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 :)

Thanks Mango - she's starting off at about 5000 so it's good to know it can go much higher (the scoring graph made me wonder!). And yes, I'm sure you're right about the mouse - I was thinking it would be a good additional skill though!

I have just booked our first appointment to see robin mid October. A big thank you to all posters past and present as without this thread and all the advice and inspiring stories, I very much doubt we would have got this far. Keep the faith!

We've been doing whack for about 2 weeks and average about 8000 but he's sooooo easily distracted he could score more.

Had a note home from school - he's been put in the top group for English - he's not impressed at all and has told them to f### off ! Oh the joys .....

Thank you all for the welcomes. We are all excited about seeing Robin tomorrow although we do know there is a long road ahead. Just happy that we may finally be on a road that actually reaches somewhere!!
We had been doing RRT and Fastforword as my 8 year old ds can't read a single word and has ADD. We have stopped everything as we feel TH will look at him in his entirety as opposed to us grappling around in the dark and doing what we think necessary. He actually asked the other night when he could start doing his exercises again as he doesn't want to grow up to be a weakling. My heart just breaks seeing my lovely bright son viewing himself this way. However, I am confident he will be helped and I will let you all know how we get on. Keep going ladies, you are all amazing and inspirational, it is wonderful to see so many parents not taking the crap that so many schools seem to spout and actually go out and get the help their children so desperately need.
Will report back Sunday, have a fab weekend everyone.

Hi Greener, how old is your dd? I would say my ds had all the same behaviours before we started. He was bright and articulate but very angry and anxious and struggling at school (he was later diagnosed with epilepsy).

Ds' handwriting is still not brilliant but he is (generally) a much nicer person to be around and seems so much happier and relaxed now.

Robin is always happy to chat with people on the phone or you could maybe start the diet, supplements and initial exercises to to see how you go.

Hello again everyone. I wanted to jump on and update you. Mainly progress that has been noted by others now that we are back in the swing of school and activities. All we have done over the summer holidays is the diet, exercises (stairs/teeth) and engaging eyes. No reading or writing or much fun stuff - nowt.

So, school have already noticed a big difference - handwriting much improved (still pretty shocking, spelling atrocious but a big improvement). More importantly (as far as I'm concerned) is his attitude to everything - he has even written a story voluntarily that wasn't even homework .

The really interesting thing has been a massive improvement in coordination (and I didn't think there were coordination issues!). Swimming - he's like a different child, so much better. He does a drama class and the teacher quite literally said "something's changed - it's like his brain is now connected to his feet, his dancing is amazing".

I am still struggling with breakfasts, remembering to remind him to do stairs, teeth, eyes and remembering to give everyone their supplements, but it's working!!!! To anyone considering Tinsley House - I was like you not 2 months ago - desperate, confused, skeptical and running out of hope. Robin has given me back my hope and my son a better future.

Today is my birthday, the first without my mum who died last November. It has been probably the worst year of my life and the crappiest birthday ever (DH forgot ffs), but I am celebrating today because we have found TH and ds is making real progress. Thank you to everyone who has posted before me to help us make the decision to take the plunge. I am paying it forward by sharing our ups and downs and send a big hug to you all.

Happy birthday cereal flakes!! I'm so happy for you that you're having such great progress with your DS and so sorry you've had such a tough year. And that your DH clearly needs a kick up the backside!! But I so know that actually nothing is better than having some of that continual pressure of worry and anxiety about your child, lifted from your shoulders and like you am so glad that a) we all are doing this program which is, however scepitcal you are, insanely healthy and positive and b) that this forum is here (thanks Badvoc, Indigo and everyone else!)

Ang, I hope tomorrow is really good for you. It is a long program - I can't believe we've been doing Engaging eyes for 5 months now! But I felt instantly relieved to be so supported once I began the program, I'm sure you'll feel the same.

And Greener - we had a few other problems too (attention, tics) but as Daft says, my DS is a different little soul now. He's basically happy. He's come out of his anxious, shy, angry shell. It's taken 5 months for me to feel it's really true and he got worse I'd say for a month or two at the start but it makes so much difference to that side of things that I'd definitely say give Robin a call. Also DS was a good reader. He's now a brilliant reader. I didn't think we had reading issues, so maybe you'll get other benifits too?

Happy birthday for yesterday cereal. Feel free to kick dh for or getting ! Hope you gad a good day.

3 weeks in properly - we played with it in the hols and josh seems happier, he's laughing a lot more. We're are still struggling at school but he is trying new things and enjoying them.

The engaging eyes, the 3d firing game, he's managed to get to level 8 will he always have to go through 1.2,3,4,5,6,7,8 plus whatever or does it start starting at 5 ?

hi pizza - it will always start at 1 as it's almost impossible to converge your eyes without going through the steps. he'll start whizzing through those first few and finding them easy as he gets further along. Level 8 is great!

Hi everyone, just wanted to update you all on our visit to Robin yesterday. First of all, isn't he just lovely and so funny? My ds really took to him and you can tell he is just fab with kids. Anyway, he took a full history and did some tests, specifically his eyes. He basically said that it is a miracle my ds can even read one word as he has major convergence issues. My ds can read cat, dog, boy and that's about it. He basically said that he is dyslexic, has dyspraxia and probable add and that he has glitches at every part of the brain that allows us to learn. He did say that there is a lot of promise for him and that he would be surprised if we didn't see a good improvement in 2-4 months. That to me is amazing.
So, he is to do stairs and teeth brushing exercises and he has also put him straight onto engaging eyes. Robin said he normally leaves this till a couple of months down the line but said that Benjamin's case is so severe that he must start now. It is all making sense as I knew he was capable of so much more but just didn't know what was wrong.

Cereal - a belated happy birthday, here's to better year for you. It is so so tough to lose a parent, I lost my lovely dad 12 years ago this November and I miss him every day but I am happy as I know he'd be so annoyed if he thought I wasn't. Fantastic to hear your ds is making so much progress in only 2 months, let's hope it continues at such a good pace.

Harriet - yes, I do feel relieved to be doing something that makes sense and actually having an explanation as to why he is like this makes all the difference. It must be wonderful to see your child happy as that's really all we want for our kids, that and the ability to fulfill their potential which they can't do if they don't have the developmental delay sorted.

Hello to everyone else too, hope everyone has had a good weekend and ready for another week. Looking forward to chatting with you over the upcoming months and hopefully share some good news!!

Hi - can anyone help me with the wordsearches? DD has to do this now and I can't find where to make one online?
Thanks :)

Hi PRN, I seem to remember that I found a website that made these for you. You put the words in and it did the rest and then they could be printed. It would have been a free one.

Having said all that, it was quite a while ago and ds did not do it for very long, so I could be wrong!

Prince- re. Wordsearches- if you Google 'word search generator' you will find a few options. Here is one-worksheets.theteacherscorner.net/make-your-own/word-search/

Prince I found the word search generator by googling 'word search generator' and then choosing the free one. It takes seconds to make them. Ours were batman, Harry potter and Star Wars inspired.
Ang, so pleased to hear Robin is so positive. The first few months on TH are hard, you have to be really disciplined and put up with the cd moaning about he changes and the exercises but it is so worth it. Will be really interested to hear your progress.
The discussion about extra benefit is really interesting. We sought out Robin initially because of ds' ASD traits. On our first appointment he said he felt ds was a dypraxic rather than a child with ASD. I was dubious as I was so sure his behaviour was aspergers related. Within 6 weeks he was dry at night, could ride a two wheeler and had massively improved balance. I hadn't seen any of these as a problem as I was so worried about his melt downs. The dyspraxic bits were sorted. I hadn't really felt too concerned about his ADD symptoms before we started. I only noticed them once they had disappeared if you see what I mean.
Still waiting for the last of the ASD symptoms to go. Today he sobbed because he got a lower score on lumosity than yesterday and then had a meltdown because I wouldn't let him do the games again. Sometimes I worry that these symptoms can't be got rid of but then I look back at how far we've come and that makes me keep on keeping on.

Cereal, happy birthday! So lovely to hear about the changes in your ds, what a super birthday present (although dh has some major making up to do for forgetting!)

Thanks everyone for bday wishes. Yes, ds' progress is the best gift. I haven't actually seen him swim or dance yet - I think I will probably be blown away when I do.

Another top thing that's happened - you may recall that I wasn't particularly pleased with our experience with a certain outfit based in Reading offering visual assessments. Well, I wrote an email outlining my concerns and asking for a refund. Within 10 days I got a cheque in the post and a rather snotty letter! The Ben Goldacre "Bad Science" article was referred to (as I mentioned engaging eyes) and many references to qualifications! To me it smacks of sour grapes and some rather bruised egos. It will make a serious difference to our budget though, as it will almost cover this week's 2nd appointment with Robin.

I want to tell so many people I know about Robin, but am afraid most of them will think me batty. All I can do is recount my story and let them decide for themselves.

DH has been suitably apologetic (he got confused and thought it was the 28th - we do have many September birthdays in this house) and I have had my presents tonight. That doesn't mean I won't use it as a stick to beat him with though . x x x

Just in case anyone was under the impression that it's all sunshine and lollipops here, we've just had a mega homework-induced meltdown. DS saying he's useless pile of sh!t, can't do it, has got crappy handwriting coupled with lots of tears and shouting. It's exhausting.

Oh, Cereal, it really is exhausting. Whenever we have the meltdowns though, I keep reminding myself that we only get them every few weeks at the most and not daily like we used to! Hope the evening improves.

I am dealing with a very upset dd whose 'best friend' told her today that they are not best friends anymore

oh poor lamb, and poor you Cereal. Echo Daft. Meltdowns come, just way less frequently the further into the program we get. It's week 3 of term for us and DS is getting tired. School is much more of a big deal for our kids and it's exhausting for them. Dealing with them is exhausting for us. . Remind him how well he's doing and how proud we all are of him. He's certaily not useless!!

and for you too Daft. I remember that happening to me when I was a kid and it's horrid. We were friends again soon after. Hope poor DD feels happier soon.

Hi everyone...gosh..lots of new faces :)
Just an update on Tom;
He is still enjoying college and as I rifled though his bag today I found 2 credits for music and 2 commendations for design!
He never said a word, the monkey :)
He has had 2 lots of homework today and we have a very busy weekend so he will have to do it all tomorrow night which won't be popular!
He plays in his first football match on sunday morning :)he has kept us all entertained tonight at ds2s birthday tea party performing songs from horrible histrories :)
Hope you are all ok and that your dc are achieving their true potential x

Reporting in after our second appointment with Robin. BIG improvements as far as convergence is concerned and everything else has also improved. Robin was really pleased with ds' progress and thrilled to hear that others are noticing the changes in him.

Robin used a great analogy to explain to ds what's going on for him - I won't be as eloquent - "through no fault of your own, your right brain is not quite as developed as your left brain. What you're doing is all helping to get your right brain to be as smart as your left brain. The problems that you've been having is like I've tied your feet together and then asked you to run a race against all the other kids in your class. You're going to struggle with that! What we're doing is like taking that rope off from around your feet so that you can start to learn how to run properly. Soon you won't be left behind at all and everyone will see what a smartypants you really are"

Needless to say my ds is totally sold on the whole thing and Robin has given him the kind of boost that no parent could. He is such a great person to have in our corner. I feel so much better today!

Cereal- that's brilliant to hear about your progress. It really cheers me up to hear things like that especially when we are having a bad day. Keep posting!!