Brief Report: Differential Persistence of Primary Reflexes for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Replication.
Quick lip-light test can flag retained baby reflexes that hang on longer in kids with autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Healy et al. (2024) looked at simple baby reflexes that usually vanish by one year.
They checked three groups: kids with autism, kids with general delays, and typical kids.
The team wanted to know if the snout or visual rooting reflex sticks around longer in autism.
What they found
Children with autism kept the snout and visual rooting reflexes more often than the other two groups.
The finding was the same when the study was run a second time, so it looks reliable.
How this fits with other research
Chinello et al. (2018) first saw that held-over baby reflexes in 12-month-olds forecast poor motor skills and family traits of autism.
Olive’s 2024 work now shows the same reflexes are still present in diagnosed children, backing up the earlier clue.
La Malfa et al. (2004) review says kids with autism struggle with imitation because their sensory-motor maps are off.
Persistent reflexes may be one visible sign of those messy maps, tying the two lines of study together.
Why it matters
You can add a 30-second reflex check to your intake. Touch the upper lip and move a light side-to-side.
If the snout or visual rooting reflex pops up, note it. It may explain clumsy fine-motor skills and gives you one more low-cost marker to support an autism referral or adjust motor goals.
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Join Free →During your next child intake, stroke the upper lip and shine a pen-light side-to-side; record any snout or visual rooting reflex as present or absent.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Primary reflexes are highly stereotypical, automatic movements comprising much of the motor repertoire of newborns. The current study examined rates of presence of five primary reflexes (snout, visual rooting, sucking, tactile rooting, and grasp) and variables predictive of their persistence for children with ASD (n = 35), developmental disability (n = 30), and typically developing children matched to participants with ASD on chronological age (n = 30). There was a higher prevalence of snout and visual rooting reflex among children with ASD. These data suggest that the persistence of primary reflexes holds promise as a biomarker for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2024 · doi:10.1038/srep19164