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 :)

Shopping....ds2 (4) is nt and he gets that way on the wii. I have now banned it in the mornings. It was just getting too stressful.
I am sorry it's been such a crappy morning for you :(
At least you know why he had the meltdown...as you say too much excitement and Late nights.
It is depressing.
But in a year from now you will look back in days like today with disbelief.
X

Oh shopping, sorry you've had a bad morning. My DC are still too young for game consoles etc so I thankfully don't have those problems yet (and I'm secretly hoping I never have to buy them one though I realise that may be unrealistic...).

Well, I had to get dressed after DS vomited on me. Have a doctors appointment for him at 3.30.

Hello all
Shopping - sorry about your bad morning, it sounds miserable and I know only too well that feeling where you all end up crying.. Glad to hear that legoland and birthday went well though.

lookslikerain - poor you with a vommy one on the sofa. I think Daft's idea of a lolly sounds great - when the time comes.

Daft - sorry to hear about your builder going awol - there is nothing worse than a half finished job!

Badvoc - enjoy that lie in! You deserve it after the week you've had. xx

Hi, Its great to read all these success stories and I follow the posts regularly although I dont really post anything myself - until now. I am feeling quite low about my son. He has been on TH since October last year and personally I feel he seems to be going downhill. So much so that the school have now bought in 1-1 support for him almost full time whereas in September/October they felt he had turned the corner and was a changed boy from the year before (this was before we started the programme). I know everyone here is a big fan and I think Robin is great but it seems like we are going downhill. My DH is so disillusioned that he wants to drop the programme but I keep persevering. We follow the diet/supplements and have been doing the stair exercises/teeth brushing twice a day for 6 months. He has improved at the engaging eyes but not sure how much this has helped his reading (he was OK at reading anyway). His focus/concentration levels at school have dramatically decreased, his arm flapping seems to be worse and he is struggling socially. On Saturday I went to watch him play tennis and he was in a world of his own - he really just didnt seem to get what everyone else was doing and needed constant support from the teacher. I keep visiting this thread to motivate myself to continue with the program. Did anyone else have such a slow start as us? Hopefully when we next see Robin he might change what we are doing but its definitely not working that well for us to date. Maybe in a year I will look back at this post in disbelief (heres hoping!!)

So sorry to hear that Alfieandzoesmum. Have you emailed Robin? There's no need to wait for the next appointment, he's quite happy to email or have phone conversations when you have concerns. I really hope you see some improvement soon, I know how that desperate feeling can take over :(
Thanks all for the support re ds. He's been fab since. We've been to the park for two hours - getting out into the fresh air always helps, I find. A going to cut back on the wii again starting today. I know games aren't great for the brain but we make it a maximum of 30 mins a day and he has hardly any tv so I thought we were getting away with it. Have just done our exercises and he's had some hummus and breadsticks for a snack so I'm feeling virtuous again.

Hi everyone - just wanted to report back that we had our meeting with Robin on Sunday. I feel positive - he was very good with DS as you said BP - he handled him really well and got him to laugh and relax which isn't easy as he's so shy. So my gut instinct towards him is much better than the woman we were doing RRT with. And gut instincts certainly help I think.
We were already doing supps and diet change so have to continue that, do stairs and toothbrushing and starting engaging eyes on the monster bashing and target practice. So we shall see how we go! DS can read quite well but I have often wondered whether his tracking is a bit off as he likes to have a bookmark under his line, so it will be interesting.
Our biggest problems are focus and concentration with a little physical not-quite-right-ness, some tics and quite extreme social anxiety, particularly with adults he's unfamiliar with, and all teachers. So I will keep you all posted.
Alfieandzoesmum I hope some of the more seasoned THs will be able to offer you some support and hope things start improving for you soon.
Shopping: we are also STILL on easter holidays and also had a mega-freak out yesterday when DS got to play his new harry potter lego game on xbox (or at least when he had to turn it off). He also turned 7 on Sat! So....you're not alone! We've had big discussions about deep breathing for 10 which as helped in the past to shortern his tantrums. Think we need a bit of routine back.
x

Alfieamdzoesmum.
I would phone robin and tell him what you just said in your post. You don't have to wait for our appt if you are worried.
Does your ds have a dx?
Think ds2 may be coming down with something...he has been asleep since 1.45 :( and it's my nephews b day party at 5!

Hope ds is ok looklikerain.
There is a lot of sickness around here ATM....

Harrietv, how lovely to have the same birthdays :)

Hi everyone.
I got an e mail last night from toms teacher/Senco.
We are meeting on Thursday to discuss Tom coming off the SEN register
:) :) :)

alfieandzoesmum have you been in touch with Robin yet? Sorry things aren't going as smoothly for you.

harrietv glad your appointment went well Good luck!

badvoc fab news about Tom and getting him off the SEN register. Please tell him he's an inspiration!

It's still sickness central here. DS not vomiting anymore, and has started eating a little again, but he's still not right. He'll be singing Ring of Fire soon, iykwim... It's horrible and he cries every time. And as if that's not bad enough, DD toddled over to me an hour ago and vomited too. Sigh sigh sigh. Now feeling like DH and I are on borrowed time.

Badvoc brilliant news :)
Lookslikerain :(

Oh that sounds grim lookslikerain :(
Hope it doesn't spread.
Noro is going around church and school ATM so am panicking a bit due to my trip on Friday!

I'm using it as an excuse to eat lots today, you know, in case I can't eat for a few days. It might also become an excuse to finish the open bottle of wine later. It's already been opened, and I wouldn't want it to go to waste...

:)

Alfieandzoesmum - so sorry to read that things are becoming more difficult for you. It must be a great worry for you and tough to read of lots of progress on here. Robin told us it would take a while to see significant changes, so I wouldn't give up yet. As the others have said, I would def call Robin and have a chat with him. He's incredibly experienced with all of this and is best placed to advise on your ds. Yes, lots of us here are Robin fans, but we are all here to support each other through the programme and that means any bad times too. Do keep lurking, posting or pm me if you wish

Harriet - great to hear about your appointment at the weekend. How are you getting on?

Lookslikerain - you have my full sympathies and Badvoc, fingers crossed you don't get it. Tom is brilliant and I bet the school are very pleased with themselves!

I'm going away for a couple of days on Thurs, so won't be online. I can't wait to skip off and leave my MIL/FIL in charge while DH is at work. I still have a million and one things to do / cook /write down, so that I can skip off, but hey ho! Have a sore throat but am ignoring it.

Anyone got any recommendations for classical music for hemi t? Ds is sick of the Star Wars soundtrack. Was considering downloading the complication cd by the guy who wrote this Star Wars music but that has quite a bit of scary Jaws type music and he's moaning about the music frightening him too.

We used a classical cd of music that had been used in films like platoon, Amadeus etc
Ruggles...have a good time! :)

Meeting with the teacher tomorrow!

Shopping - we use Carnival of the Animals.

First day back at school and we've survived morning insanity with cooked breakfast, stairs and teeth added in too so one hand feeling like it was a success. DS was up at 5 though (I suppose with school nerves, although he went in fine, despite looking like a walking zombie before he even started a class which does not bode well.)

Couple of questions: engaging eyes - we're on targets and monster splat. Do we do one game of each a night?

Writing - DS hates writing with a passion. It's partly a fine motor thing (writing is legible but not v need and spikey looking, pressing hard on page etc) and partly a freezing thing (whether he really can't think what to write as he says, or whether he just panics or won't do it because he doesn't enjoy it I don't know. Perhaps a processing thing or an overwhelming thing). Did anyone else have issues with writing, and what part of the program has addressed this, if it has?

Have a great break Ruggles.

And great news Badvoc - a positive meeting at school. I'm looking forward to one of those one day!

:)

Hi Harriet
We didn't use engaging eyes so can't answer that one I'm afraid, but someone will pop along soon I am sure.
Wrt writing. Yes it was a huge problem for Tom.
We used "write from the start" which we got from amazon and its basically a programme designed by a Romanian (I think) doctor and is basically 2 workbooks of exercises to do with a pencil...like putting the petals on a flower shape, or doing zig zag lines.
Sound mad, but I think it really helped Tom.
I will be very note rested to hear what his teacher has to say tomorrow!...

Ds hated writing with a passion. I think in year 1 he didn't really write more than his name. Last month he won a headmaster's award for massively improved handwriting. He can now do beautifully legible joined up handwriting - all letters are the correct size and are formed properly. We did hard core handwriting practice every night from about feb to July last year. Literally every single night for ten mins.
I started with buying work books that were aimed at reception children to build his confidence. Then we bought a book from Melissa and Doug ( amazon sell them) that had a section for a picture on top and a few lines for writing below. We made him do a picture every night and started with just one sentence to explain the picture. We built up to three or four sentences over a period of time.
Ds still likes to / needs to say aloud what he wants to write sentence by sentence. He can't just go from brain to pencil if you see what I mean, so although he does homework pretty much independently, he needs an adult to listen to his ideas first.

Oh! I love those Melissa and Doug pads! They are fab.

Oh those books look great thanks guys - I'll def order some.

We've been doing 'writing' practice over the holidays (when we managed) in a writers notebook that I promised was for him only so no comments re: spelling/punctuation/handwriting. So of course the aforementioned were mostly awful, but it did help get him focussed on just writing and trying out new words he's usually too scared to use. I think I could concentrate on some handwriting now. It's so tiring and relentless isn't it!! So great to have people to chew the fat with.

And I've reason to celebrate today :) : at pickup I got a 'good day' nod from the teacher (possibly the first all year I think!). I quizzed DS as to why - was he chatty (usually silent), did he do good maths but no - he'd written a whole PAGE in his holiday diary and the teacher had said 'well done' THAT is definitely a first! Now I realise we've only been stairwalking and doing food/supps for three weeks, and only saw Robin on Sunday and it's likely to be a one off but hey - we so rarely have cause for celebration I'm deciding to revel in my feelings of pride and delight, even if it is just for today!!