Cedar Rapids conference to highlight reintegrating reflexes

Ever wonder how babies seem to automatically know how to do things like grasp, eat, roll over and eventually walk? The answer is in our central and peripheral nervous system, where primitive reflexes not only aid in our development but also protect us from the outside world.

In fact, before a baby is even born, it develops several innate reflexes - from a beating heart to breathing, hiccups, arm and leg movements, head rotation, yawning, sucking and swallowing - all in preparation for basic survival outside the womb. As a newborn develops, reflexive motor responses are learned and eventually mastered, automated and integrated.

If reflexes are not integrated, however, a child may struggle with motor skills, attention, language, learning, socializing, and more. Issues can continue into adulthood if not addressed.

'The root of challenges in development and thinking and behaviors, the root of all those physical, mental and behavioral challenges is based on reflexes that are not integrated or have not fully matured,” said Pamela Curlee, co-founder of the Svetlana Masgutova Educational Institute, which teaches the Masgutova Neurosensorimotor Reflex Integration Method to treat 'reflexes gone astray.”

The MNRI Method was developed by Dr. Svetlana Masgutova in 1989. After completing her doctoral degree in developmental psychology at the Scientific Research Institute of Russian Education Academy in Moscow, Masgutova volunteered to treat survivors of the Ufa train disaster, where a gas pipeline explosion destroyed part of the trans-Siberian railway, engulfing two passenger trains and killing hundreds in June of 1989.

Among the survivors were several physically and emotionally traumatized children, who were either severely wounded or emotionally distressed after witnessing severe injury or death of friends and family, triggering lasting 'fight or flight” reflexes.

Using MNRI techniques - which involve physical exercise, stretching and pressure on specific nerves - Masgutova worked with children for months to drop their protective guard and reintegrate their primitive reflexes.

'The recovery from the challenges and development of the potential was unprecedented and remarkable,” Curlee said. 'It was an outcome I had never seen before through any other work.”

Curlee, who met Masgutova 25 years ago, now travels the country teaching thousands of occupational and physical therapists the method. In almost every class, Curlee said people will ask why they'd never heard of this before.

'That's why it's called the Missing Link,” Curlee said. 'People talk about reflexes and diagnose them but really have not found a process to help make a change about that. ... But what was missing was the foundation of function and of sensory development. Reflexes are like pillars and are foundational for almost everything we do. What you need to make sure is the pillars of our growth and development are fully matured and developed. If that foundation is not there, then we have problems.”

The MNRI Method combines therapy in the sensory and motor system to create efficiency of the neurological system, Curlee said. It can assist individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder, birth and post-birth traumas, emotional instability, hyperactivity, behavioral issues, dyslexia, sensory processing disorders, intellectual development, brain injuries, post-stroke pathologies, cerebral palsy and more.

Nora Blattner, just six months old, receives MNRI treatment at UnityPoint Health-St. Luke's Witwer Children's Therapy in Hiawatha once a week to aid in her development after spending her first three weeks of life in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit.

After her birth, Blattner was having trouble breathing, struggling with regulating her body temperature and having trouble grasping and eating - all signs of primitive reflexes gone astray.

Blattner was eventually diagnosed with Prader-Willi syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects less than 20,000 in the U.S. that causes behavior problems, intellectual disability, obesity and short stature. She receives treatment to develop her reflexes and ideally prevent ongoing issues.

'Her progress is fantastic because of this,” said her mother, Lacie Blattner. In less than six months, Nora's movement, ability to grasp and eat have all improved.

Lauri Ramsey's 12-year-old daughter, Anna, also receives MNRI therapy at Witwer. Anna has hyper eosinophilic syndrome, an auto immune disease, and was experiencing tingling and loss of sensation in her hands and feet, which made it difficult to play violin and piano. After three months of treatment, her motor skills have improved and she's 'able to do her music like she wants to,” Ramsey said.

'I think it's been really beneficial and it's also helped her anxiety level,” she added.

Amber Nelson also quickly saw improvement in her 11-year-old autistic son's behavior after MNRI treatment at Witwer.

'At first I was like, how is this going to help him to be more coordinated and help his attention span, but then it really did,” Nelson said. 'His math scores improved, he was more relaxed, he's more tolerant of hugs and people being in his bubble. ... We really did notice a difference and I think neurologically it was a little bit of fine tuning that he needed.”

'People are seeing results that they had not seen before,” Curlee said. 'We have children with cerebral palsy who have learned how to walk and a child on the autism spectrum so fidgety he couldn't stand still if his life depended on it - that was five years ago. Now he's totally relaxed and calm, speaks seven languages and just did a piano performance in Carnegie Hall.”

On April 6 and April 7, Curlee and Masgutova will speak about the MNRI Method at the Witwer Children's Therapy Conference at The Cedar Rapids Marriott. The conference is open to parents and professionals.

In addition to training professionals on the method, they'll also be sharing exercises that individuals can do themselves to help regulate stress levels, improve focus and reach new levels of development, Curlee said.

'Anybody can benefit,” she added. 'It reboots the mental and physical systems so that we can learn more efficiently, be more productive in the day, more efficient and more relaxed.”

IF YOU GO

What: Witwer Children's Therapy Conference

When: April 6 and 7, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: The Cedar Rapids Marriott, 1200 Collins Road NE, Cedar Rapids

Cost: $45 per day for students, parents and family members, $360 for both days for professionals

Details: Svetlana Masgutova and Pamela Curlee will teach the Masgutova Neurosensorimotor Reflex Integration (MNRI) Method for professionals and parents alike. Learn more and register at www.unitypoint.org or call 319-369-8750

l Comments: (319) 398-8364; elizabeth.zabel@thegazette.com