New movement-based approach prompts parents to reconsider childhood attention problems

A neuroanatomist advocates for Rhythmic Movement Training, suggesting that developmental movement patterns may underpin attention issues in children, challenging traditional behaviour-focused explanations.

As the new school term begins, one writer is urging parents to look beyond the usual talk of focus, discipline and effort when a child struggles to sit still at a desk. Amanda Conta Steencken, a neuroanatomist and BRMT consultant, argues that some classroom problems may begin much earlier in development, with the body’s basic movement systems rather than with motivation or character.

Her central claim is that sitting upright, keeping still and sustaining attention are not simple acts of will. According to standard anatomy references, the basal ganglia play an important part in motor control, while also contributing to procedural learning, motivation and other functions. Conta Steencken says those systems depend on movement patterns laid down in infancy, when primitive reflexes should gradually be integrated as the nervous system matures.

She points to early reflexes such as the asymmetric tonic neck reflex and the Moro startle response, both of which are normal in newborns but are meant to fade as development progresses. In her view, if that integration is incomplete, a child may later appear fidgety, anxious, clumsy or slow to write, when in fact the body is working harder than it should to manage posture, balance and sensory input. That explanation is presented as a developmental lens, not as a diagnosis.

The approach she promotes is Blomberg Rhythmic Movement Training, or BRMT, a programme described by its official organisations as using slow, rhythmic movements that echo infant patterns to support primitive reflex integration. Professional materials from BRMT and the American Kinesiotherapy Association say the method is intended to improve posture, mobility and broader physical functioning. Conta Steencken describes it as gentle and repetitive, with progress unfolding over weeks rather than in a single session.

She is also careful to note the limits of the evidence. The link between retained reflexes and problems with attention, reading and coordination is described as an association, not a settled cause-and-effect relationship. Still, she argues that it is a layer worth checking before schools and families settle too quickly on behaviour-based explanations. Her message to parents is simple: if September brings a familiar struggle, the issue may not be that a child is broken, but that the body has unfinished work to do.