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

hcj thats so great

indigo I bet school do notice!!!!!

I love ' DS2 is more talkable' - its just the sort of thing Ds1 would say

Hello all, just wanting to join in the TH fun (cult??) if that's ok? Our DS is just turned 3 and newly diagnosed with ASD (hopefully at the sunny side of the spectrum: good language skills, no huge sensory/behavioural issues, mainly just issues with social communication). We've been doing the programme for a couple of weeks now: diet tweaks, supplements (ds LOVES them all), spinning chair and my slightly improvised version of the stairs exercises, cos of his age. We'd already seen DS making good progress generally over the last two months and hopefully doing this programme will only support that. Wishing you all a nice weekend.

Hello WorrierPrincess.

Welcome to the cult :)

Hope you continue to see good results.

Hello wp Welcome to the thread (sorry - cult! )

My ds1 did a variant of the spinning chair exercise (not at TH, during RRT) and its an amazingly powerful treatment...cured my ds1's moro reflex completely

Good luck! x

As part of TH DS and DD have to do 5 mins of Where's Wally every day.

(The left hemisphere makes sense of details, and the right hemisphere makes sense of the big picture, so Where's Wally is the ultimate left hemisphere exercise - which is what we're trying to strengthen.)

The kids do Where's Wally without too much complaint, but, especially at first, they found it quite hard.

Yesterday, for the first time, DS got really into it. And kept on doing it after the timer finished. He suddenly saw Where's Wally as amazing artwork, rather than just something to be done. He said it was 'magnificent'.

In the bath he said to me 'I feel like I've had a brain transplant. I've kept my memories, but my brain feels different.'

And it really feels like he has. He was calm and happy and relaxed when he said it, and I was able to tease him, have a laugh with him.

He's doing so brilliantly now. I'm so proud of him.

Fantastic

That's great indigo
I have been following this thread and I am interested in the results that TH gets. I have started introducing some of the supplements.
I am amazed at the difference in DD when I was giving her zinc+mag b4 and then when I stopped. (Eye contact+concentration definitely improved while taking it)
I wonder if you would be willing to answer a questions that I have if you are able to please?
Do you know what is the difference between ABA (have you ever tryed it) and TH? I hear good things about both on here.
Dd is only 2.7 but there is already talk about her needing extra help when she starts school next January (no dx yet, SAL delay, poor understanding, some ASD traits)
I want to help her but not sure what route to go down or whether just to stick to SALT for now (I'm using more than words-hanen)

Hi Oso The Tinsley House regime is all about changing diet and introducing supplements of zinc, magnesium, multivitamins and Omega into the diet which may be lacking in children with ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, ASD and this is why their brain is under developed there are also some exercises which help to improve the balance of the brain. ABA is Applied behaviour analysis and is a system used to improve communication amongst other things for children with ASD. It is a teaching system which could definitely be used in conjunction with TH. Tinsley have a page on facebook if you want to have a look. I have never been am just following the principles having read Robin Pauc's book.
This is a very Layman's explanation btw am sure Indigo will be along to explain things better.

Indigo that is great we have the Where's Wally book too

Check out the TH web page oso It may answer some of your questions. I dont know much about ABA, sorry.

Have been doing the TH regime since 31st Dec and the results have been amazing so far...ds1 (8) has asd and dyslexia and is coming on in leaps and bounds in all areas, including his anxiety and confidence.

Its great to see

Good luck x

oso - ABA is a way of teaching children, using behaviour stuff. I don't really know much about it. But AFAIK it is only about teaching people how to behave / do things.

Whereas TH is a therapy, which is trying to fix the problems which are causing 'developmental delay'.

So, you could if you want, do both TH and ABA.

TH is all about fixing the brain. And as you can tell, IME it does exactly that.

TH does not need to be expensive. If you want you can start by just buying the Brain Food Plan and following the advice in there.

Then if you want to take it further you can go to TH (or talk to him via Skype). The therapy takes approx a year.

Holy - Where's Wally and Word Searches are very good left brain exercises. We were given that after doing the stairs for 4 months and vision therapy for 2 months......

Thanks Beca, Holy and Indigo-that has helped me understand the difference between the two so thank you.
I do actually have the brain food diet book but have not read it all yet (went onto 'more than words' which is a lot to read) so I think I will finish that and then introduce the changes to diet and the exercises using just the book to begin with, I have already started with the supplements and am happy with the results I've seen from this so hopefully ill see some good results from implementing the rest. That's good to know you can do it via skype, I live in wales and so I'm probably a long way from TH.
Thanks for taking the time to answer

oso - because your DD is so young, I think you need to do the chair exercise (on p42) rather than the stairs exercise.

The closest TH clinic to you is probably Bristol.

Robin is in the New Forest.

If you email him regarding which is the correct exercises to do with your DD, I'm sure he'll tell you.

Thanks indigo I will look at page 42 when I get home, DD's understanding is quite poor so I think I would struggle to get her to do some of the exercises, ill try emailing TH if I can't find something that she can do.
Great news to hear there is one in Wales as well.

Osospecial - from my memories of when Ds2 was very young, I felt a huge compulsion to try everything just in case any of it worked - and I remember feeling quite overwhelmed by it all. I would say that ABA made a huge difference to my DS - it taught him to imitate and to follow instructions, which he couldnt do at all before. More Than Words is great - in my experience particularly if speech delay is the major problem - with my DS this was ( and still is) coupled with a lack of motivation to speak, which is why ABA worked so well, as it's rewards based. We also did lots and lots of playing - using Stanley Greenspans book 'The Special Needs Child' for guidance ( he devised a particular type of play called Floortime, which helps children interact better). We have always followed a diet/ supplements regime with him, which I believe has helped him hugely - its slightly different from TH, but follows the same basic principles ( Robin Pauc says that the TH protocol wont necessarily work for children with autism and DS is severe). Good luck - its brilliant you're starting so early with your DD.

Thanks Sphil. you're right it can feel a bit overwhelming with all the different options its hard to know what will suit DD best (especially with no dx)
What you said about being motivated to communicate really struck a chord as i think that is the main issue with DD. She is in her own world and happy not to communicate a lot of the time.
I am really glad i got the more than words book, only read a few chapters so far. I will put the Stanley Greenspan book on my reading list aswell.
Thanks for the info on ABA.

We are doing the supplements and trying to improve diet, but not doing the TH exercises, as were are half way through Vision Therapy (which seems to do similar type things anyway), and I really feel like I have a different boy on my hands. DS (nearly 8) has for the past 2 days voluntarily brought me breakfast in bed and wants to do the washing up! He's being much more thoughtful and though still gets hyper sometimes, he's on the whole calmer.

MrsB - really pleased your DS is doing so much better.

Through the vision therapy, he is doing retained reflex exercises - which are not the same as TH exercises. (Although they are both neuro-development exercises)

However, they are also brilliant.

You can't do TH at the same time as RRT, so I'd keep going with the VT which you are having so much success with. Then, after it's finished, if you still think there's room for improvement, look at the TH exercises.

Yes, will definitely look into it when we're done.

He's doing so well with VT. His eyes are so much smoother now and and his writing's getting smaller and neater, and is making loads of progress all round really. He can be so lovely x We hope to have a proper assessment of progress this afternoon.

Spelling is improving (strangely nmemonics work for him, but it's hard work learning one for every word!!), but still way below expected. He's enjoying typing a bit at school. It's slow, but he'll get quicker and his spelling's lots better on the computer.

Plus he's getting to like football :) And he wants to start Karate at the new afterschool club....

Slight hjack, but MrsBaffled - we've had great success with the Apples and Pears books for spelling. Mnemonics work for Ds1 too, but as you say, they are slow work. Apples and Pears teaches phonics in a really structured way - I would say its an excellent programme for kids who have good memories, because its kind of like rote learning, but with lots and lots of practice and repetition. It helps handwriting too. Have to credit Indigo, as she put me on to it! (The one drawback is its flipping expensive)

Thanks, Sphil x

He's been put on Word Wasp at school as part of his IEP (recommended by specialist teacher). It seems rather slow going. TBH I have no knowledge of what he's doing as it's all done at school. He gets extra spellings for me to help with outside of school too. He's doing OK with those, but they are easy phonic ones - it's the irregular words he struggles with on the whole (unsurprisingly).

mrs b apples and pears is hands down the best one out there

Will be doing it again with ds1 when the VT is finished (over summer hols)

Ds1 bought home a higher level reading book again today He is doing cursive writing

Yes we have suspended Apples and Pears atm too because DS wants to focus on his Maths for SATS. But he admitted the other day that his spelling has gone backwards since we stopped it ( this is a big thing as he LOATHES doing it!) Interestingly, his school have just started using something called Bug Club which seems very similar - very structured phonics programme.

Some good news -
Ds has always struggled with planning and organising writing. He has good ideas, is imaginative and has a wide vocab, but finds it difficult to link ideas coherently ( in speech as well as writing). Yesterday he had to write a newspaper report for homework and he knew exactly what should go in each paragraph and it all made sense!
Protein and Vegepa Rule!

sphill thats great news!

I really want to get going with A&P again as even after 2 weeks ds1 was improving after using it BUT really need to finish the VT first, I think.

One thing at a time....but will def be doing after VT ends.