NEW Tinsley house support thread -part 2!!

[Badvoc]

Hello everyone!
Thought I should start a new thread as we were nearing 1000 posts! :)
Indigo is no longer posting as you all know, but I think it would be such a shame for the support thread to go too.
I know I find reading about all the ups and downs we all experience very helpful and it's so great to hear all the progress :)
So.
We go back to TH next month and can't wait. So interested to see of the tracking programme has worked. I think ds1s reading speed has improved and he is now reading proper chapter books!
He continues to show less anxiety, OCD behaviour and stress.
He is eating better and is generally a much happier chap.
Looking forward to hearing from you all over the next few weeks/months...X

Hope exam went well daft x

Hello All

Hope exams went well Daft - fingers crossed for you - when do you hear?
Badvoc ? well done for Tom. Any news on your Mum?

Beautiful Possum ? sounds like things are going well.. I like the sound of Whack an Alien ? is that part of Engaging Eyes?
Shoppingbags - we're struggling with concentration too....

We saw Robin last week and he was really pleased with our progress. We had lots to tell him about and it was good for me to make a list of all our good news!

• much more independent and seems more mature
• dressing himself and managing socks!
• imagination really developing
• joining in party games, but not anything involving dancing (wonder where he gets that from...?)
• much more confident around new things which would previously upset or freaked him e.g. sparklers, fireworks (with ear defenders), Father Christmas, trains, a London museum, putting his hand up and answering a question in Church, school assemblies are no longer torture for him and a cinema trip
• he's started singing and joining in music classes
• 10 stickers in a row for good behaviour. Hasn't been repeated and we've had a bit of a regression, but on the up again.

To some they may not sound like much, but for us they are great, leaping strides and together it has made our DS much happier and easier. I am so excited about what is to come. Ladies, thank you so much for telling me about Tinsley House and encouraging me to go / putting up with all my daft questions.

Ruggles...sounds wonderful to me! :)
Sometimes they seem such small steps but small steps can make a huge difference to family life...or at least that's been our experience.
Mum is the same. Just waiting for a date for surgery now, but what with all the cpnhs cuts being made I am not holding my breath :(

Brilliant news Ruggles
Badvoc :( for your mum

Badvoc, keeping my fingers crossed for a successful outcome for your mum xx

Ruggles, it all sounds good. I think we have all had blips along the way but it is only looking back that I see the small things that have improved (and some bigger things) and they all make life easier for us.

I know that this time last year, ds would not have coped with his exams so calmly and with the humour that he has. How he will do in them, I don't know but the fact we have come through 'unscathed' is fabulous.

I had to go through his 'emergency meds' with the teacher invigilating today. It was in front of a class room of other boys - who were all listening avidly! When I collected him, he said I was sooo embarrassing and that when he did GCSEs, I was NOT allowed to go!

Anyway, all exams over and we are having a glass of wine to celebrate and battening down the hatches in case snowmageddon does hit tomorrow!

Have cancelled Robin for Saturday (because of snow) and re-booked for early Feb.

BP, well done for getting the HTS finished. We ALL hated it too!

Daft- So pleased that your DS coped so well with 11+

Ruggles- your DS is doing really well. The blips are inevitable.

Shopping- It is interesting what you say about concentration and attention. I have met a family with twins who have/had DDS. They did a neuro programme in yr 3 and 4 ( now yr 6 and are amazing) I asked their mum how complete a result she thought she had and she is thrilled but says one of them still has some ADD and her practitioner said that was the hardest part to deal with. My DD has started to notice her ADD ( previously totally oblivious to it and wondered why her peers made fun of her) I see her noticing as progress though but wonder how far we will get with this.

DS's gut issues seem to have gone! He has not had a tummy ache for weeks and eats loads of protein breakfast ( today had 2 egg omelette, beans on toast and 2 fish fingers) He is so happy and seems so much more mature and today said he had a GOOD day at school. I am really not worried about him anymore. [ smile]

Ruggles- Whack an Alien is a Vision Therapy game which helps with fast eye movements ( saccades) that are required for fast accurate reading. Yes, it is available from Engaging Eyes along with Target practice which helps Convergence and Divergence.

Hi everyone,
I posted a message a couple of months to see Robin but financially I cant afford it :{ I would to know for the computerised Vision Therapy Robin prescribes can I purchase it from

www.visionexercises.co.uk/ ??
Are there any other websites you can recommend that are similar to his vision therapy?
I heard people mention Engaging Eyes along with Target practice -can i find it anywhere on-line?
Also has anyone completed vision therapy exercises without seeing Robin??

I am hoping to see him by Easter when I might have the money

Any help will be appreciated

You can get engaging eyes from the engaging eyes website also whack an alien.
The website you mentioned is a good place to start as is robins book the brain food plan - available in amazon for about £4.
We will try and help...answer a smart questions as we can...good luck!
(There are other vision exercise programmes but they are mostly from the US and very costly compared to engaging eyes)

Thanks Badvoc - can i start the vision exercises and engaging eyes at the same time?Do you know for how many weeks I should complete the exercises?I have ordered brain plan book!!!!Hopefully il have it next week

Also can i complete both diet, stair exercises and vision therapy at the same time?What is Robin recommendations?

I am really grateful for the forumn my concentration and moods has dramatically improved!I thought at the age of 26 my difficulties could not be helped!Amazing

Hi, the diet, supplementation with vegepa etc and the stairs is all you need do for 2 months at least.
After you are proficient at the stair exercise then you can move into engaging eyes and then whack an alien (love that name!)
Do make sure you are using the supplements too. I think we all use vegepa in here (?) but we use differing brands of mag and Zinc.
ATM we use vegepa and a holland and barrat mag and zinc tablet.
On amazon you can set up a subscribe and save which means you get the supplements a bit cheaper and it automatically sent more every month/2 months etc.
Means I never run out now!
So glad you are finding the TH programme helpful.
Some tips for the diet...ds has rice cakes and flapjacks for snacks, and popcorn.
Breakfasts are either omelette, pancakes, beans on toast or cheese on toast.
Dinner is usually potato of some sort...so mash, roasts, home made wedges etc and veg and ever chicken or fish. He also has pasta with meatballs.
H wing eat fruit so has fruit compote/purée as a desert.
Hth x

....and for lunches he has a sandwich if at school plus flapjacks, rice cake and fruit purée or at home pizza or tomato soup and bread.

Thanks for the diet tips.Would Robin recommend to remove chocolates,squash and caffeine from your diet?I'm trying to drink a bottle of water or herbal tea
I thought I had to stairs exercise and brushing teeth twice a day?May be its too much to cope with brain!!!

Yes that's right! .forgot the teeth!
Seems so long since we were doing that...:)
Definitely no junk food, sorry!
So limited choc, no squash and decaf.
Also really cut down on carbs and eat more protein.
Spcheck and I have both lost over a stone in weight since ds stared TH as we have cut down on carbs too.

Hello All,
Hope everyone is getting on well.
Just a little update from us.

We have been doing the exercises for a week now. Breakfast is going well with the protein.
We have managed to do the exercises everyday, but probably not as many as we should. It is hard when we both work.
She loves the chair and the stairs we are supporting her arms by her side and trying to get her to walk on alternate steps rather than put two feet on each step which is her preferred method.

DD is making improvements all the time.

She is dry nearly everyday now which is a revelation. This could be any number of things not least that nursery are doing a visual timetable which has helped.
I have just picked her up from the childminder who said she walked really well in the ice and has been very chatty all day. This is great news for DD who has speech and language disorder. And tonight she told me she had an idea. She didn't tell me what the idea was, but just that she would know that there was such a think as an idea is HUGE.

So - she is making progress. I do not know what is making the difference. The vitamins, diet, exercies, speech therapy, nursery or just that she is developing as she would have done anyway, but I am not prepared to take any of it away.

I have to say she has bad days too. Y'day was terrible. Wouldn't engage with speech therapy at all, screaming when someone said something she didn't like.

There's always a down with the up isn't there

How is everyone else getting on?

Hope very one is ok and the snow is not causing too much trouble for you all!
Tom has been very brave and gone back sledding on the big hill that he came off and hurt himself on last year :)
Took a few goes but he did it.
Ds2 otoh...is a speed demon and just wants to go fast, shows no fear at all. He is 4 :)
I hate the cold so am really not enjoying it and we live a long walk from school up a very big hill and 3 x trips a day are wearing me out! :(
Tom continues to do hemi opk and I think when we Skype robin on feb he will stay on it...this is the first of the exercises / programmes that he has struggled with since the start if the stair exercise. He hates it.
It's parents evening again next month and am wondering what they will say wrt Tom. I get anxious before each one...a throwback to the other awful school I think :(
Will be glad when January's over, but I feel like that every year! :)
X

Hi all, good to hear all your updates
Prince, that's fantastic news, especially after you felt a bit underwhelmed from your first appointment. It is so hard to know what (if anything) is making a difference - and of course we all live in fear of accidentally stopping The Thing that's really working. Sometimes I do feel totally insane spinning chairs, sending ds up and down three steps etc etc, but I just know ds IS making progress, SOMETHING is helping him so I'm going to keep on going.

And Urban, it's so heartening to hear you're seeing and feeling a difference for yourself. And a big hurrah for Ruggles, Daft, Shopping and Possum, seeing such an effect with your family.

Badvoc, good luck with your programme. It's awful when they absolutely hate something isn't it? ds now has to look for objects (not words - wrong bit of brain) with one of his programmes and he is too young for Where's Wally. But if you try to do object hunting with a 'normal' book he gets distracted by the words on the page (he's 3.10 and suddenly massively into trying to read). The other night he said "I don't want to do this" and I found myself shooting back "well I don't want to flippin do it EITHER!" (which is not v helpful but was exactly how I felt.)

Anybody got any tips on object finding for kids who aren't ready for Where's Wally??

Slightly off topic but I think we're very, very near to finalising ds statement ready for school, where he'll start mainstream reception with proper, specialist support for his asd. It's nearly a year on from his asd diagnosis now. I wish with all my heart he was just going to school like any other kid, but at least I think we're giving him his best shot of a normal life.

Prince...x posts earlier.
Great news re your dd. so pleased for you and her.
We all have bad days...but soon the good will far outweighs the bad :)
Thanks for updating us.
Worrier. Really hope the statement finalising goes well and you get the provision for your ds. I know it's a minefield and very stressful. Will be thinking of you.
Wrt books...the only ones I can think of are like the usbourne books ds2 loved...little or no text but just pictures of things like tractors, dinosaurs etc.
If you have a look on amazon you might be able to get one? Another option is making yur own book...I.e. cutting out pics from magazines and books and sticking them in a book? That way you could tailor it to your ds's likes?
HTH x
Tom is surprising me all the time ATM. In a good way! He has gone up another reading level and is making great headway in maths. He is often the first in class to solve problems (differential equations anyone!?....) and last week and and his best friend were writing a story about the rainforest. Bearing in mind the other child is dyslexic too I was amazed how much fun they had just writing out their ideas :)

Bookmarking

Worrier I would second usborne books. We have ones where you have to find pirates, fairies, undersea creatures etc etc really good.
Ds not sleeping well at the mo and starving all the time. I guess it's a growth spurt but is driving me bonkers and of course the more tired he is, the worse he behaves. Am nervous we'll take a backwards step at school. One month into hemi p and t and can't see any improvement in concentration yet. All the programmes so far have had noticeable effects quite quickly. Will have to be more patient with this I think.

Shopping...I haven't seen any improvement in Tom either since hemi opk and he hates it so we are persevering...Tom is also eating loads ATM...maybe it's something to do with laying down fat for winter!? :)
(That's my excuse anyway)
Dh away tomorrow so hoping Tom sleeps ok.

Had a lovely meet up with IB this morning. Was good to meet and hear how she is getting on.

Off down south soon, ready for our appointment with Robin tomorrow. It's good to have a warning from IB of what ds might be given next!

11+ exams and interviews all finished (phew!). Ds has an offer from one school but still waiting to hear from his current school - which he is desperate to stay at. He coped really well with everything and seemed to impress the Head from the school we have been offered a place at - A* potential, apparently!

Hi everyone!
Quick update re: Tom.
He got a head teacher award on Thursday for his spelling (!)
And then got star writer of the week for a book review he wrote.
:)
I wish I could adequately explain to you all how amazing this is...2 years ago Toms writing was illegible. He hated reading and would avoid at any cost. He had hyper sensitive hearing, hated PE and was lowest ability table for maths and literacy :(
He now loves PE, and even does basketball after school he also now reads for pleasure and is on the middle tables for literacy and numeracy - in fact he is too of his numeracy group!
:)
Just thought i would share in case any if you are having a bad weekend/week.
(Which we all have)
X

Such brilliant news Badvoc and Daft maul! Woohoo for A* potential :)
Our week's success is smaller but a big deal for us. I made cottage pie for dinner yesterday. Ds does not ever eat food with bits in or mixed up together unless totally smooth. He sat at the table, had a quick moan, said 'looks a bit like meatballs and potato' took a forkful, pronounced it delicious and ate almost the whole plateful!!! We said nothing at all to encourage or persuade him to try it. It's great that he tried a new food but more significant for us is the positive attitude and the independence that is so wonderful :)