About INPP
The Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology has been developing and refining its understanding of neuromotor development since 1975. What began as pioneering clinical research in Chester is now practised by accredited licentiates across more than fifteen countries..
What INPP understands
Many children who find learning difficult are not lacking intelligence or effort. What they may be experiencing is something less visible, an immature neuromotor system that has not yet completed the developmental sequence it needed to in the earliest months of life.
Every child is born with a set of primitive reflexes. These are automatic movement responses that serve a vital purpose in the first months of life, supporting survival, early movement, and the beginnings of sensory development. Under typical conditions, they are gradually integrated during the first year, making way for the more complex voluntary movements that underpin sitting, standing, coordinating, and eventually learning.
For some children, this process is incomplete. The reflexes persist beyond the point at which they should have been integrated, and their continued presence may place a quiet but significant load on the developing nervous system.
What this can look like is a child who cannot sit still despite wanting to, who struggles to track a line of text, whose handwriting does not reflect what they clearly know, or who becomes easily overwhelmed in a busy classroom.
How the INPP Method works
The INPP Method begins with a standardised neuromotor assessment, carried out by a qualified INPP Licentiate. The assessment looks at a range of neuromotor markers · balance, coordination, reflex responses, and postural control · to build a picture of how the nervous system is functioning relative to expected developmental norms.
Where retained reflexes are identified, the practitioner designs an individualised daily movement programme. The movements are based on the natural developmental sequence of infancy, the same patterns the nervous system uses in typical early development. Delivered at home for approximately five to ten minutes a day, over the course of a year, the programme supports the nervous system to complete what it did not fully achieve in early development.
Progress is reviewed regularly, and the programme is adapted as the child or adult moves through it. This is not a passive process, it requires consistency and commitment. For many of those who complete it, the difference becomes evident gradually, in the way learning begins to feel more manageable, and in the confidence that follows.
Who the INPP Method may support
The INPP assessment may be relevant for children and adults presenting with a wide range of difficulties, including dyslexia, developmental coordination disorder, ADHD, autistic spectrum differences, sensory processing differences, anxiety, and educational underachievement.
It does not replace other forms of professional support. It addresses the neuromotor layer that other approaches may not reach, and for many families and practitioners, that is precisely what has been missing.
The official UK national body
INPP UK is the officially appointed national training body for the United Kingdom, led by Pauline Shannon as National Principal for Training. Pauline is appointed by and accountable to INPP International, and is an active member of the international community of INPP National Principals.
All INPP UK licentiates are trained to the same rigorous international standard. They come from diverse professional backgrounds · occupational therapy, education, psychology, physiotherapy, social work, and more, and each holds a qualification that is recognised within the global INPP network.
Presentations the INPP Method may help address
The following are among the presentations that may benefit from an INPP neuromotor assessment. This is not an exhaustive list, and the INPP Method does not replace other professional assessments or support, it addresses the neuromotor layer that may sit underneath many of these difficulties.
Learning & Literacy
- Dyslexia
- Reading difficulties
- Handwriting challenges
- Spelling difficulties
- Educational underachievement
Movement & Coordination
- Developmental Coordination Disorder (Dyspraxia)
- Balance difficulties
- Hand-eye coordination
- Clumsiness
- Swimming difficulties
Attention & Behaviour
- ADHD & attention difficulties
- Concentration challenges
- Poor impulse control
- Autistic spectrum differences
- Sensory processing differences
Emotional & Wellbeing
- Anxiety
- Emotional overwhelm
- Low confidence
- Difficulty managing transitions
- Sleep-related difficulties
A neuromotor assessment does not constitute a diagnosis of any of the above. Where a child or adult presents with these difficulties, an INPP Licentiate will assess whether retained primitive reflexes may be a contributing factor and, where appropriate, recommend an individualised movement programme.