Signs of Neuromotor Immaturity

A parent can tell when their child has something physically not quite right. A teacher can identify learning difficulties and come up with helpful strategies, but these cannot deal with the underlying cause.

The signs of neuromotor immaturity (neurodevelopmental delay) may include:

• difficulty with reading, writing, spelling or Maths

• clumsiness

• poor balance

• poor fine motor skills

• poor hand-eye coordination/visual motor integration

• poor motor sequencing

• lack of a dominant side of the body/cross laterality or poorly defined laterality

• poor attention, concentration, and memory

• behavioural issues, e.g. frustration, hyperactivity, over-reaction, bed-wetting

• educational underachievement

• dyslexia

• developmental coordination disorder (dyspraxia)

All children display signs of nervous system immaturity as they grow but usually by the age of seven or eight, these signs have gone. Some children may have very mild symptoms, which continue beyond eight years of age, but they learn to compensate, and all is well. However, in some children, for some unknown reason, the nervous system does not fully mature and so the complete development of the nervous system is absent, diminished or delayed. This has knock-on effects proportional to the type and degree of immaturity and can cause some of the signs listed above.

If you know that your child struggles with any of these areas, click on the ‘Therapy’ page to see how I can help.

To see if neuromotor immaturity may be the cause of your child’s difficulties, complete and submit the INPP Screening Questionnaire on the ‘Questionnaire‘ page.

There is more information on this site about neuromotor immaturity (NMI) in the primitive and postural reflexes, and a description of the possible effects of having retained, or under-developed, reflexes. Click on the ‘Primitive Reflexes‘ or ‘Postural Reflexes‘ pages.