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 :)

Hi Turnip - my DS is 7, was probably 6 when we started it. I think I had the book, and said we were following a new plan and my DS struggles with concentration so I said that cooked breakfasts from now on would make our brains and bodies as healthy as they can be which means we'll all be able to concentrate better, be calmer, less shouty, and remember things better (I think they liked the idea of me shouting less ). And I didn't once deviate on that. I'd say the moans only lasted in a big way for a week or two. After that we had sporadic 'please can i have a bowl of rice crispies' and now it's never mentioned. Robin OK'd a bowl of oats after protein breakfast if he was still hungry so today for example he had two poached eggs on toast, some strawberries, followed by a small bowl of porridge.

And Mango's right - anything he likes (we make breakfast pizza - a brown pitta bread with tomato puree spread on and cheese on top) they even had fish fingers. It's all a mental thing for the whole family to get head around.

I also find these 'rules' make so many things easier. 'Please please can I have a fruit shoot'. Answer is no, because of the e numbers, but you can have an apple juice. DS1 tells anyone who will listen how bad chemicals are for your body and if you have to have something sweet, sugar's better than sweetener, but honey's better than sugar!!

My DS does (although not initially) quite like rules and routines so I think it kind of works in the end with that side of his personality.

ah that's great news - well done. I put ground almonds in mine now to make them a bit thicker. and i think maple syrup and fruit is fine actually. I've gradually reduced how much maple/honey and give mine a 5ml spoonful. I know it's sugar and therefor carb but it's good protein and we're not supposed to be atkins type carb free, just higher ratios of protein!

Have learnt that a hot pan and quicker cooking time makes them easier to flip!

High protein smoothies we also do with greek yoghurt, i tried tofu but was a bit weird tasting! made one with cottage cheese. they didn't notice tbh but i thought it was a bit odd!

keep us posted on your progress, brilliant! :D

Hi everyone.
Am still around (sort of)
Things are still tough. I miss my dad so much. We are all coping as best we can.
But on a happier note;
Tom is doing really, really well at middle school :)
He walks there and back each day with his friend (a fair distance) and hasn't forgotten anything or left anything behind - yet!
He has even been trying new foods at lunchtimes...sausages (!) and curry (!) and panninis (!) :)
He has his second guitar lesson tomorrow and has started football training with a local club :)
Keep the faith x

:) for Tom, Badvoc. So pleased to hear he's doing well. Sorry for you though, so hard for you. X
Turnip, my ds had the same diagnosis as yours ( his was made at 4 though, he is now 7). After a year of TH we are virtually symptom free. The only ASD symptom that remains a worry to me is his over emotional reactions. The anger is gone, the desire to control is gone, most of his dyspraxic symptoms are no longer there and his attention has massively improved. He is doing so well at school. In fact this week he got a certificate for getting not only the most effort stars in his class but in his whole house too!
I've gone from being permanently worried about him ( I thought of nothing else really from ages 3-6) to being able to drop him at school and assume he'll be fine. Is wonderful.
We still have another 4 months of TH I think. I'm hoping that by Christmas we will be finished.

Hi badvoc. Good to hear from you. Sorry to hear things are still so difficult. Life is just so very unfair sometimes. Sending a virtual hug. xx

Message for Tom. Please make sure your mum updates us on your news as it definitely keeps me going! It's always lovely to hear how well you're doing and that there is a bright light at the end of the TH tunnel!

Turnip we definitely found DS more open to new foods and better eating once we got into the programme. Breakfast was (still is) the only sticking point for us. We do cheese on toast/fish fingers/beans/homemade chicken nuggets for breakfast. Some days he is more open to it than others. We bribe him with porridge. He LOVES porridge. Some days he'll eat loads of protein and small porridge. Other days it's a couple of bites and lots of porridge.

Can anyone tell me what part of the programme deals with crazy hyperactivity/attention? DS seems to have been very hyper recently and his small a attention span is now minuscule. Might just be him dealing with nursery starting. I'm used to the asd traits but don't know so much about this. Thanks.

shopping do you know which part of the programme works on control issues? You mentioned your child doesn't have a need to control anymore. Thanks :)

Hi everyone - good to see you all. Badvoc - so sorry things are rough but Shopping's right it's great to hear about Tom. Please keep posting.

Just had my first meeting with DS's teacher and it was really good. My formerly almost selectively mute son who freezes with adults he doesn't know, won't look at so appears rude has, apparently, been 'really confident' since he started Y3 - she'd never have known he had an issue with shyness! I feel like one half of my stress has just lifted (along with feeling fairly nervous it will return....). But honestly I can't quite believe it. DS has been SO happy too. Which is very unusual at school. :)

The second half of stuff (which we're yet to work on at TH) his attention and fidgeting are still issues that "stand out" but she seems a good teacher and suggested we try some fidget toys. Has anyone used these or found they help at all? Or the chair wedges or anything like that. Something to give him the sensory input he craves.

Shopping, when did your DS's focus improve?

Good luck with the Floridax Turnip!

It's hard to say exactly when each thing improved as it sort of creeps up on you. One day I just kind of realised I wasn't worried about each thing as much. His attention improved somewhat within the first few weeks of just doing stairs and diet. We noticed within 6 weeks that instead of spending his whole swimming lesson ducking under the water and in his own world, he was actually listening and doing what he was asked. The hemi stim programmes have further helped with this. In feb this year his teacher said his attention was significantly lower than other boys his age, by June it was average except in maths where it was still poor. This week his new teacher has told me how amazingly hard he is working in maths.

The control issues were much more gradual. When he started at his new school last sept I warned his teacher he would need lots of time warnings as he wanted to control how he spent his time and wouldn't move from one activity to the next without a lot of fuss. She asked me in about march time if we still felt the need to do this at home because she had stopped doing it months earlier. By the end of term she said she treated him in exactly the same way as all the other children. He needed no extra thought whatsoever.

Like I said earlier his emotions are still unruly. He has fallen over twice this week and howls like a much younger child. He also feels as if he has been unfairly treated by the world when this kind of thing happens 'why is it only ever me who falls over?'. When I said even mummy falls sometimes he cried again and said 'why do such terrible things only happen to our family?' I'm hoping bit by bit and with greater maturity this will improve as it makes him stand out from his peers sometimes.

DS just developed a love of classical music! Quite a change from saying all music was boring...

Also, just put dirty clothes in washing basket!

I am just popping in to quickly say 'Hi' to everyone. I am hoping to sit down with DH at some point over the weekend and read through these support threads as we have our appointment next week. I am also waiting for the book to arrive.

I cant wait to get started and feel like we are actually doing something to help my ds. We all feel a bit lost at the moment as the bad days seem to be outnumbering the good and we still do not know what it is we are dealing with :(

He fits the PDA description. When I first read about it I was quite shocked at how closely it described what we have been seeing this past year.

Anyway, I have the library and supermarket to bribe both kids into visiting so I better get on as DS is the master of avoiding doing anything he does not want to do and shopping is something he never wants to do!

Good luck. Decafonly, let us know how it goes

Yes, good luck Decaf.

Hi Decaf - good luck from me too. How old is your DS?

Welcome decaf and hope it goes well for you and your DS.

We went back to see Robin on Sunday. There's good news and not so good news. She's done brilliantly on the stairs and doesn't need to do them any more (yaaaay), but there's no sign of any 3-d vision developing yet. So we are going to try whack an alien anyway, in case this helps, and carry on with Hemi P.

What's interesting, though is that we originally came to Robin in the hope of sorting the vision, but in fact DD's made such huge advances in her co-ordination, that I'm very happy we've done it anyway, even if the vision doesn't work out.

(In case you're worried about our lack of success, DD has had 2 squint operations, and this is the one case in which Robin says he may not be able to help.)

Hi everyone,
great to see some new faces. Hope everyone is well.

All is OK here.

DD started school last week. By the end of last week I was despairing as she seemed so tired and overwhelmed and we had a bad weekend of non co-operation and general pain in the arsedness. However she went in today and came out with energy and seems OK.

No tears which is good.
She has regressed with toileting which is a shame and something I had hoped wouldn't happen but knew would.

Her speech is much clearer though and she is doing well, but still a long way off and we have applied for a statement. Panel are meeting next week I think.

So, all in all, worrying about DD as she steps in to the world of school. We are seeing Robin on Sunday so will see what he has to say then. Am hoping we can do something new!

Random question, what do your children score on Whack an Alien? DD seemed to do surprisingly well considering I was holding her head in a vice-like grip, but I have no idea what's good or not?

Prince - I'm glad DD is OK with school. DD regressed massively at the start of school too, it was like having a 2.5 year old for the first term as she refused to be left alone for even one minute. But she did get better, eventually.

Thank you for the welcomes :)

DS is 4. School seem to be managing him at the moment, he's had another good morning but I worry that this due to the newness of it all.

He had quite a few meltdowns this afternoon, hit me numerous times and screamed every time me and his sister dared to have a conversation on the way home from school!

The book arrived today and I planned to have a quick look through it at the park today but ds had other ideas.

I will let you know how we get on later in the week. Sorry its all me, me me at the moment, hoping to contribute more once we have an idea of what we are dealing with - whack an alien does sound interesting though

Hello everyone, would like to join if that's ok. We have our 1st appt with Robin on Saturday, really nervous but so excited that we may actually be able to help our DS at last.

So glad I have found these threads otherwise I would never have found out about Tinsley House, anyway, better late than never!! You are all an inspiration having read through all the posts and I have great faith that my son can be helped too. Will be happy to share my journey as you all have done.

Welcome Ang69, Our numbers are really growing. It's fab! Hope your appointment goes well at the weekend. I look forward to hearing all about it and all about your ds.

Ds (11yrs, just started Secondary School) has had a storming evening and has been a real trooper (he didn't get to sleep until nearly 11.30 last night so was exhausted). He is still making his own way home and remembering his homework (mostly!). This evening he did about 80mins of work all in all. Nearly had a blip when we couldn't work out how to find his files on the school intranet but he emailed the teacher and dealt with it (we then worked out what to do). He has been lovely to his sister (!), completed his Lumosity, had a bath and all without any complaint

Such a different child from a couple of years ago.

Metranil, I'm afraid I can't help with Whack an Alien. Ds did a different convergence program.

Prince, I think they all regress a little at times of change. Having sung my ds' praises just now, I'm sure we will still have our downs on occasion. In fact, Robin said we would still have ups and downs but he should recover from his 'downs' much more quickly - which he does.

Welcome Ang, come back and tell us how you get on on Sunday.
Prince, we've had a tough week too. It's ds' first week in the upper prep where everything is different. He's been teary and stroppier than usual and isn't sleeping very well. I guess he will always find change difficult ( I do too, tbh) but it's so much less dramatic and worrying than his reactions to change were in the past.
Sounds like your dd is coping pretty well with lots of the new stuff.

Metran- we are doing engaging eyes (for about 3 weeks) and DS (age 6, me holding his head) scores 6000-8000. Think it was about 4000 when we started. Still level 1. I don't think the score matters too much though as its the eye movement which is important, rather than mouse control.Just my opinion though!