Chris Evans reveals son Eli, 7, underwent ‘miracle’ treatment

By RIANNE ADDO FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED: 13:08, 4 December 2019

Chris Evans reveals son Eli, 7, underwent ‘miracle’ treatment after his retained reflexes left him unable to read and write… and says he’s been diagnosed with the same condition.

• Babies are born with ‘primitive’ reflexes, designed to help them get used to the world

• Most fade away within the first two years of life, however the brain’s scrapping of the reflexes doesn’t always go to plan – which is referred to as ‘retained reflexes’

• On Wednesday, the host, 53, discovered his son’s learning difficulties were down to the condition when his wife took him Eli to the The Key Clinic last year

• After practicing ten-minute exercises, Chris’ young boy can now do ‘joint-up writing’ and ‘reads book for fun’

• The presenter revealed he and his older son Noah, 11, have also been diagnosed with the same condition

• He shares his boys, as well as twins Walt and Boo, 14 months, with wife Natasha Shishmanian, 39.

Chris Evans has revealed his son Eli, seven, underwent ‘miracle’ treatment after his ‘retained reflexes’ left him unable to read and write.

The presenter, 53, discovered his ‘creative’ young boy’s learning difficulties were down to the condition when his wife Natasha Shishmanian took him to the The Key Clinic – a centre which specialises in child development – last year.

During Wednesday’s The Chris Evans Virgin Radio Breakfast Show with Sky, the host enthused Eli can now do ‘joint-up writing’ and ‘reads book for fun’ after practising helpful exercises, and revealed he was recently diagnosed with the same condition.

Chris – who also shares Noah, 11, and twins Walt and Boo, 14 months, with golfer Natasha, 39 – expressed his past worries over his son’s development as while he’s a ‘creative genius’, Eli could only ‘read a little bit’.

The radio personality explained: ‘Our little boy, Eli, who’s seven loves school. He loves life. He is seven, you know and at the start of this year, his new year at school, he couldn’t really read and he couldn’t really write.

‘He could read a little bit, but not much. But he’s creative, such a genius. He’s a shining star in our world. So was he dyslexic? How was he with his maths? Not very good.’

Revealing his wife of 12 years took the initiative to improve their child’s learning journey, the businessman – who also shares older daughter Jade, 33, with ex Alison Ward – said: ‘Tash started looking around and she came across this place called The Key Clinic.

‘And what The key clinic do is they focus on a link between all these learning issues and potential issues of communication or spacial awareness. And they’re all linked to something called retained reflexes.’

Chris went on to give his listeners insight into the condition, which he described as a ‘phenomenon’.

He explained: ‘Retained reflexes means is that we’re all born with these reflexes that are designed to keep us alive in the first few months and the first year and may be second year of our lives. And there are about 19 of them.

‘They are sort of superpowers in our first year or couple of years of our lives. But when we no longer need them, they’re supposed to leave us. But if they don’t leave us, they can cause massive issues.’

Babies are born with their own set of ‘primitive’ reflexes, designed to help them get used to the world. Such reflexes include tightly grasping a finger placed in their hand and attempting to suckle when their cheek is stroked. Most of the reflexes fade away within the first two years of life, after the infant has achieved milestones including crawling.

The Bird charity, a neurological body that has treated thousands of children, says the brain’s system of scrapping the primitive reflexes doesn’t always go to plan. It writes: ‘For many children who do not pass through developmental milestones… primitive reflexes can remain active in the central nervous system.’

‘Retained reflexes act as a barrier to normal development and make it more difficult to develop neurologically and function adequately within everyday living..

‘A presence of primitive reflexes makes it more difficult for an individual to function as each task and activity requires more effort and energy than is naturally required.

‘Activities of daily living will not come naturally to an individual with retained reflexes and as a result they may appear awkward, uncoordinated and rigid when performing tasks.

‘This will inevitably lead to increased frustration levels, reduced self-esteem and increased anxiety levels.’

Detailing the ten-minute daily exercises, The Big Breakfast star said: ‘Key neuro movement therapy uses simple, precise exercises to inhibit the primitive reflexes, overcoming blockages, creating new neural pathways in the brain by maturing the nervous system and changes the neuroplasticity of our brain.

‘And of course, the longer these reflexes remain locked, the more hard wired our neuroplasticity becomes and the more it is becomes an accepted a normal state when it really, really isn’t. And this is revolutionary.’

And after a trip to his kid’s school, Chris and Natasha were left amazed at Eli’s improvement. He enthused: ‘I’ve been thinking about talking about this on radio for a while. But yesterday we were asked to go to school. ‘My wife and I, because Eli has gone from in a year of doing this, from not being able to read to four stages above his expected reading level for his age. He can also do jointup writing. ‘He reads books now for fun. His whole personality has changed. He’s become less anxious. And it’s all because of this. It absolutely works.

‘You can’t do them haphazardly because you have to change this wiring of your brain and your brain has to it has to get fed up with the onslaught that you’re confronting with every day.’ Chris explained that after Eli’s diagnosis, he discovered he and his eldest son Noah also have retained reflexes.

The former BBC star said: ‘It works to the extent that now Noah, who’s Eli’s elder brother. He’s eleven. We’ve discovered he’s got retained reflexes. Guess who else has got them? This 53 year old sat here!’ Insisting Eli still has a long way to go, he added: ‘Eli is not sorted, but he’s getting sorted. I mean, it’s like a miracle. It’s like a blooming miracle. It’s unbelievable.’

Babies are born with their own set of ‘primitive’ reflexes, designed to help them get used to the world. Most fade away within the first two years of life, however the brain’s scrapping of the reflexes doesn’t always go to plan – which is referred to as ‘retained reflexes’.

The Bird charity, a neurological body that has treated thousands of children, explains: ‘For many children who do not pass through developmental milestones… primitive reflexes can remain active in the central nervous system.

‘Retained reflexes act as a barrier to normal development and make it more difficult to develop neurologically and function adequately within everyday living..

‘A presence of primitive reflexes makes it more difficult for an individual to function as each task and activity requires more effort and energy than is naturally required.

‘Activities of daily living will not come naturally to an individual with retained reflexes and as a result they may appear awkward, uncoordinated and rigid when performing tasks. ‘This will inevitably lead to increased frustration levels, reduced self-esteem and increased anxiety levels.’

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/tvshowbiz/video-1952212/Video-Chris-Evans-asks-help-make-10-year-old-son-polite.html