Primary Movement

The organisation was established to bring a specific movement programme (the Primary Movement programme) into the public domain, through the provision of training courses for teachers working in school.  The major focus of the organisation is to promote early intervention through movement and to support scientific research in the area.

Primary Movement is a unique movement programme which seeks to replicate the early movements of the fetus and to enhance the maturation of the central nervous system.  It has been shown to have a significant impact on the educational attainments of children with specific learning difficulties including dyslexia.

A neurodevelopmental basis for a range of learning difficulties, including reading delay, is suggested by the clinical and research evidence linking the persistence of primary reflexes with learning difficulties.  Primary reflexes are movement patterns which emerge during fetal life and are critical for the survival of the newborn.  They are obvious during the first six months of life and primary reflex tests are routinely used by paediatricians to assess the neurological integrity of the newborn baby.

In typical development, the primary reflex system is inhibited or transformed in the first year of life and a secondary or postural reflex system emerges.  However, primary reflexes may persist for some children beyond their typical timespan and disrupt subsequent development.  Severe persistence of primary reflexes indicates predominantly intractable 'organic' problems, as in cerebral palsy where children experience extreme motor difficulties and significant reading difficulties despite adequate levels of intelligence.  Relatively milder persistence, however, is associated with less severe disorders, including specific learning difficulties.

Prevalence studies have shown that many children with reading and motor difficulties have underlying developmental delay and that this may be related to the persistence of primary reflexes.  The findings suggest that for many children in mainstream schooling, the attainment of core educational skills may be affected, in particular, by persistence of the Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (ATNR) which is most obvious in the first three months after birth and which should be inhibited around six months of age.  Persistence is a clinical indicator of atypical development.

The Primary Movement programme developed at Queen's University, Belfast has been shown to have a significant impact on reducing reflex persistence.  It has been evaluated in a number of formal trials that have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.  These studies suggest that the repetition of primary reflex movement plays a major role in the inhibition of primary reflexes and that inhibition can be brought about at a much later stage in development than had previously been thought possible.  In a double-blind, placebo controlled study, it was found that children who completed the Pirmary Movement programme made very significant gains in reading, writing speed, naming speed and saccadic frequency (eye movements) with a concurrent significant inhibition of the ATNR.

The Primary Movement programme can be used from the age of four with small groups or whole classes of children.  From the age of six it can also be used individually.  The programme takes approximately fifteen minutes per day to complete.  It can be used in the ordinary school classroom and does not require any specialised equipment.  Younger children first learn a series of songs with added movement, in order to prepare them for participation in the core Primary Movement programme, a sequence of specific movements which are based on replicating or mimicking the primary reflex system of the fetus.