Reflexes & Spontaneous Movements

Question 1

Motor Development should be viewed across the lifespan for example a child encounters periods of progression and periods of regression. True or false?

Answer 1

True

Question 2

What is “reflex chaining”?

Answer 2

The term reflex chaining refers to many individual reflexes connected together to produce movement.

Question 3

Reflexes are considered to be the steppingstones towards accomplishing complex movements (Sir Charles Sherrington). True or false?

Answer 3

True

Question 4

How can a child develop a more diverse movement repertoire (Piek, 2006) ?

Answer 4

• Interaction with the environment.
• The ability to utilise and interpret this information around them (Perception).
• access to various types of objects.

Question 5

Define Reflexes?

Answer 5

Reflexex: “An involuntary response to an external stimuli”

Question 6

Define Spontaneous movements?

Answer 6

Spontaneous Movements: “Rhythmical movements that do not require the presence of a stimulus”.

Question 7

Reflexes and spontaneous movements occur in the mothers womb enabling the fetus to produce a template for the movements required in later life. True or false?

Answer 7

True

Question 8

What did McGraw (1945) state?

Answer 8

McGraw (1945) stated that the area of the brain predominantly responsible for reflexive movements is known as the “Primitive Sub-cortical nuclei” which is found within the cerebral cortex.

Question 9

What happens to a newborn baby when they are first born?

Answer 9

The newborn child undertakes a full assessment by a Paediatrician to ensure the child can perform reflexive behaviour. In the absence of reflexive behaviour this may indicate that there is a problem with the CNS.

Question 10

What did Pretch (1977) state?

Answer 10

Pretchl (1977) states that newborn babies have the ability to demonstrate a total of 70 reflexes.

Question 11

Kelso 1982 stated:

Answer 11

That a child is born with the ability to produce an array of reflexive movements that can be categorised into:

1) Primitive reflexes
2) Postural reflexes
3) Locomotive reflexes

Question 12

Why are Primitive reflexes vital?

Answer 12

As they allow a child to gain the vital nutrition and nourishment and are essential for survival

Question 13

How many Primitive reflexes are there in total, name them all?

Answer 13

There are 7 Primitive Reflexes in total:

1) Rooting Reflex
2) Sucking Reflex
3) Grasping Reflex
4) StartleReflex
5) Withdrawal Reflex
6) Babinski Reflex
7) Tonic-neck Reflex

Question 14

Define the Primitive: (Rooting Reflex)?

Answer 14

Rooting Reflex: This involves touching the child’s Cheek to instigate the opening of the mouth for the required nourishment.

Question 15

Define the Primitive: (Sucking Reflex)?

Answer 15

Sucking Reflex: is present for 6 months and involves the child beginning to suck as a result of contact with the roof of the mouth e.g during bottle or breast feeding.

Question 16

Define the Primitive: (Grasping Reflex)?

Answer 16

Grasping Reflex: can be defined by Twitchell (1970) as the ability of a child to grasp onto an object tightly within the palm of their hand sand last for 3-4 months. Children use the grasping reflex to prevent falling over as they grasp onto surrounding objects and furniture to provide a sense of safety and reduce the Illinois of falling over. The grasping reflex is also useful for the manipulation of objects.

Question 17

Define the Primitive: (Startle Reflex)?

Answer 17

Startle Reflex: occurs between 6-12 months, and can be defined as”an impulsive movement in response to a loud or unexpected noise” and results in the child curling up into a ball to provide a sense of safety.

Question 18

Define the Primitive: (Withdrawal Reflex)?

Answer 18

Withdrawal Reflex: occurs when a child places their hand near a hot or sharp object as they instantly retrieve their hand to prevent the risk of injury.

Question 19

Define the Primitive: (Babinski Reflex)?

Answer 19

Babinski Reflex: this occurs for the first 2 years of life and when the sole of the foot is firmly stroked it results in flexion of the big toe and full extension of the the remaining toes.

Question 20

Define the Primitive: (Tonic-neck Reflex)?

Answer 20

Tonic-neck Reflex: occurs between 0-7months and when the child’s head turns to the left, the lift arm also fully extends and the right arm remained flexed at the elbow.

Question 21

The next type of reflex following primitive reflexes is that of Postural Reflexes, please define Postural Reflexes?

Answer 21

Postural Reflexes: Are involuntary movements that enable a child to hold an upright position.

Question 22

What are the 2 subcategories of Postural Reflexes? Name the reflexes in each category.

Answer 22

Righting Reflexes: enable an infant to maintain a constant orientation in relation to the pull of gravity, and include the: Labyrinthine reflex, Neck-righting reflex and the Pull-up reflex

Equilibrium reflexes: Ae involuntary protective movements that a child encounters whilst trying to maintain balance, and they include the: Propping reflex, Parachute reflex and Landau reflex.

Question 23

Define the Postural, Righting reflex: (Labyrinthine Reflex)?

Answer 23

Labyrinthine Reflex: is evident for 6 months and is evident when a Child is moved around in different orientations e.g forwards, backwards, to the side, and no matter what position the child is held the child keeps its head in an upright position.

Question 24

Define the Postural, Righting reflex: (Neck-righting Reflex)?

Answer 24

Neck-righting reflex: the child moving other body parts in relation the the heads orientation e.g if a child moves its head to the left, the child will also rotate their shoulders to the left correspondingly to provide essential postural control and alignment.

Question 25

Define the Postural, Righting reflex: (Pull-up Reflex)?

Answer 25

Pull-up Reflex: emerges at 3 months and is an involuntary movement the child performs to maintain the head in an upright position when being lifted into the air via their hands.

Question 26

Define the Postural, Equilibrium reflex: (Propping Reflex)?

Answer 26

Propping Reflex: involves the child extending its limbs whilst sitting to prevent the likelihood of falling over, it is therefore required for independent sitting so they can maintain their own centre of gravity.

Question 27

Define the Postural, Equilibrium reflex: (Parachute Reflex)?

Answer 27

Parachute Reflex: occurs at 8 months and can be elicited when the child is lifted up into the air as they will extend their arms towards the ground in the anticipation of being dropped.

Question 28

Define the Postural, Equilibrium reflex: (Landau Reflex)?

Answer 28

Landea Reflex: is when a child is suspended in the air in the prone position. The trunk is not involved in any movement but the arms and legs are involved in the movements of flexion and extension in an attempt to maintain balance.

Question 29

The final type of reflexes to be considered is that of the Locomotive Reflexes. Provide examples?

Answer 29

Locomotive Reflexes include: stepping, swimming and crawling. The progression and development of these reflexes is imperative because once the child is able to freely move around they are able to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the immediate environment, which will broaden their movement repertoire.

Question 30

Define Spontaneous Movements, and provide examples.

Answer 30

Spontaneous Movements: “Rhythmical movement that don’t require the presence of a stimulus”. Examples include: banging, rocking, kicking, swaying and waving.

Question 31

What did Wolf (1966) believe?

Answer 31

Wolf (1966) believed that spontaneous movements enable aa child to develop sequential movements.

Question 32

What did Thelen (1979) do?

Answer 32

Thelen (1979) grouped the spontaneous movements into several categories and stated that there were over 47 different variations of spontaneous movements, that were predominantly rhythmical in nature.

Question 33

What did Turvey and Fitspatrick (1993) believe?

Answer 33

Turvey and Fitzpatrick (1993) believes spontaneous movements play an essential role in the development of voluntary movement.

Question 34

What did Thelen an Fisher (1983) suggest?

Answer 34

Thelen and Fisher (1983) suggested that spontaneous movements enable a forward shift to more dynamical movements as a result of age and exploration of the environment.

Question 35

What does Gallahue (1982) state?

Answer 35

Gallahue (1982) states that there will be noticeable changes in behaviour as a result of both experience and interaction.

Question 36

Development can be defined by Keogh and Sugden (1985) as:

Answer 36

Development can be defined by Keogh and Sugden (1985) as a gradual progression of motor ability to produce successful and efficient movements.

Question 37

The interaction of the the task, child and environment plays an imperative role in enabling a child to produce efficient movements so therefore a child needs to “Learn to Move and Move to Learn”. True or false?

Answer 37

True

Question 38

Much of the early work in the field of motor development was conducted by Shirley (1931), Gesell (1939) and McGraw (1940), what did they achieve?

Answer 38

Shirley (1931), Gesell (1939) and McGraw (1940) who provided and understanding of the fundamental notions of motor development and also in the formation of the maturation perspective, this enabling the study of how infants change and develop throughout the early stages of life.

Question 39

What did Piaget (1953) believe?

Answer 39

Piaget (1953) believed that all children progress through 4 sequential stages of development and each child learns to develop movement processes through the experiences encountered in life.

Question 40

How can a child organise the body to produce movements that are smooth and efficient?

Answer 40

This can be achieved by constraining and reducing the degrees of freedom (Turvey, 1990).

Question 41

What did Bernstein suggest (1967)?

Answer 41

Bernstein suggested that the integration of the environment, CNS, and body segments all need to be regulated in order to produce controlled movement and he believed this could be achieved by reducing the number of degrees of freedom that need to be controlled. So the child can focus on the planning and execution of movement.

Question 42

Bernstein (1967) states that reducing the number of a degrees of freedom for a child can be a difficult task for an infant to develop, but once mastered will an able them to produce fluent and efficient movement. True of false?

Answer 42

True

Question 43

Turvey came up with the theory of coordinative structures, define this term?

Answer 43

Coordinative Structures: “A group of muscles spanning several joints that are constrained to act as a single functional unit”

Question 44

Thelen and Fisher (1983) stated that a child is heavily reliant upon the use of coordinative structures to reduce the degrees of freedom by assembling and disassembling the linkages associated with spontaneous movements. True or false?

Answer 44

True

Question 45

Piek and Carman (1994) state that the use of coordinative structures enable a child to produce movements in a more controlled and organised fashion by tightly coupling the movements.True or false?

Answer 45

True