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Child Development & Early Education vocabulary · Physical and Motor Development

Primitive reflex

Meaning in child development & early education, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In child development & early education, primitive reflex means: An automatic movement that newborn babies make in response to touch, sound or movement, such as gripping a finger, which normally fades during the first months of life.

In Turkish: ilkel refleks, yenidoğan refleksi

How it is used

Usually plural. Examples include the Moro (startle), rooting, sucking and palmar grasp reflexes. Doctors check them in newborns, and therapists talk about retained reflexes when they last longer than expected.

Example sentences

  1. The Moro reflex is a primitive reflex that makes a startled baby fling out their arms.

  2. Most primitive reflexes fade during the first year.

Common collocations

  • Moro reflex
  • rooting reflex
  • grasp reflex
  • retained reflexes
  • infantA baby, usually a child in the first year of life; some services use the word for children up to about 18 months or two years.
  • gross motor skillsSkills that use the large muscles of the arms, legs and body, such as rolling over, sitting, crawling, walking, running, jumping and climbing.
  • crawlTo move along on hands and knees, or on the tummy; many babies start to crawl in the second half of their first year.
  • sensorimotor stageThe first of Piaget's four stages of cognitive development, from birth to about two years, when babies learn about the world through their senses and movements.

More terms: Physical and Motor Development

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