ABSTRACT
There is data indicating that in the heterogeneous population of children with learning disabilities there is a subsample who demonstrates primitive reflexes beyond a period of development where these reflexes occur normally. These children also frequently fail to develop postural adjustments and other vestibular responses appropriate for their age level. This deviancy in the developmental sequence occurs early and results in a lack of integration in sensory-perceptual cognitive processes and a consequent failure to learn. In what follows, the data base for the relationship between these neurobehavioral dysfunctions and learning disabilities is examined by presentation of the observational and theoretical basis for the approach, by review of the assessment procedures used to establish the occurrence of these dysfunctions, and by evaluation of the studies done to establish reliability and the validity of these assessment procedures.
