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

I read on one of the other threads about a meet up? Did it happen? Can we do another? Maybe Jan?

Sunshine - hugs, you poor thing. I remember my Bank Holiday monday when we'd just started TH and were in the park. I'd been trying to teach DS1 to swing himself and something flipped and he went mental. It was horrendous. The worst I'd ever had, and as a strong 7 year old I couldn't do anything to prevent it - I couldn't pick him up or take him away. He hit and kicked and screamed and other parents looked at me like I had a monster as a child. I can't even remember what I did but i def said things I wish I hadn't. Did lots of crying too. It will get better, I promise.

We also did RRT for about 3 months before doing TH. I wasn't sold on RRT or our practitioner but when I told her I was swapping she did say I should stop slowly as the exercises are powerful. I didn't - but I wonder whether this could have anything to do with his sudden change in character. I know I felt utterly desperate and did post on TH3 thread about it but then searched back through all the threads and read quite a few people who's kids had got worse before they got better.

Is the snack meltdown about not wanting TH style food or just you can't do anything right type thing? If it's TH style food then maybe allow a few chocolate raisins or something not 'tooo' bad to break him in slowly? Or bribe with a toy/sticker/few pennies/reward chart for good behaviour getting into the car after school. Sometimes I think they just need to eat and if they've gone so far (because school sends our kids over the edge) you just need to do whatever you need to do, to get him in car and eating. Maybe view this as short term behaviour - it will improve, it has for all of us.....so just do what you need to do to survive the short term? Thinking of you.

Right, I think I'm going to give the gluten free a go. I've been watching DS closely the last few days, and he definitely has moments where he just disappears into his own little world. He'll come out of it on his own or if I call his name/touch his arm he'll come back, but it is a bit like a brain fog. GF for a bit can't hurt anyway, can it? Worth a try.

So, does anyone have a recipe for homemade fish fingers that I could do GF? Is that even possible? I think I'll have a mutiny on my hands if they can't have fish fingers.

Another question please. How do you know if something has gluten in it? What am I looking for on the ingredients? Currently having a panic about baked beans!

Hi GF gang!

Fishfingers- whizz up some GF bread into breadcrumbs, then cut up some white fish, dip in beaten egg, then breadcrumbs then fry (or bake)

Main gluten culprit is flour/ wheat. So anything which uses flour to thicken a sauce/ gravy is out (unless you make your own with GF flour or corn flour). Watch out for anything 'breaded'- ham, chicken nuggets etc.

On the ingredients list on labels, check for wheat. Underneath it should have an allergy section and will say if it contains gluten. Often it says 'made in a factory which handles gluten. Happy to risk it though!

Baked beans are fine!! Avoid pasta unless GF

Good luck!

Ross make gf fish fingers, they're actually really nice and they have "white" fish in - not the grey mushed stuff. Asda/morrisoms/sainsburys normally stock them.

Buy GF fish fingers. Tesco, saisburys and birds eye do them. They are delicious. Much better than normal fish fingers. Yum!

Sunshine and showers we went down the conventional route with ds when he was 3 1/2 because his behaviour was so bad at pre school that they were able to get 1-1 funding for him because he was a danger to others. I was mortified, devastated etc. I started to imagine all sorts of horrors for his future. He was diagnosed (ish) as having aspergers traits. I know this diagnosis doesn't exist anymore. The diagnosis led IMO to school ( he had started school by the time it came through) making excuses for his behaviour and allowing him to get away with murder because it was 'part of his additional need'. We ended up with him spending every morning in a nurture room with other kids who behaved horribly. So much for inclusion. The only support we received from the paediatrician was a range of printed sheets suggesting ways to manage bad behaviour.

We started TH and changed school, 3 months later. Luckily his behaviour improved considerably before the school move but the school were amazing in that he was treated the same as everyone else and they set incredibly high standards for behaviour and work. He is literally a different child now 18 months later.

My view is that for my son a diagnosis meant teachers allowed his behaviour to get worse rather than the diagnosis helping to improve things. I also believe that he was bored. He is very bright but because of his behaviour 'problems' the academic expectation was so low. He left year 1 having written nothing other than his name and having done no maths for months. By the end of year 2 at the new school and with TH input he was above average in reading, writing, maths and science.

harrietv

No the after School snack is not about the snack, it's anything that sets him off, can we go to the park, whats for tea, can X come round. It just has to come out. You are right about getting through the short term. DH and I have decided that each weekend I will go off and recuperate (where? I don't know). Ultimately when DS is in that sort of mood the ONLY thing that fixes it is letting it come out, and then he is calm. (I once tried feeding him biscuits at every hint of a meltdown, did not work, and he LOVES biscuits.)

shoppingbagsundereyes

This is the logical conclusion that I come to every time I think of it rationally. The Pead will just diagnose based on what we tell them, so can't I effectively make the diagnosis? And then what, just leaflets and drugs! I do think an OT might be useful however.

It's interesting that your new School has v high expectations of your DS? Did they have the diagnosis as well? DS's School have very high expectations, and he behaves well (does not sit still and does not concentrate) and is doing well academically. Sometimes I think if the expectations were lower he would be less stressed out of School, but that does not bear true in your case.

A terrible day again today. I got hit a lot this evening. I also feel I can't rely on DH to do all exercise's, so am bearing all load.

God I'm such a misery guts. You wouldn't believe I am known as a very positive person. It's lovely to vent.

I think GF might send me over the edge atm, but definitely want to try at some point.

We chose to underplay the diagnosis when we applied for his place having been turned down by another independent school where the head teacher said ' he's such a big boy and these children can get so aggressive as they get older'. The head at our new school has the attitude that every child is different and every child has its strengths and weaknesses so we don't make a big thing about the weaknesses. Obviously that wouldn't work for a child with a more severe sen but worked a treat for ds.
He's still a pita at home but so infrequently that it takes us by surprise. At school he behaves like a 'normal' 7 yr old. Occasionally he gets into trouble but not very often and it's for 'normal' boy behaviour iyswim.

Wonderful that he's "normal"! IKWYM! Am so pleased that you have come so far. That he's come all that way from an aggressive 3 year old. We might have acted sooner if the aggression had been outside of the home. Do you recall how long after you started TH that things improved (I know I keep asking, but I've got to have a date of hope in mind). He improved with the RRT within 2 weeks.

Also harriet we too stopped RRT and started TH the next day. I never thought that maybe we should have had a break. All the exercises seem so simple, but I have to remember how powerful they are.

We saw an improvement in concentration first, within a few weeks. Within 6 months all dyspraxic symptoms had gone ( he learned to ride a two wheeler and a scooter, balance improved and he became dry at nights). The symptoms we were most worried about (typical ASD ones) like the need to control, rigidity and aggressive have reduced much more gradually and have virtually gone. Aggression has totally gone. I suspect he may always be a bit routine driven and get anxious when he feels out of control as me and his dad are both like that anyway.

Re 'normal' before I had children I thought I would be pushy for them to be exceptional in some way or another. I'm quite ambitious and competitive academically myself. After having a child who stood out for being atypical I am over the moon with now having 'average' children.

Sounds fab to me :)

Great to see progress so quickly. Bodes well!

Hi everyone, Good to see new faces on the thread. For those who know us DD is doing well. It is slow progress and I am concerned about her academic ability I'll be honest.

However after starting school in September and she was having accidents everyday (sometimes 2-3) she has not had one accident since she went back after the half term break. So two weeks accidents. Someone said earlier in the thread that it's not all thinks disappear, but they get over it quicker. I would say that is true for DD.

The OT went in to school to see her last week. One of the first things she said was that she was 'more tuned in' and her speech was easier to understand. She said in general she was coping much better than she thought she would and that when she walked in to the classroom it took her ages to find DD as she looked like all the other kids.

She does still have a long way to go and does need a statement and 1:1 support to help her to learn. But she is coping and engaging and that in itself is worth celebrating.

Sunshine- We stopped RRT one day and started TH the next. I kept a diary when we started TH and DS was very up and down for the first few weeks. . We started on 31/7 and on the 10/10 I wrote " I feel normal, DS will be fine" Every entry after that is positive… so for us it was about 10 weeks until I thought he could cope and by 16 weeks he really was coping well. It is a long hard slog but we are with you everyday. I know what you mean about DH. My DH just never got the exercises done when I asked him. I ended up paying a friends au pair to come and help me get the stairs and teeth done every evening. It was INCREDIBLY stressful.

Prince- do good to hear that your DD is doing so well. She is so young and you have so much time to help her.

BTW Sunshine - how old is your DS?

Morning

To all of those struggling with the exercises, do hang in there. I found it all very stressful and last winter thought I was going to pop with two sets of TH exercises plus DD speech therapy too. I got some help in the afternoon and it made a real difference. It does get easier though, so much so. My DC became much more used to doing them and they just became part of our day. Plus DS is now only doing computer exercises. My DH wasn't very good at helping either and very into 'missing the odd day doesn't matter' etc. I've tried to keep him invovled as possible and we both went to see Robin last time. I asked Robin to give him a bit of pep talk about it and I have no idea what he said, but its made a real difference. DH is now fully on board with the exercises!

Beautiful - thank you so much for recomending the probiotics. We all started this weekend and I can't believe how easy it is. I've always had a problem with different products for us and the DC; ones that need to be kept in the fridge; or mixed with water; or taken 30 mins before food etc. This seems super easy and I can see us keeping it up!

Re food - we buy bacon and sausages from our butcher who assures us that there are no nasties in them. They are very meaty tasting, which took a bit of getting used to, but we now love them and find super market ones very salty!

Parents' Evening was a real success last week. DS is doing very well in Reception - his reading is excellent, writing and numbers - very good. He has strong friendships and best of all has stopped hitting and pushing!! His manners are excellent. His teacher says his concentration can be a little hit or miss, but he is calming down and they have no worries about him! I know we aren't out of the woods yet, but I am just about giddy with relief. He is still being a pain at home but I am feeling very excited about the future - for all of us. Him at school, our homelife and have already started thinking about doing some work again.

Ruggles wow! What a relief! And congratulations to your ds, lovely news

Update from us. DS went for his first trip to the cinema with DH at the weekend and loved it. Okay, he fell asleep for the last 15 minutes but he sat still in his seat for the rest of the film. And he didn't chat during it either. He didn't really want to tell me about it when he got back but I was very proud of him. DH said he was much better behaved than most of the other kids there!

We've been trying gluten free since Saturday. I can see that it's very easy in the house but would be more difficult out and about. It's also shown me that DS doesn't really eat that much of it anyway. Made some GF bread. It's nice but does go stale really quickly. Also made these and I would definitely recommend them. Super easy, looked just like the picture and you wouldn't know they were GF.

DS is being a bit difficult about the exercises at the moment but I think it's just that he's always so tired after nursery. He does them fine before we leave but is always quite resistant in the afternoon. I had his parents appointment last week and they say he's doing well. He's getting more comfortable talking to the teachers but still not with the other children. Hoping that'll start to come soon. There's definitely stuff going in even if he doesn't show it when he's there. I've been noticing how good his numbers, counting, colours, shapes are and I think it's from nursery. I often feel like there's so much going on in his head, but he just can't always get it out. I wish I could help him unlock it.

greener2 sodium something-or-other is used as a preservative in most sausages and bacon. It's difficult to find it without. We buy the tesco finest ones. The plain sausages have a higher meat content than those that have other flavourings like leek etc, which is very obvious but I didn't notice until I started looking at ingredients! Our Tesco also have some called 'Heck' that have 97% meat that are really good. Bacon, we buy smoked drycure. Good luck with your DD's appointment.

Prince great news about your DD. She's definitely moving in the right direction!

Oh yes, and ruggles, meant to say well done your DS! I hope you both feel very proud of yourselves!

wow Ruggles, amazing news. How lovely.
My DS has been absolutely amazing these past two weeks. I was in hosp having an operation so everything has changed. Different people taking/collecting from school, doing everything. And he has not had one single strop. Has been so grown up, walked into his room right after school, done homework within 15 minutes, practised piano whenever asked, done his reading, his TH stuff (once I was home - sunshine this has also pretty much always fallen to me although now we're down the line and progress has been seen I can sometimes enlist DH's help but he generally forgets!). He's handled setbacks like his school bag going missing amazingly. A year ago I'm not sure I could have even imagined going into hospital the repercussions would have been so bad with his routine change and resistance to everything (homework could take 5 hours on a weekend of tantrums and refusal). I'm so proud of him :)

wow harriet that post is amazing! Am so pleased for you.

I hope you are recovering well xx