Tinsley House Support Thread Part 4!!!

[Mangomanila]

This thread is for anyone interested in the Tinsley House programme. All welcome!

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 smile

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

nellieellie We did RRT first, but only saw someone once, I just feel we need the more comprehensive overview that TH offers. BUT we brushed DS's spine for 6 weeks, and after about two weeks ALL hitting, kicking etc vanished (and all car sickness). We were getting hit every day. It has definitely given us a massive reprieve.

notapizzaeater DS is excellent reader and brilliant at comprehension, but dreadful at sports (cannot catch etc) and is really aware of it (6 years old). Me and hubby were and are quite sporty, so whilst we would never mind if he tried and didn't want to, he just can't. He also falls over a lot (seemingly on purpose - its like he needs to be near the ground).

It's weird how all DC have different manifestations, but same underlying problem?

Beans on toast is a great protein food! :)
School dinners are also a Good idea as long as it's not pizza everyday.
My ds has school dinners and a typical week would be;
Pannini
Fish finger roll
Brunch (hash brown, sausage, beans etc)
Pizza
Fish and chips
He has also has curry, chicken, jacket potatoes...
Don't buy squash. Dilute fresh juice.
HTh x

The squash still has lots of additives, pure juice watered down (or water)

As far as I know quorn is ok - never looked at t as ds is coeliac and its got gluten in.

Greener2 - would imagine quorn would be fine. We are vegetarian so have it a fair bit - although DS, a v picky eater does not ike it - he tends to go for tofu-based products. Is just a mix of mycoprotein (fungi derived), wheat protein, egg as a binder, and some other stuff like milk protein. My children tend to drink water but if I have children round who are used to squash then watered down apple juice seems to go down OK - it's naturally sweeter than orange. Doesn't squash tend to have either a lot of sugar or, in the "no added sugar" ones, artificial sweeteners?

Quorn is fine.
Squash has lots of nasties in.

Another one who has completely ditched squash. My kids drank nothing else but it wasn't a big deal to ditch it. For the first week or so I just said I had run out, after that they stop asking. Water or milk on demand here and fruit juice once a day ( although dd's not keen so hardly ever has it).
Occasionally mine drink it at parties and once in a blue moon I will let them have a fruit shoot (don't tell Robin) but only if we're out and about and there's not much else to choose from.

Rocks squash has no nasties in it. Not sold everywhere though. Think waitrose and sainsburyssainsburys. Green glass bottles.

Feeling a bit blue...
We're seeing huge progress (over the last 2/ 3 months) with dd (aged 5.5) but school are wanting to put in SEN support for her (and 2 other children) . I suppose I should be happy that they're wanting to support her but actually I feel very sad that they feel she needs it especially when we're seeing such amazing progress at home. I suppose I thought that they would be as equally encouraged as us as her progress but realise I'm being a bit naïve... and maybe she isn't demonstrating what she can do to them. Her reading is good but her speech and writing has been less good but developing well now. Socially and behaviourally no issues at all, except perhaps a tendency to cry if she doesn't know what to do (this is only at school, never at home).
We've been doing stairs and teeth and now on Engaging Eyes (Splat an alien easy, Target practice very hard!!).

I think it's that, maybe for the first time I now really believe that there are no 'permanent' issues with DD and that things will get better with TH intervention etc ... so today's reminder that school think there are problems hit hard.
Does any of that make sense?

Yes that makes sense!
We are doing TH with our DD who is just coming up to 5. We are also in the middle of her statement request. Which feels like real concrete evidence that things are not 'OK' and that despite the progress she has undoubtably made she is still far enough behind her peers to warrant a lot of support.

The only way I can now cope with the conflicting things we are doing is by compartmentalising.

School, NHS etc is what we are doing to help the DD we have now. TH is for the future. But I have to deal with now and right now she needs support.

They are totally separate and need to be treated as such.

The support thing is good, it will take the pressure off her in school. A Statement isn't forever, it is a year and has to be reviewed annually.

Justlooking2013, it is hard sometimes to think your child has "special needs" - I know I find that all the time with my DS, but at school the important thing is that the school recognises a difficulty and puts in effective support. For a lot of schools the approach is that many children have "special needs" at some point or the other, but that is the point, things change, and especially in such a young child as yours. If you are seeing big improvements then that's great. I don't know from your post if they are considering any thing as formal as a statement? - but I know of a few children in my DD's year who received extra help from the SEN team in Yr 1 and reception, and don't need it now. Also I suppose there is a possibility re the school not recognising the improvement that you've seen, that, in a class full of 30 children it takes a while for them to recognise a change in a child that they may have labelled as needing help. When my DS was in Yr 1 I had to tell the teacher at the end of the 1st term that he was a good reader as they had reported him as "very slow". When I showed them the books he was reading at home, disbelief was followed the following week with "Oh yes, he's very good at reading". Does she enjoy school? You say that she is doing fine socially - that is a huge thing really, and not just now but in future life if she can get on with people it will always be stand her in good stead.

Thanks so much PRN and Nellieellie .... just what I needed to hear right now! Thank you!

Sorry notapizzaeater, thanks to you too... I was reading everything on my phone and screen v small so I missed your post... Didn't want to miss you out of my thanks though!

Hello all! Update from us. We are all ill. It's miserable. DS was sick on Thursday last week and has had a horrendous cold. DD got it too. I've had tonsillitis. Self diagnosed, but I used to get it loads when I was younger and I'm pretty sure that what it is. Yuck. DS hasn't been at nursery for nearly a week and I am a grumpy mummy with a very sore throat!

On a more positive note, DS is doing well on the TH side of things. I think it's crept up on me again. We had a man in fixing the phone line last week and DS was chatting away to him. I remembered back to May/June when we had a painter in, and it was a couple of weeks before DS felt comfortable enough to talk to him. Comparing the two, I realised how much more happy he is to talk to other people these days. It's definitely still situation dependant as he doesn't really say much at nursery but I'm so hopeful that will come soon. Anyway, onwards and upwards!

Hello everyone

Someone was asking about brushing. We've been doing some with Jenn Clarke and found it very relaxing and I think helpful. DS did 7 months and then we had a 3 month break before a review this weekend. The only RR he now has is the one down his back (spinal gallant?) which relates to restlessness etc. We did the brushing with a very soft, artist style brush along his face in gentle stokes - its incredibly relaxing and bonding too. We were a bit worried about doing too much at once, but I couldn't help myself and I think it worked as it was so different than TH.

Interesting to read all the messages about food and drink. We used to have lots of squash and changed to diluted juice but have now cut that out as the dcs were drinking soooo much. Just like someone else said, they missed it for a week, but hardly ask now.

I think the SEN label is such a hard one. We have to be incredibly supportive for our DCs and help them as much as we can, but I find other people's reactions to mine one of the hardest parts to cope with. I like the idea of viewing it as temporary help that is reivewed periodically and thinking of TH for the future and school help for now. It's not that I don't want to face reality, it's just that I am increasingly sure that everything is going to be allright. We've got both parents evenings next week and both of our DCs teachers have given us the first slot... .

Quick question for everyone. How much do you bribe your DCs? Do you think its a good idea or that it creates another set of problems? At the moment, ours receive pennies in a pot for good behaviour and have a penny taken out each time they misbehave. They get a small treat if they have 5 pennies in at the end of the day. Interested to hear any thoughts.

ruggles we don't use bribes yet. DS wouldn't 'get' it, and while we could probably work on it so he did, we don't need to. I'm holding that trick in reserve!

justlooking my DS is the same. At home, a chatterbox. At nursery, says nothing. Robin said not to worry, it will come. He's more comfortable at home so more at ease to talk. At nursery, whilst not distressed, he's still anxious enough that he still keeps himself to himself. It's probably the same thing. She just needs a little extra time to generalise the new skills into school setting. Have you asked Robin?

I think I compartmentalise DSs challenges too. If you met him in the street, you wouldn't know he had any problems. 99% of dealing with him is just like dealing with any boy his age. His nursery is great, and have put lots of support in place to help him. That helps him now, day-to-day. We continue the salt, privately and nhs. We try and tick all the "conventional medicine" boxes, turn up for appointments, so we look like good parents, not questioning the nhs. Then behind the scenes, we do TH which will hopefully help in the longterm. DS is only 3 (nearly 4) so we haven't done any other therapies but I'm waiting until we get to the end of TH before I look into doing them though I've already researched them. Hopefully, we won't need to. I do think it's a bit bonkers that some consider things like TH alternative. Put the exercises to one side, and a lot of it is just common sense that we all should do. Not woo at all.

yuckythings (I love your name. No matter how tidy I'm being, there are always yucky things on the floor in here!) We started stairs in late Feb. DS is now very steady going up, one foot on each step. Coming back down is nearly there, but still a little wobbly. It feels like it has taken ages.

Justlooking and Lookslikerain - I missed the bit about not talking much at nursery despite being chatty at home, any my DD is just the same. I've talked to Robin about it and he says that it is natural as they find it difficult and a bit over whelming. He likens it to visiting a foreign country where you can't keep up with the chat. DD is very happy at nursery, just not chatty. Her SALT is spending Friday morning with them and says she will find out what is going on!

Hi all

Been away for a while - we were on holiday in the Canaries for a week which was great and been busy at work and with family stuff - but you know what's great, I hadn't checked mumsnet in about 10 days and hadn't worried about it! I think this marks how far I've come. I was so constantly worried about DS1 and glued to this thread for any and every strand of help, and finally some of that worry is lifting!

DS had a mini report at the end of half term and has for the first time ever received a 2 for his literacy (which translates as Good). I can't (and almost don't) believe it. But I'm very cautiously very excited.

Our holiday was great and he had NO meltdowns. Last year we went to the same place, did same thing. Nightly meltdowns. Amazing. He made a friend almost effortlessly (after I pointed out this boy wanted to be friends) and then chatted away to the boys parents. He would never have done this in the past.

And his homework was to learn a poem. We picked a 5 line poem as memory has always been a struggle. Then he realised most friends were doing many verses as it's supposed to be a minute recitation. He learned the first 2 verses of the Owl and the Pussy Cat in 2 days.

I'm sure we still have attention issues at school - haven't had parents meeting in ages. But also haven't been called into school. :)

Tics continue to be minimal (thanks Shopping for your reply re: Hemis) touch wood.

Re bribes. I think that's just a reward system. I use reward systems a lot - my kids require help with motivation and I consider it a great system: actions have consequences. I see no problem with it at all (clearly because we do it!)

And re: quietness at school. Robin described this to us as a Right brain/Left brain thing. The right brain (I think) is the one that handles communciation in comfortable situations. The left brain handles it in new (and scary) situations. He's always said as we start unlocking the left brain so my DS's communication will improve. That is the hemi work mainly - although we started seeing gains before then. I see it as a gradual unlocking of the chains of anxiety for my DS - he can still be paralysed by strange questions but we are on the right track. :)

Harriet that's fabulous progress- really pleased for you! So good to hear success stories, especially with issues we can hugely relate to.