Infant Reflexes Flashcards
Rooting Reflex
OR searching reflex. stroke cheek or mouth, results in baby’s head/tongue moving toward stimulus to find food
Suck Swallow Reflex
Place finger inside baby’s mouth. Response is strong, rhythmical sucking
Traction
Try to pull baby up by forearms, causes head to initially lag, flexion of UE, reflexive grasp
Moro
Occurs when baby is startled (test=rapidly dropping baby’s head back)
- Phase 1: arm extension and abduction
- Phase 2: arm flexion and adduction (and crying)
- protective response!
Plantar Grasp
Place pressure on sole of foot, causes toes to curl into flexion
- if this does not integrate, will make it hard to walk!
Galant
facilitates hip movement and ROM in prep for crawling and walking
- hold baby in prone suspension and stroke spine
- response is lateral trunk flexion on the stimulated side
Palmar Grasp
Place pressure with your finger on palm of baby’s hand, initiates reflexive grasp
- important for grasping/hand manipulation skills
ATNR
Turn head to one side while in supine
- extension on face side
- flexion on skull side
-precursor to hand-eye coordination
- if not integrated, many functional limitations including reading comprehension (bc hard to cross midline; eye will stop at midline), poor visual tracking/pursuit, poor handwriting (head rotation will cause arm extension), difficulty reaching/bringing items to mouth
TLR Prone (tonic labyrinthine reflex)
increase in body flexor tone
- if does not integrate, makes it difficult to lift head/neck in prone
TLR Supine (tonic labyrinthine reflex)
increase in body extensor tone
- if does not integrate, makes it difficult to sit up or roll over independently
STNR (symmetric tonic neck)
precursor to crawling (2 tests)
- flex head in crawling position: arms flex/legs extend
- extend head in crawling position: arms extend/legs flex
- if does not integrate= difficulty sitting up from supine, poor muscle tone and posture,
Landau
Hold baby in prone suspension, results in total extension of all extremities (superman pose)
Neck Righting (neck on body)
place baby in supine, turn head to one side. causes entire body log rolling towards direction of head
- allows baby to roll, transition from supine to sidelying
- precursor to crawling
Body Righting (body on body)
baby in supine, bend one hip/knee toward chest. results in segmental rolling to maintain body alignment
Optical head righting
allows us to correct orientation of head in space
hold baby suspended vertically, slowly tilt forward/backward or side to side, baby maintains upright position of head.
- mediated by VISUAL system
Labyrinthine head righting
Orients head in space
Cover eyes for testing, baby maintains upright head position while being tilted (similar to optical head righting)
- mediated by VESTIBULAR system
Downward Parachute
Lower baby toward surface when suspended vertically, causes extension of lower extremities.
- protective defense against fall
Forward Parachute
tip baby forward while vertically suspended, causes extension of UE to brace against fall
Sideward parachute
tip baby off balance to side while in sitting position. Arm will extend and abduct toward the side to anticipate a fall
Backward parachute
Quickly tip baby backward, causes backward arm extension in prep for fall backwards
Prone tilting, supine tilting, quadruped tilting, standing tilting
causes spine to curve on raised side. both arms and legs will extend and abduct.
- for all testing, place baby on tilt board in the four positions
- important to maintain equilibrium without arm support and helps baby make postural adjustments
Equilibrium Reactions
1st line of defense against falling
assist in maintaining balance and postural adjustment
Protective Reactions
2nd line of defense against falling
assist with protective extension of arms and hands
