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

sphil have you found a brand he is OK with? I am not certain it is caused by the Eye Q or if it's a coincidence?

I have very exciting news.

The SENCO and HT are so impressed by the changes in DS and DD, that we are starting a TH intervention after Easter!!!!!

We're going to do the stairs exercise, 3 times a day, with 9 children who are all struggling with reading and writing. They're all in Y5, and have a statement or are on SA+.

Then, by July we'll know if this is an intervention that can be done in school - or not.

Without the diet and multivitamins I'm not expecting the dramatic progress my 2 have made. But hopefully they'll still be measurable progress.

And if not - we've lost nothing.

I'm so excited (and very impressed that school have been do open minded)

I guess this shows how impressive the changes in DS (emotional/social/behavioural) and DD (academic) have been.

That's fantastic Indigo I really hope it helps them, even if just a little Can they do the eye test?

Well done to you and your DCs too.

We could do the eye test - but we couldn't afford the sw to correct it as HTS is sold on a per child basis, rather than a per PC basis.

So what we'll be finding out here is how much progress kids can make with no parental involvement expected and no money spent on them :)

In that context, any progress will be amazing.

Hello TH thread.
We are managing the stairs about once a day. Dh thinks ds is doing them two at a time (feet overtaking each other) so he's put ds up to 5 steps.
Ds is not there yet but I've been wondering how the backwards stair exercise works. Do you start at the top and go back?

Interested to hear how your experiment gets on indigo.

oodles you start at the bottom step and go up - same reps as the forwards one...3, 5, 7 then 10.

Ds1 is now on 5 reps and is getting slowly better...I have found time of day makes a big difference to his ability to so them!

Yes, Oodles, start at the bottom of the stairs with your back to the stairs and walk up 3 steps backwards. Then down 3 stairs forwards. All with eyes closed and hands at your sides, one foot on each stair.

Ds also varies. Some days seems to do them perfectly and others, falls all over the place!

What a lovely school, Indigo! Will be amazing to see if there are any significant changes.

Oh! And ds1 brought home a higher level reading book AGAIN today AND got 2 house points for good work :) He was so proud which is lovely to see.

(He has gone up from a 1.5 to a 2.8 in reading books since Sept!!)

Hi all, name changed for this thread so as not to out DD.

I have made an appointment for TH next month. I feel a little bit sceptical to be quite honest but willing to give it a go after hearing from Indigo and other posters about how much their DC are improving.

DD is 13. She is deemed "dyslexic" - assessed by an educational psychologist about 6 years ago, as having poor working memory and processing. DH and both his brothers have undiagnosed dyslexia/processing disorders.

DD had specialist teaching up to the age of 10 and generally copes quite well at school where she is considered very able. I am a bit worried that she is not developing study skills very well, i.e. she finds it difficult to scan text and make notes quickly enough in class (the school lets her use a laptop but it is not much help for maths and science). She also finds foreign languages a struggle. She has no behavioural or other issues. Her co-ordination is well within normal range but she finds swimming and dance a challenge and gets mixed up with left and right. She does suffer a lot from stomach aches and has a few allergies so perhaps a change of diet might help. I spoke to Robin on the phone and he thought convergence might be an issue. She was seen at the Dyslexia Research Trust a few years and they didn't find any visual problems (but I guess they are primarily looking for Irlens Syndrome). Incidentally today I met with a colleague who is dyslexic and noticed that she definitely seems to have some sort of convergence issue, which I never noticed before.

In my heart of hearts I would really love a "cure"; but any improvement would be a bonus. It is hard being "dyslexic" in a literate world and from time to time she feels quite unhappy. I am very aware that DD's problems are mild compared to many TH clients. I am quite nervous about the visit, I don't want to hope for too much, but I guess I am wishing for a miracle in some way. I will post after out visit and let you all know our progress.

Good luck being fluffy

Do let us know how you get on if you feel you can.

I agree with you re: dyslexia and bit being so much harder for them in school...my ds1 has to work much harder than his peers and yet (up til this year) he was not progressing and seeing them surpass him even though he could see they werent putting in as much effort as him (because they didnt need to)

My son has no behavioural issues either - other than anxiety - which I think may just be his personality tbh.

He has found swimming, scootering and riding his bike much easier since we started the therapies - hopefully your dd will too

(oh and he got another 2 house points today too!)

Yay for house points!

Ds said the other day that the only thing he is good at is being rubbish and on the way home today that he hoped he does have epilepsy (having tests at the moment) so he has an excuse/reason for being rubbish at everything!

I would be happy if even the only outcome of ths approach is that he starts to find life at school and doing school work easier.

I know what you mean Fluffy, the professional in me (used to work in NHS) says this is a load of tosh but the mum in me says "go for it"!

I am a cynic of the highest order (or I was!) but I also put my kids first..unlike the NHS and LAs. I have learnt a lot over the past year...most of which challenged the cynical "old" me.

As you say daft My mantra is now "go for it!"

Another thing I really like is that these therapies are not invasive, distressing, etc for the child...."first do no harm" I guess....

I used to be cynical - until I cured my mild Asthma with the Buteyko method.

That really opened my eyes to how the whole industry is funded by drug companies, and the odds of getting a non drug company funded therapy approved by the NHS are vanishingly small - even if they work.

So I guess that's why I'm so open minded :)

Plus, of course, DS was also damaged by his 3 month vaccination. Which, shall we say, also changed my viewpoint on whether or not the NHS has our children's best interests at heart.

Daft sorry to hear your DS is so down. There's every reason to expect over the next few months he will start to feel better about himself. I really hope so.

BeingFluffy Welcome and good luck.

Very interesting article on dyslexia and the cerebellum.

These researches found that cerebellar deficits or abnormality was the cause of dyslexia !!!!!

Which is great news for us. Because the first thing TH works on is improving the cerebellum.

I'm a scientist and worked for the NHS for years and have to agree with you indigo, I'm a big fan of a holistic approach. DS's allergies were caused by antibiotics that he didn't need when he was a baby and I had to fight for months to get that sorted. He's had a few near misses due to negligence or "procedure" that have only been averted because I have some medical knowledge. I would trust them implicitly in an emergency situation in a big hospital but GPs very often haven't a clue sadly and the red tape is just incredible.

Will read that link later, thanks

I am lucky that ds1 is here frankly and its despite the nhs and hcps, not because of them

I agree with you jal In an emergency they are great but for chronic problems/sn/sen they are pretty useless. I would imagine it drives hcps mad too...all the red tape and not being able to precribe what a patient needs due to cost

Was re-reading that part of Robins book this afternoon indigo !!!

Thank you for the welcome. Sorry to hear about your DC Indigo, I think I developed Adult Onset Stills Disease as the result of the rubella vaccine at age 16. I have refused to let DC have the MMR.

Has anyone come across a link between migraine and the processing disorders/ dyslexia. Our GP thinks DD might have abdominal migraine - i.e. the sickness, and tummy ache without the headache or visual disturbances.

Could it be CVS (cyclical vomiting syndrome) fluffy ? Have no idea wrt migraine and dyslexia...ds1 is dyslexic/has processing problems and doesnt suffer from migraines.

I get atypical migraines in that I dont usually get auras/flashing lights or vomit but my face/lips/left side go numb during an attack.

Your poor dd...they are very unpleasant

Hi haven't been on for a while but ds is improving all the time!

One question though - any ideas how I can keep getting the Flouradixs and the Vegepa in to him - he is completely refusing them morning and night and its becoming a real battle of wills.

We are back to see Robin on Tuesday and i just know he's going to be very disappointed in us

Becarooo, just googled CVS, and no, nothing like as bad as that - poor kids. In respect of DD I think her problem may be dietary although it isn't obviously related.

I have optical migraine which started about 10 years ago - I get the zig zag lines and flashing lights which was alarming the first few times but no headache or sickness thankfully - normally provoked by eating unfamiliar foods or too much alcohol. It makes me acutely aware that what we "see" isn't real - it is just the way our brain processes the info.

BF - a lot of our kids are gluten and dairy intolerant. You might want to try cutting them out for a few weeks and seeing if it helps. Especially if she has constipation or diarrhea or a sore tummy.....

Who - Like I've said before, I gave up on the Floradix and replaced it with Osteocare and a normal chewable multivit. They contain sweeteners, so aren't as good as Floradix - but in terms of the vitamins they are as good.

But I stuck with the Vegepa. DD and DS2 swallow the swallowable ones quite happily. DS1 has the chewable ones, but he doesn't know it :) We add them to his Osteocare liquid. (The others take the Osteocare chewables)

I really think if he'll take Osteocare happily (and it comes in liquid or chewables) it's preferable to having a battle every day.

IB - we have considered gluten or dairy intolerance but it does not seem to be that, hence the GPs idea of migraine. Been referred to the clinic at the hospital.