Tinsley House Support Thread

[IndigoBell]

An awful lot of us are now doing Tinsley House, either by going there, or by following the recommendations in The Brain Food Plan

So this is just a general support (and hopefully good news) thread.

Stage 1 of the TH therapy consists of:

1. Multivitamins

• Omega
• Zinc & Magnesium
• Multivitamin

1. Healthy eating diet

• High protein, low sugar, no artificial sweeteners, additives etc.

1. Specific exercises done 3 times a day

We've been on the therapy for 3 months now. And have seen lots and lots of improvements.

As well as stage 1, we've also done vision therapy.

DS1 is in Y6 and his Aspergers symptoms are now very, very, very almost gone.

Since starting TH, DS has:

• developed empathy
• made friends
• his writing has improved
• his spelling has improved
• become a lot more co-ordinated - he's now good at sport!

Things that I hope TH will help with over the coming months:

• fine motor skills (in particular handwriting)
• getting rid of his OCD.

I'm not really worried about him anymore. I'm not at all worried about him moving to secondary school next year.

DD is in Y4 and has really severe dyslexia.

Since starting TH she has:

• improved her reading level by over 2 years. (Although the way these reading levels are calculated is all a bit dodgy)
• improved her memory
• improved her slow processing
• become angry and sad (previously she was always happy)
• stopped having word finding difficulties (previously she couldn't learn new words at all)

I'm still really worried about her though. She's 9 and she can't read or write.

(She can almost read - but not good enough to read a book by herself)

I'm still desperate for more improvements over the coming months. She has to learn to read and write this year.

She finished the vision therapy today, and I'm counting down the days till we go back to TH so I can find out what happens next.

DS1(2.8) GDD ASD

We have been to TH last week, initial impressions were very good and we were impressed.

Stage 1 for us are

1. Multivitamins

Vegepa
Abidec
(just read ur post indigo wrt soft nails=magnesium deficiency) so will ask him to suggest some.

1. Have been asked to do chair exercise 5 times a day and overall lots of physical play with him.

1. Healthy diet with lots of protein and Fat, currently it is majorly carbs.

Will post once we see any difference in his behaviour/Learning (Fingers crossed, it is for better)

Hi Indigo,am really interested in this. Ds (yr7) has suspected AS and behaviour has been getting worse lately (could be puberty). He doesn't have a great diet so am going to order these today and give it a go.

Our DD is 5 she has ADHD and Dyspraxia. Prior to implementing the brain food plan and vitamin supplements she had terrible rages and temper tantrums especially in school where she hit the teacher and other children we had started to think she had ODD on top of everything else. She would blabber on incoherently quoting lines from films or songs and had no social skills whatsoever. She could not have a proper conversation and would not sit still even at mealtimes. fine motor skills were extremely poor and she would refuse to draw.
We took her to a private consultant and were given medication for her but it did not sit easy with me. In December we changed schools and started DD on the brain food plan and the supplements recommended.We chose not to give her the medication it currently sits in a cupboard. Here are the main differences so far
1.Her violent temper tantrums have all but disappeared in 8 weeks of her new school she has had 3 outbursts which were her shouting and she was calmed in 10 minutes. She has been incident free for 10 days!!

1. Her vocabulary has improved she has amazing conversations with us and is able to express herself well.

3.She has started to draw (still not very well) but there is a 100% improvement and the mere fact she wants to do it is amazing.

1. She sits still and doesn't run about at mealtimes or during class.
2. She speaks coherently to her peers and doesn't come out with random nonsense.
3. She is calmer, happier and so are we!!!!

Did I mention she has lovely shiny hair now oh and colour in her cheeks.

I have to say I was very sceptical about all of this I thought if this works so well then why doesn't the GP reccommend it but I am amazed and so grateful to Indigo and this board for steering us in the right direction!

Now off to do the chair exercise having just had sausages and beans for breakfast (I discovered the hard way if you give DD any fruit or yoghurt for breakfast she is completely hyper!!)

Thanks for this thread Indigo what a brilliant idea.

Hi we have been following the TH plan for a week now and despite the resistance to the diet changes (ds2 doesn't like giving up his cereal!) I can honestly say there is a difference in his behaviour. Biggest change has been ds2 vocalising his non-compliance - where before he would have had a melt down now we get "I don't want to!"

I will say that the last week has been absolute hell - its true what Dr Pauc says in that the behaviour gets worse before it gets better but we seem to be coming out the other side now.

We are back to TH in March for our next exercises so will keep the thread updated with changes as they happen.

Great idea for a support thread - its nice to see progress made by the dcs and know that we are all on the same journey!

Indigo

Oh and forgot to mention. The teacher actually pulled me aside a few weeks ago and said "I take it you are now giving DD the medication" That gave me such a boost as I was worried I had just been imagining these improvements

Thanks for starting this IndigoBell I will take advantage and have a ramble to order my thoughts if that's ok? If anyone can see areas for improvement please let me know!

I am about 2/3 through the book (off for half term so will hopefully finish it today!!) and it is clear that whatever is bothering DS it is all linked with what is within the book but thankfully fairly mild symptoms but then we've only just had DS flagged at school so goodness knows how bad it could have got if I hadn't come on here and found some suggestions.

DS is already on supplements as he has allergies and is very fussy with food. I had stupidly not fought this as his fussiness keeps him safe in a party environment he will just eat hula hoops or whatever so no danger of eating a nut! Silly, silly me...

Anyway, he has been on osteocare fluid for years and equazen eye-q which I hide in his weetabix (made with special hydrolysed formula which is also fortified with vitamins etc) We have always noticed a difference if we miss a few days so are religious with it now. I have upped the dose though, I just used to put a dribble on now I put 5ml at brekkie time and will sneak some more in his juice during the day as I think we should try the loading dose period.

He was also on bassets vitamin sweeties but as from yesterday he is on www.amazon.co.uk/Natures-Plus-UK-Multi-Vitamins-Assorted/dp/B00028NCGO as these are the best my closest health food shop could offer (no sweeteners etc)

He already only drinks apple juice diluted with hot water at home as he loves his "warm juice" even in the summer! HE hates fizzy drinks and squash so has self-regulated well there lol. I might look into getting him a thermos to take some warm juice into school in his lunch box.

His diet is ok but carb heavy. Due to his allergies we were told by a dietician at the hospital to feed him lots of carbs, biscuits, chips etc to get calories in to him. Luckily he loves roast meats and potatoes, rice and pasta and will reluctantly eat some veg so I will ditch the pizza and nuggets and get good quality sausages etc rather than cheap ones. Sadly we are on a strict budget at the moment and I think his health has suffered from me trying to skimp on the quality of food but I will obviously not do that any more and will have to sell more stuff on ebay. He really doesn't want to go onto school dinners so I have a bargaining chip to get him to try better foods. Even after a few days of healthier eating he looks better and seems to be growing before my eyes which is a relief because he is the smallest chap in his class, even smaller than most of the teeny girls! He is still very, very bouncy though.

He can't cross his eyes when doing the convergence test in the book so am interested in the vision therapy. We are saving up our pennies to try to take him to TH. Hopefully soon

Do you think weetabix is allowed? I hven't got to that bit in the book yet! He has honey on it, no sugar.

Jalapeño the weetabix is no longer permitted in our house it has to be a high protein breakfast I think the recommendation is 60% protein 40% carbs. We give French toast with whole meal bread and bacon or good quality sausages with beans or scrambled egg with turkey rashers there are good suggestions in the book. I noticed hyper behaviour when I didn't stick to this. DD doesn't take school dinners either I like to control what she has for lunch. Those little whole meal snack rolls are great with turkey, ham, cheese or tuna and cucumber and some fruit.

Thanks holy, I'm a bit reluctant to give up the weetabix as a) he has his formula which is the only dairy product he gets and b) I can sneak the omega oil in there! Do you think I could halve it and keep that as the carbs instead of bread and then add a sausage or two? I have got some 97% pork chipolatas for him. He has a good appetite even though he looks like a sparrow!

Perhaps I should have read the end of the book first

Robin wasn't pleased that I was still giving DD weetabix for breakfast. He really believes you need more protein.

• eggs
• beans on toast
• sausages
• bacon
• ham
• fish

DS has a cooked breakfast but DD still has weetabix

Thanks everyone for your support. I do often feel like I'm going crazy or imagining things. And it's really lovely to hear that lots of people ate going crazy with me about everyone else's successes.

The therapy takes about a year, so we all have a long way to go.

Oops should say he has 2 weetabix currently so could halve it to 1.

He has recently started at breakfast club at school twice a week and I think likes to eat rice crispies (no milk obviously) when he gets there so will have to nip that in the bud...

Yes, I think weetabix with sausages would be fine.

Well eggs are out due to his allergy. Beans he hates but he likes the pasta in the same sauce (blee!) so will perservere with those. DS2 and I LOVE baked beans so will be easy to introduce that at breakfast or lunch. He has that "touching foods" thing though so would freak out at beans ON toast. Sigh...

Sausages yes he loves them, bacon not sure but he will eat ham so probably ok. I've always swerved bacon for the boys because of the salt unless in pasta sauces but DS2 likes nicking mine off my plate so will roll that ok and have actually bought some unsmoked for this purpose.

Fish...eek! He hasn't eaten fish willingly for years. Used to love it though and he will eat tuna pasta (made with tinned toms and veg then liquidised) not sure how a kipper would go down but I actually love smoked mackerel so will get some of that in.

Why is weetabix worse than wholemeal bread I wonder? Is oatibix better?

*roll that out

Oops we keep cross posting. Thanks Indigo will add some sausages.

Sorry for hogging the thread but please could you give me some ideas for good packed lunches for a fussy boy on this diet? I was thinking ham sandwich with brown bread and carrot sticks, brown pasta or rice with chicken and peas, hummus and breadsticks with cold chicken and apple.

Do you think the school will "encourage" him to eat this healthier stuff at lunchtime? If we asked them to specifically I mean. I'm rather worried I will just get a full lunchbox back again at the end of the day!

Oh, and he loves plain freshly popped popcorn with nothing added, would that be ok as a snack or with a sandwich?

Have now visions of weetabix with milk and bits of chopped chipolatas floating on top
DD was very allergic to egg but grew out of it at age 4. Omelette with ham and tomato also good but no way will she have kippers for breakfast !
I thought I would struggle with the fish intake but she has tuna once a week on her roll and she loves it when I make salmon fish fingers dipped in egg then rolled in whole meal breadcrumbs they are surprisingly delicious. Have also started giving her the whole wheat pasta and brown rice and she hasn't noticed any difference. Sneaky sneaky

Oatabix contains way more protein than weetabix, so I think you should switch to it. (that is actually what DD eats - not weetabix)

the lunch you've proposed sounds good. You have the rest of the holidays to get him used to it :)

I think popcorn would be ok.

I say keep lunch simple! I was trying to vary it greatly on school and was sending in whole meal bagels, seeded rolls various pasta salads etc and the teacher told me that it was taking DD forever to eat lunch and bless her she is extremely messy. So now she gets a whole meal snack roll with ham or turkey and cheese and some fruit. They only have a short time to eat and run and if you overwhelm them with a lot of new things they will go hungry. We try new things at the weekend and I give Dd a snack plate with lots of different things

Good idea Holy. Perhaps stick to sandwiches with wholemeal instead of white bread, popcorn instead of crisps and maybe chicken, hummus and breadsticks once a week although tbh that makes a good after school snack before Beavers or Kung Fu so I might stick to sarnies for now.

Fruit wise any bananas that I've tried sending in come back. Apple he will only eat with the peel removed which is ok but goes brown in a lunch box. I am giving him apple with skin this week to try to get him to eat it but he's still being stubborn. Carrot sticks he will eat but only with constant nagging so I suspect they'd come home too.

Also Holy, interesting about your DD's egg allergy. DS1's milk allergy is ok with processed milk now he can have chocolate, ice cream, cheese on pizza (this is probably when his diet went downhill!) but I haven't tested him with egg at the lip for a long time. I might try him on the salmon things you mention with some piriton at the ready.

Another way of doing salmon fishcakes (got this from an allergy book years ago) is liquidise tinned salmon to blend in the bones (calcium!) and then mix with some mashed potatoes, dip in egg/milk and breadcrumbs. Yum

We have a playdate today the first time a child from her new class has come over so will be watching the social interaction like a hawk.

There is another recipe book I bought a while ago called "Brain food for Kids!"
Some good recipes in there and ideas for lunches breakfasts and dinners.
Anyone know of any others as I do like to try new ideas.

This is interesting but how on earth do you put a child with sensory processing problems who has rigid routines about food on diets like this!!