how she was tutoring some younger students through their neurodevelopment classes; teaching them that a positive Babinski doesn’t always mean there is a hard neurological diagnosis to be found. Further “this is just part of development.” I wanted to give her a huge hug in agreement, as this was not the way I was taught about reflexes in medical school. We learned about reflexes as they related to hard neurological diagnoses rather than part of the developmental sequence.

From the time I started teaching classes as an RMTi instructor, the excitement and interest in understanding reflexes and movement patterns has exploded! Consistently, I am receiving comments that what our RMTi community is sharing is a huge missing piece. We are offering such deeper understanding and empowerment for serving others.

This hasn’t always been the case. In 2008, when I took my first RMT class, I was the only medical professional. I felt very alone, as I began my learning journey. I was often confronted by naysayers and colleagues that thought I was practicing “voo-doo”. In my colleagues defense, we have been taught and demanded to use “evidence based practice” throughout our sessions. And in the United States, “evidence based practice” is backed by research publications. Prior to the articles that have been published to date about reflex integration, I would share, “evidence based practice” can be as simple as setting an intention for change, assessing where immaturities lie, offering movements and assessing the change. I could write a case study and publish all of the changes noted for every client that I see. This too, of course, is “evidence based practice”.

The perseverance, passion and continued efforts as an organization is making a difference. I am motivated by the “buzz” to continue this journey, not only for the clients I serve, yet to help others learn so that they can bring the information back to their own practice. I encourage all of us to continue to share, educate and reach out. I love the phrase, “you can’t say the wrong thing to the right person, or the right thing to the wrong person.”

/by