Children who don’t sit nicely may have a fixable neurodevelopmental issue.
A mum described how her child kept sticking their legs out in circle time. There are many reasons why this could be, but children who squirm are often uncomfortable in the cross-legged position. Older children struggle to keep all four legs of their chair on the floor when they are working at a table, choosing to rock it forward or back. At home, they may prefer to work on the floor.
Typically, we find such children are still influenced by baby (called ‘primitive’) reflexes, specifically the STNR, which can be a sign of developmental delay.
They don’t have much core strength to support their body in the upright position, so they give themselves a big, stable base in the W-position. On a chair, they get extra support by wrapping their legs around the chair legs. These children often resist crossing the midline too, choosing to be ambidextrous rather than use a dominant hand.
The STNR (symmetrical tonic neck reflex) is sometimes called the crawling reflex, and is a step along the way to the top and bottom halves of the body being able to move independently of each other. It’s got two expressions – extension: when the head goes up, the arms straighten and the bottom goes down… and flexion: when the head looks down, the legs straighten and the bottom goes up. No wonder it’s such a nuisance if it’s still active beyond age three!
The good news is that this issue is often quite fixable with a reflex integration programme.
Chrysalisndt.co.uk