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

Hello catsdon'tcare I squeeze the vegepa capsules into ds' juice and put the vitamin liquid in too. I find I need to use a straw to help him Hoover up the omega 3 as it floats but it tastes fine.
Ds has invented a lovely approach to the stair climbing - I have to sit on step 4 and he gives me a smacker on the lips each time he reaches the third step

shopping my DS had very bad tracking and our behaviour optometrist was utterly amazed he could read at all. In fact he was reading 4 years ahead of chronological age....she had never seen anything like it before, and put it down to him being very bright and being able to work out by context where he was on the page.

really interesting. Ds definitely is able to scan ahead because he begins a question with a questioning tone (having noticed the question mark at the end of the sentence before he begins), but perhaps he can do this kind of one eyed too. His reading comprehension is good but writing is well below average. Will be really interesting to see how it pans out.

Hello again. Can I pick your brains about the exercises in the brain plan book? I would love to start doing them ASAP but ds is for with a receptive and expressive language age of 2.6 and I tried to do the stair exercise and he just didn't understand what I was trying to ask him to do! Should I persevere or is it best left for now?

Can you do it holding hands together a few times? Then maybe you do it with hands by your sides and eyes closed? Get him to try. When we saw robin he stood behind ds to make sure he didn't fall the first few times,

Hello catsdontcare. (You sent me a very nice message on my first SN post) We're doing TH for ds (3.3, hfa) and seeing some very encouraging results I'm glad to say: much more interactive, sleeping better, improved concentration and participation at nursery. He also seems more 'imaginative' too: for instance last week he told me he was pretending to be somebody from CBeebies that day! (And corrected me repeatedly when I forgot and called him by his real name instead)

We really struggled with stair exercises at first as ds is very floppy and not always entirely cooperative (and also he doesn't quite 'get' it). However Robin said not to expect him to do it all at once: start off just going up the stairs with eyes open, then come down too, then try to keep arms still, then shut eyes if possible. We were also told to hold him gently, hands on his hips (not round his waist) to help guide/steady him. He'd be on his arse if I tried to let him step backwards on his own. Then again, so would I - it's bloody difficult! (I think I'm pretty dyspraxic myself TBH)

Some days he does it better than others but I'm determined to keep trying. That said, after the first visit he mainly did the spinning chair exercise plus supps/blood sugar balancing diet and we saw good results just from that. So don't give up hope if your ds isn't ready for the stairs yet.

Cats - how old is your DS?

Worrier has given you very good advice about doing the stairs exercise.

But if he's quite young or if he can't manage the stairs exercise, then I think you can just do the spinning chair exercise.

Worrier - great news about the progress your DS has made.

Badvoc - Good news about DSs school report.

Thank you that's really helpful! Think in my enthusiasm to make changes I'm forgetting that baby steps is usually necessary for ds! Worrier that's wonderful that your ds is making progress and that you are able to find a way with the excercises even though he is quite young. That gives me hope!

Sorry indigo meant to say he's four

catsdon'tcare, I know exactly how you feel. I think you go for so long thinking you just have to put up with any problems that the idea there may be a solution/cure is so exciting you just want to get started. I was desperately frustrated when ds' vitamins took ages to arrive because I just wanted to get the process going. I realise now it's going to take a long time but seeing improvements in just a couple of months really helps. Hope you will see some changes with your ds soon too :)

I think you should start with the spinning chair.

Try that for at least 2 months.

Shopping we are only 6 months into ds's diagnosis so it's been very over whelming researching the best way to help ds along with sorting out education stuff but all reports are now in for his statement, they've agreed to assess and the area senco feels confident he will get one. We've had a real struggle with Pre school in fact I pulled him out last month so I've been feeling quite down lately but now everything is on place for his really lovely new primary school in September I feel more positive and ready to start this new plan. I'm not expecting miracles but from what I've read of the book so far the worse result will be that we all have a healthier diet!

Indigo I agree that maybe we will just start with the chair for now and once we've got the diet and supplements in place and established I can focus on the excercises.

Thank you all (I suspect I'll be back with more questions!!!)

catsdontcare just one quick tip for the spinning chair - keep it fun. My ds loves it now he gets to choose which spin he gets. We give it a theme (Hungry Caterpillar is a favourite: "one apple"... spin... "two pears"... spin.. etc etc) To be frank he's starting to take the piss now and asking for random impressions, eg I have to pretend to be different cats while I'm spinning and they do different miaows as he goes round But he does like it and will remind me it's time for "spinny chair"

Glad lots of you are making good progress bit up and down here with ds.

Due to see Robin tomorrow so will discuss with him. Not sure how much the epilepsy will influence progress.

I think that's the beauty of it cats tbh...it's non invasive San not upsetting to the child.
Whenever I look at therapies for ds1 I always start at the Same point...first do no harm.
Ds1s bowels are so massively improved it's great. He has also put weight on :)

I, on the other hand, have lost weight since ds started Tinsley House (yay, even more benefits) and dd's tummy is slightly less rotund. We can't remember the last time any of us ate sweets or chocolates. Cakes are just homemade with wholemeal flour and less sugar and the dc have gone from having oven chips 3/4 times a week to once since the start of May. I'm amazed that I no longer have two crying, whining children from 4-5pm desperate for their dinner. Lack of junk definitely means their breakfast and lunch keeps them going for much longer.

A good visit with a Robin earlier. Apparently, ds has 'whizzed' vt and no longer needs to do it. Yay!

He now has another eye tracking program to do but can't remember what - have to wait to be contacted by the woman who wrote it.

:)

Yay for whizzing vt. can't wait to get started on all this stuff. How far along the process is your ds?
Indigo while I remember, has your ds started the right frontal stuff yet?

Daft - hope the eye tracking stuff goes well. It's worked well for DD.

Shopping - Haven't started right frontal stuff yet.

We go back in a couple of days and I'm expecting DD will continue with eye tracking and DS will start it.

Also hoping for some new and weird exercise. I think DS should be up to something to help with fine motor skills

I think right frontal stuff will be last. Because we're working up the brain.

That's good indigobell, it's the frontal stuff I'm most looking forward to getting to with ds. Such improvement here with concentration but the melt downs and controlling behaviour are as bad as ever. Tiny steps.

it's the frontal stuff I'm most looking forward to getting to with ds - me too. :)

Although his report mentioned his lack of fine motor skills twice, so I am also looking forward to improvements with that.

Hi Shopping, ds first went to TH in February this year. Today was our third appointment.

It was a great boost for ds today. He has had lots of appointments recently where he has heard only bad things about himself. So to be told by Robin that he has never seen someone get scores off the scale all round before was fab.

I should re-iterate though that ds doesn't seem to have any reading issues as such and his reading age is above his chronological age. Robin thinks that it should be much easier for him once he has finished the tracking. It is other educational areas that ds tends to struggle with.

Thanks daftmaul, really interesting. Ds' reading and comprehension is tbh the only area his teachers seem to be pleased with. Behaviour and unwillingness to write are our biggest problems. I guess that improving tracking etc would help with the writing too, though.