Indigo's Proud Happy Thread

[IndigoBell]

I am so excited / thrilled / happy!

DD (age 8 / Y4) has/had severe 'dyslexia'. The symptoms she has are:

• Unable to learn to read
• Unable to spell (Still gets 2 letter words wrong)
• Slow processing
• Huge memory problems
• Word Finding difficulties
• Auditory processing difficulties
• Eye tracking / convergence problems

We have been doing lots of different therapies with her, and are slowly making progress on all fronts. At the moment she is on the cusp of learning to read.

However, she had such a breakthrough with her 'word finding problems' last night, I can't believe it.

Normally if I ask her what she did in Maths I get an answer like this:
'I don't know what we did, but on the whiteboard was a 1 and a line and a 4' (I assume she was doing fractions)
Or a few weeks ago she said 'I don't know what it's called, but it was a line with a dot and a dot' (She was talking about division)

Last night I asked what she did in maths, and she said:
'Fractions' I couldn't believe it (that she knew the word), so I said, 'What did you learn about fractions', and she said:
'They have a numerator at the top, and a denominator at the bottom'!!!!!!!!

Absolutely unbelievable. She's never, ever had language like that before.

The thing that has changed is 2 weeks ago we went to Tinsley House, and started the first stage of their treatment plan which is to follow the Brain Food Plan . (Which involves multi-vitamins, dietary changes, and exercises for the cerebellum)

Tinsley House said it would help with her word finding difficulties - but I never expected it to help so dramatically, and in only 2 weeks.

DS1 and DS2 are also following the same plan, and have also made amazing progress in 2 weeks - but I wanted this thread to be about DD :) Who has worried me the most these last 2 years.

Aw! Well done, miniindigo xx
So pleased for you x

wonderful news indigo!!!!

Wow!! fantastic news, well done mini indigo.

that sounds fantastic, Indigo - well done dd!

can you explain a little about the Brain Food plan? what sort of dietary changes (ie, is htis a book I should shell out on, or is it a lot of what I have been doing already from other dietary change plans?)

it is lovely when you can see such absolute improvement, isn't it? that sounds like an impressive leap.

Well done to your dd - and to you.

SilverFrog - the diet is really just healthy eating.

My kids diet wasn't bad. Was really pretty average I think for a child today. But it wasn't good enough.

We started noticing significant changes to them / their behaviour in Sep when I started playing with the GAPS diet.

I think the right multi vitamins has helped a lot - especially DS2.

I think for DD and DS1 though it's been the exercises for the cerebellum which have been the major break through.

Tinsley House is run by a neurologist, who understands exactly how the brain works, who understands what causes word finding difficulties, and therefore has the most chance of fixing them.

Indigo, can you tell me a bit about the brain food plan please. I'd buy the book myself but I'm sure dh would throw a fit if I came up with yet another demand on our time!
My two eat very well I think compared to the average. No sweets/crisps/junk in general, most things cooked from scratch, 3/4 veg and 2/3 fruit a day, wholegrain etc etc. What changes have you made to your children's diet?

It's not just the diet. Your kids diet sounds fine - although I don't know without a more detailed break down :)

We had to cut out almost all sugar, additives and E-nums, and increase protein.

I used this book to work out what e-nums etc to cut out. DS1 cut out pepperami and his heart palpitations stopped!

It's also essential they're getting the right mullti-vitamins. These are what Tinsley House recommends:

*Omega (With high EPA / low or no DHA)

• Zinc and Magnesium
• Multivitamin

Plus you need to do the exercises he recommends 3 times a day.

Then, if you see a difference, you should really go see him for the next stage of the treatment plan.

Absolutely amazing!!!
Well done little indigo and big indigo too xxx

What are the exercises like?

They have bassets omega 3 (vitamins Omega-3 + A B C D & E) and ds has behaviour balance (contains Magnesium - 30mg Zinc - 1.5mg).

A typical day's food might be:
Breakfast
weetabix & organic semi skimmed milk

Snack (provided by school) fruit or veg

Packed lunch
Brown bread sandwiches (houmous is favourite)
Veg sticks
Yoghurt tube
Bar- Nature valley/nakd/gbar
Fruit

After school
Malt loaf/brown toast/fruit/yoghurt

Dinner
Fish/chicken with lots of veg or homemade quorn spagetti bolgnese or casserole etc
Pudding- yoghurt (if they've not had one already that day), icecream (good quality organic brand), banana and custard (if not already had a banana that day).

They really don't have a lot of sugar or many e-numbers/additives either but I probably do need to increase protein for them.

Those multivitamins aren't right.

Bassets only seems to contain DHA not EPA. And I don't know how much it contains. The one I recommended contains 560mg of EPA (and no DHA)

30 mg of Magnesium isn't enough. The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for magnesium ? Age 1-3yrs 80 mg, 4-8yrs 130 mg, 9-12yrs 240 mg.

1.5 mg of Zinc isn't enough either. You want 15 mgs.

Tinsley House's recommendations.

Diet looks OK. A cooked breakfast would be better. :)

Fantastic Indigo!! Hope it continues...just to say though Robin Pauc is NOT a neurologist-he is a chiropractor and he has been pulled up for making claims to be a neurologist in the past.
That said, as you know I have followed a similar path to you and achieved similar results so who cares if it works!!!

Don't know why you say he isn't a neurologist. He certainly told me he was - although I didn't ask for any proof :)

He is also a trained chiropracter. He trained to be a neurologist after being a chiropracter.

You can be both. :)

I think the proof that he is a neurologist is the fact he actually understands the brain. Certainly all of the books on his bookshelf were not ones that could be read or understood by the layman - or by a chiropractor.

He does not appear on the GMC register of neurologists-he is not a medical doctor-his dr title is from his chiropractice-it does not make him disingenuous-he is a genuine chiropractor with an interest in the neurological aspects of this and is probably great at this. Calling himself a neurologist suggests that he went to medical school for 6-7 years and then spent a further 10 years specialising in neurology which he definately did not. he could not for example go and work in a hospital as any form of medical dr, even at the most junior of levels.
As I said though I also have great faith and results in the stuff he does, just a slight probelm with how he presents himself!

His website says:

Robin Pauc is a Chiropractor who graduated from The Anglo-European College of Chiropractic in 1974. He is registered with the General Chiropractic Council and is a Fellow of the College of Chiropractors.

Robin Pauc is a Diplomate of the American Chiropractic Neurology Board and a Past Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology. He has been in clinical practice for over 30 years and now has a special interest in developmental disorders in children.

So you're right he's not talking about being a neurologist as in a medical Dr. And his website never claims he is. He's talking about Chiropractic Neurology

Sorry for the confusion.

Great news indigo

That is really exciting news. Congrats!

Wow! Great improvement well done DD and Mum

OddGirl - Just to say, that Tinsley House is not the same as Hemispheres, INPP, or Sound Learning Centre. It's a very different therapy / philosophy - and based on my sample of 3 DCs, seems to be a lot more effective.

I do really like the Sound Learning Centre - but Tinsley House is more effective (and a lot cheaper as well :) )

Thanks, Indigo, that's brilliant advice.

Honestly, you should start charging for all this mentoring- you'd make a fortune!

Actually my two were often having a boiled egg or porridge for breakfast but recently we stopped 'cos dd was a bit constipated. I shall make sure ds has them more often now.

I'm popping to boots later so I'll try and get the supplements there.

Glad things are going well.

Great news indigo - where is this tindsley hse? What exercises are they doing? Do you think it can help asd?

By the way we do eyeq fish oils and DMg behavioural balance - we have noticed a massive difference in anxious behaviour and a lot less crying and upset especially in school - which is where ds would get most upset

Does the brain food plan have anything in it about the exercises or is it just about food/diet?

Tinsley House is in Southampton, but you don't have to visit very often.

He can help some forms of ASD. The more mild kinds :) If your child was fine until 4 months, then Tinsley House should be able to help.

The first stage exercises are detailed in the Brain Food Plan