Created: 2025.10.29. 11:39
With her sensory-motor training programme designed for young children, a researcher from Széchenyi István University has won the Gold Award in the lower primary school category of the OTP Fáy Educational Innovation Prize. Dr Erzsébet Stephens-Sarlós’s playful and widely accessible development sessions aim to support children’s neurological maturation through movement, thereby promoting the development of fundamental abilities essential for learning, attention, and behaviour regulation.
The OTP Fáy Educational Innovation Prize recognises outstanding practices, innovative solutions, and initiatives in educational tools and methodologies each year—those that positively impact teaching quality and enhance learning outcomes. This year, the Gold Award in the lower primary school category was granted to Dr Erzsébet Stephens-Sarlós, a researcher at the Faculty of Health and Sports Sciences of Széchenyi István University, for her playful development programme for young children.
The project, entitled “Success in Motion”, was inspired by the specialist’s decades-long teaching career. Based on findings in developmental neurology, the programme supports children’s neurological maturation and the inhibition of infant reflexes, thereby helping to develop basic skills essential for learning.
Dr Erzsébet Stephens-Sarlós (right), researcher at Széchenyi István University, received the Gold Award in the lower primary school category (Photo: OTP Fáy Educational Innovation Prize)
Dr Stephens-Sarlós explained that a master’s student from the University’s health psychology programme drew her attention to the Fáy Foundation’s call for applications. She found the opportunity particularly relevant, as the institution is currently conducting research involving nursery and lower primary school children on the same topic. “The more so-called primitive reflexes remain active in a child, the harder it becomes for them to achieve the level of cognitive performance they would be capable of with a mature nervous system. Furthermore, the likelihood of developing behavioural and attention-related problems also increases. Since movement, neurological functioning, and the manifestation of cognitive functions are closely interconnected, I have developed a programme comprising approximately 120 sessions. Each consists of playful exercises lasting fifteen to twenty minutes, designed to help inhibit infant reflexes,” she elaborated.
The researcher added that the programme, which is freely available to all, is currently used by around 500 nursery and school groups across Hungary. “A major issue in our country is that far fewer children receive individual developmental support than would actually need it. With this group-based training, every child is given the opportunity to unlock their potential. It is important that these exercises do not require any special equipment, and sessions can be conducted by nursery teachers and primary school teachers, without the need for special qualifications,” she pointed out. She also emphasised that children do not perceive these movement-based sessions as formal development, since they are delivered in a playful manner, enriched with rhymes and fairy-tale elements.
Dr Stephens-Sarlós is proud of the recognition, which further motivates her scientific work in the field. “Széchenyi University provides full support for my research on primitive reflexes, cognitive abilities, and neurological activities, and I receive positive feedback from parents and teachers on a daily basis regarding the results,” she said. “In the next stage of my career, I wish to focus on this area and on sharing knowledge, as I am convinced that such developmental programmes should be made accessible to as wide an audience as possible, helping children to lead happier and more fulfilling lives.”
