TINSLEY HOUSE SUPPORT THREAD - PART 3!!!! :)

[Badvoc]

Well, here is the shiny new thread for all of us either doing the TH programme, doing part of it, or thinking about doing it! :)
A brief synopsis of stage 1 of the programme can be found in the books "is that my child?" Or "the brain food plan" by robin pauc;

Stage 1 of the TH therapy consists of:

1. Daily Multivitamins

• Omega
• Zinc & Magnesium

1. Healthy eating

• High protein, low sugar, no artificial sweeteners, additives etc.

1. Specific neuro development exercises done 3 times a day

• Takes about 4-5 mins

And that's it :)

Stage 2 involves computer programmes to sort out eye tracking and convergence which over 80% of children with reading/writing problems have.

• www.engagingeyes.co.uk

We are coming to the end of our time doing TH I reckon...certainly by the end of the summer I think. It has been in many ways much easier than I thought at the beginning but of course takes commitment and time.

I am so glad we "took the plunge". It has made such a difference to ds and to our lives :)

No I haven't, but yes, Lincoln is a lot closer to me too!
We do Skype appts now.

Morning.

Looking for your experiences, if you don't mind. I've been thinking about DSs motor skills and how he holds a pen. The nhs have never mentioned any issues in his motor skills, gross or fine, and I have never thought he had a problem. However, he still can't hold a pen/pencil properly. He's still holding it in a fist, even though I'm showing him what to do. The knock on effect is that he can't really draw/write anything because he doesn't have enough control. I think he'd really 'get' drawing pictures now and enjoy it. He likes to get me to draw things instead.

He's left-handed, in case that makes a difference.

DD has been holding a pen properly for a while and she's only 15 months. I think that's why I'm noticing. Do you think it's something I should mention to Robin? Not sure if its something TH can fix. He's only 3 so I know it's early but I would have thought he'd be drawing by now.

Hope you all have a good day.

Hi Lookslikerain, does your ds see an OT? They would be most likely to assess fine motor skills. It may be that the Paed, for example, feels his fine motor skills are in line with some of his other skills so has not picked them out as such.

Does he go to nursery yet? Sorry, it is difficult to keep track of who's dcs do what! Nursery would be excellent for developping fine motor skills - lots of painting, threading beads, duplo, sticking macaroni/shapes to make a picture, even eating food with your fingers is all good!

My ds' fine motor skills have not really improved hugely (something we need to focus on again) but I know some dcs have made great strides. I would have thought his fine motor skills will improve as his other skills continue to develop - e.g attention/concentration.

I should also add, we started ds on TH when he was 10yrs old so difficult to compare to your little ds.

There are lots of exercises you can do...threading cotton bobbins, in fact I got lots of those types of games from the ELC when Tom was little.
Also, you could check out "write from the start" which is a 2 book workbook for children that teaches them correct pencil grip, and shape and letter formation.
I got mine from amazon.
He is still quite young, but it's never too early! :)

Hi daft and badvoc. Thanks. No, he doesn't see an OT. I think you might be right, daft. His other motor skills are good so they might have just assumed. He's starting nursery in August so that might help.

We'll be out later so I might see what they have in the elc. We're stuck in this morning as the gas men replace the gas mains outside and need access to our meter, so I might get the macaroni out and make necklaces!

Hi Lookslikerain - I'm a big believer in gross motor skills to help fine motorskills too. Climbing trees, swimming, doing the monkey bars - my DS1 really didn't have the proper fine motor skills required to write comfortably until he was in Y2 - sixish and I'm pretty sure that a lot of monkey bar and climbing over the summer holidays really helped with that. He's still not that neat or comfortable but it's coming along. It's often harder for boys although DS2 at 4 finds it much easier. This is quite interesting (sorry don't know how to embed links) - think shoulder and core strength is a big thing for us.

www.skillbuildersonline.com/SBA/PDF/Fine_Motor_Skill_Development_0-6_Years.pdf

ps re the pancakes - no it's literally just 1 banana and two eggs all whizzed or mashed together. Seems weird and I expected to be disgusting but aren't and don't appear to be eggy - they look like pancakes. Just make them smallish. I'm on a stealth protein mission at the moment!

Completely agree Harriet. You need a strong core, trunk, shoulders and arms to provide support for sitting still and solidly for finer motor manipulation. So all the gross motor stuff important too.

If our kids are not strong enough to sit still and upright, they slump and tire easily at a table/desk which, in turn, affects their concentration too.

Lookslikerain we had a special rubber gripper from ELC that encourages proper fingers on the pencil. Might be worth looking for those. Ds is a left hander and holds the pencil 'properly' so I don't think it's a left hand thing. Agree re muscle tone and writing. Ds was assessed as having moderately low muscle tone and is still very slumped when he works. He also tires more easily than dd who is 2 years younger. I always put that down to the extra effort required to fit in socially but it may be to do with lack of physical strength too.

P.s i think sometimes the unwillingness to write and draw is linked with perfectionism ( an aspergers trait that ds certainly has). We found having a rubber and lots of paper available helped ds understand that sometimes pictures go wrong and it's ok for that to happen. Turning 'failed' pictures into paper airplanes can be a fun way of showing this as well.

We had a stabilo pencil that encouraged correct pencil grip.
I think I got it from tesco?
There are sme lovely Melissa and Doug writing and drawing pads n amazon that have lines and guides and spaces for drawings too.

DD (who has some low muscle tone of some kind) has pencil grip issues and we have found that those Stabilo pencils are the best thing by far - the rubber grips can make the pencils a bit big for their hand. Stabilo also do triangular coloured pencils too. We're also waiting for a writing slope, so I'll report back on that when it arrives.

Somewhere on primary Ed, mrz posted a whole list of hand exercises which are good for pencil grip and letter formation. I'll see if I can find them.

Perfectionism is a huge thing here too; DD refused to write for a whole first term in Reception because there wasn't a rubber in the classroom . She is better now; although I have told the story of Edison's 100 failed lightbulbs so many times now that I have bored myself, goodness knows how she feels about it.

We're off to see Robin in two weeks time; DD is eating the Vegepa, other than that we are awaiting further instruction...

ooh ooh. I can answer this!

Lookslikerain - DD is 4.6 and has very bad fine and gross motor skills. She is getting better and now holds in a fist grip with fingers not full fist, but not correct yet.

I asked Robin about it at our last visit and essentially he said that as she is still using a primitive part of her brain she is fist gripping (so like a spear!) and that as things improve she will start to use more complex parts of her brain and it will develop. He said that there is nothing to worry about at the moment, she is still so young and that it will come later in the programme.

Away from Tinsley House DD sees an OT who has been doing some sessions with me and DD and some in nursery.

She has been working on getting her to draw lines and circles as these are pre writing skills and y'day she did a circle all by herself and STOPPED. (she usually just keeps on going....)

I went on a really interesting OT session about pre writing skills. About what children need to have developed before they start to even think about writing. I have the handouts at home and am happy to pass information on if you'd be interested?

Yes, that's what the book I mentioned does too.
It was very good.
Lots of drawings the petals in a flower, triangles, circles etc...

You guys are great!

Harriet - I'll give that link a read. Looks very useful, thanks.

Prince - thanks for your explanation. I'll mention to Robin next time we Skype but hopefully it'll come on its own. I would love to see you OT notes if you don't mind. I'll send you a PM.

Today I drew some of my own doted shapes on a big piece of paper but he didn't seem to understand what I was asking, even though I showed him first. But he is definitely interested in pens and drawing, and he'll do scribbles and call them a picture so that must be a good sign. I'll look into getting some of the books etc and maybe a pen grip too.

Am currently up with DD who has a hacking cough and hoarse throat. My kids have been so ill since the start of winter. And we've got DS's nursery enrolment for August tomorrow at 9. Oh dear. Yawn.

Hi everyone,
sorry I disappeared but I have been finishing off my dissertation, course work and sitting my finals for my degree. So almost done now and got a bit of spare time so thought I should update.

We have had improvements in leaps and bounds. We went to see Robin in the Easter holidays for our first appointment and started all the stuff shortly after. We changed to only protein breakfast, my son has 4 vegepa omega 3 a day we are giving the liquid multi vitamin and the one with magnesium and zinc. He is doing engaging eyes and the stair and tooth brush exercise. I must say the exercises have been the thing we have been slacking on as I keep forgetting to do the stair one and he really disapproves of the brushing the teeth one as says he cannot clean his teeth properly but we will persevere.

We have gone from being called by school on almost a daily basis and having to pick up from school 1 or 2 times a week sometimes. To not having a single phone call in the last month. He has gone from completely refusing to write a single word to writing 2 A4 pages for his homework the other day. It is like a miracle today I had a meeting with his teacher before school to discuss his IEP and for the first time they said he is really meeting the targets. She said to me 'something has changed considerably since easter.' He is not refusing work or running away anymore. I could go on and on with the lists of improvements it really is amazing I feel like shouting it from the rooftops.

Obviously he still has his challenges, he still has no impulse control however, he is managing to come back from a negative situation now where as before it would have been a big explosion and would get completely out of control. His tics have not improved at all they are just as before. Still has his little rituals he follows but I am so relieved at the improvement of behaviour and focus I just feel so relieved.

We had a really healthy diet already and our children have never been allowed crisps and junk food etc so it was not hard for us with regards to diet. Therefore, I really didn't have much hope of there being such a drastic change but I think those supplements are really helping. We have also started drinking raw juice as I bought a juicer recently so having lots of beet root, kale, ginger and carrot etc in the morning.

Anyway, thank you to you all who a spoke to whilst trying to decide on whether or not Tinsley House was the best way forward. If the programme really is behind the change them it has changed our lives. We are moving in the next few months out of London to Surrey so he will get to have a fresh start at a new school as well. Everything just seems to be going so well I am scared to get to excited as it may not last but praying that things will never go back to how they were before.

The expense of all the supplements is a lot however, and I do worry how we are always going to keep our supplies filled up. I can't believe the NHS is happy to hand out Ritalin to our precious children with growing developing brains free of cost to us but something like the supplements which make such a difference will never be recommended or supplied for our children.

Have a lovely day all and thanks again.

Unimama, what an uplifting post! I'm so so pleased for you all.
I think the impulse control comes later, we've been doing the programme for nearly a year and ds still struggles with controlling impulsive emotions ( impulsive behaviour is much better), he cries at the kind of things a much younger child would cope with. Robin says that the hemi exercises we are currently doing work on the bit of the brain right in front of the impulse control bit and will start to help ready for us to do the impulse control part next. I'm really looking a forward to it and this is the only part of ds' behaviour I feel we still need help with.

Unimama, wow! That all sounds like a fantastic few months. Can your ds recognise the improvements he has made?

Good luck with your move and for the rest of the course.

My ds can still be impulsive and finds it difficult to stop something when asked. I am hoping what we are doing now will help this.

Wonderful :)
Thanks for the update!
I get my vegepa from amazon on subscribe and save. Is the cheapest way I think....

Hello everyone. Such a lot of lovely chat - thanks for all the recommendations. I'm going to look at Stabilo pencils and see what I can find to encourage DS - he's not very keen on colouring at the moment.

Prince ? Great to hear about DD and stopping! I?d be really interested in seeing the handouts and will pm you too. We?ve got write from the start but haven?t made much progress. I think I'll dig it out in the summer hols.

Badvoc ? how is Tom?

Lookslikerain ? hope dd is feeling better. We have been the same, cold after cold ? it is just relentless. DD has been off nursery since Friday with another cold and she?s coughing at night too.

Intereseting chat about core muscle development ? I keep hearing things about this.

We're finding Target Practice quite difficult. DS gets teary when a new page comes up - he says they are swimming... How does this work? Is it the same amount of time each day? Do the targets converge as you look at them. Embarrassing to say but I find it quite tricky too.... I think I'm going to have to re-think the rewards as DS is stalling for the first time, hiding etc... Today I promised him a bit of choccie and even that didn't work . I remember someone saying that it is probably a sign that we need it...

Unimama - just read your post and delighted to read such good news. I am not surprised that you want to sing from the rooftops. Agree about Ritalin and the NHS. Good luck with the rest of your course and your move too.

This winter has been relentless :(
Both mine have been pretty much constantly ill. It sucks.
Tom is ok thanks ruggles. He is still tired from his trip tbh...he went over to the high school today as one of a randomly chosen (names out of a hat!) group to do some photography.
So nice to hear him talking about these things - arty things - as before he just wasnt interested/didn't see the point.
One low point has been that he has been sent home with some phase 3 phonics spellings to learn :(
I know that his spelling needs work (it's the only thing that still does tbh) but its a sign of how far we have to go....and, in all honesty I am pretty tired.
Gah.
Is the rain!
I need some sun :)

Hi Ruggles - just quickly re: target practice, my DS really doesn't like it either but a big piece of advice I got from here was to make sure they don't look away between pages, (or at fingers) but focus on the little gun thing all the time. If you try to focus on page 3 but haven't looked at page 1 and 2 which are gradually bringing the eyes in (or out or whatever it's doing), it's impossible to do. This is why he'd get to page 4 for example and say "I can't see it" and then I'd try too and I couldn't see it either. You have to work through and each page brings the eyes to a slightly more uncomfortable converged position.

We are making gradual progress now - really dependent on tiredness and he often says they start to go blurry and then he can't see. But whereas to start with he could not get past 6 he now always gets to 8 or 9 and sometimes to 12 (usually on weekends when we do it in the morning). So I think progress is there, but slow. I think it was Shopping (sorry if I'm wrong!) who did it herself too and said it took her weeks to even see the first one and when I told him that it gave him a bit of a boost, even grown ups find it really hard!!!

I think in the end you will get to do it right up to level 16 so the time actually gets longer the better you get.

And Unimama: wow! so great. :):)

I think it's a good job it's the half term soon.
Tom is pretty tired after his trip.
I was speaking to the HT on Tuesday as I was early for a B of Gov meeting and she was saying how funny Tom is and how well he did :)
Ds2 is so funny...last night he told me he loved me "more than spring flowers, summer breezes.....and cheese"
:)