Hi all,

Haven't been on here for some time.

Just wanted to stop in and give an update and share what we've done for newbies or future joiners, because it seems to be helping and we're making progress

Ok, so things our 6yo son is doing:
OT with a sensory-integration qualified therapist
Brushing protocol
Cut out as many food additives (colourants, preservatives - JUNK) as possible
Bought a tight/compression type shirt. Sometimes he will wear this for days, other times he doesn't want it at all, but when he does it is a huge help.
Gymnastics (tumbling and artistic)
SEMAS (japanese abacus/soroban maths) the site I have for this if you're interested is http://www.semas.co.za/ --I can't say with 100% certainty, but I really feel this has reduced the number of reversals he's making.
We bought a small, indoor trampoline

M has been seeing the SI qualified OT since the end of May. He is really doing much better. He's playing with his sisters (voluntarily, and instigating play), he sits for longer when doing his homework, most of the time he's talking with a nicer tone and asking instead of barking demands. He's not hitting shutdown or meltdown as often.

These all seem so little but just in general, big picture, he's just - happier, not agressive, not angry... It's really great!

His school report was also quite an improvement over last term's. Instead of getting mostly average with quite a number of low-marks thrown in, he's now getting upper average with a few higher level marks and only had 1 low result that his teacher thought could be due to auditory processing issues.

So... I just wanted to put this up here, so that everyone starting on here has a bit more of an idea about time-frames and what we've done at home, and how long everything takes.

Well done!!!

*hugs you*

That's awesome Kate. We've done most of the same things as you with similar results. I'm intrigued by the SEMAS and will check into that. Thanks for sharing.
Another thing that seems to be making a noticeable difference for our daughter are the exercises in a small ebook we found from Australia. It's called Ten Gems for the Brain. It's helping a lot with balance and being able to cross the midline. Her interest in doing workbooks, practicing her letters and beginning reading skills have also increased since we started, but I don't know if it's the exercises or the probiotics we started about two weeks later.

Thanks Rinne!

And thanks LAC - he's 6 and already doing times tables - knows the 1(easy) and 2 times and I just taught him the 10 times(also easy) and knows the 5s in a hit & miss fashion - he seems to think 5x table can only end in 5s so when we hit the 10/20 etc he gets a little frustrated. We started on the 3 as well but it's a little trickier. It's part of the SEMAS system, which puts him - especially in SA - ahead of the curriculum. He does so well with reading (reads a grade ahead and is "leader" in his class - they have a reading record book and the first to read all the books in it gets taken out to a restaurant at the end of the year) so we wanted to balance this with a maths course - I reckoned if he was going to be trying to cope with all the SPD stuff that *could* influence his performance in class, I wanted to cover the foundation skills and hopefully help him to get a solid foundation so that when he learns to cope better in the classroom he can just take off instead of having to (perhaps) catch up on things he missed due to being so distractible and hitting shut down. The SEMAS also seems to be helping with attention span and - determination(?). The other day when we sat down to do homework he started his normal "I need water/I need an orange/I need the bathroom", routine, on the verge of getting up every 2 seconds, but I just said, no, we're going to sit and do homework now - and miracle of miracles, he just said "ok", and sat, and started.

But - as you say, when you're doing so many different things all at about the same time or close to each other, how can you really tell what it is that's working the magic? or is it everything?
I've also been considering trying a good probiotic. Read really good things on those. May just go and get one. Now if they'd only package omegas and probiotics in one yummy chewable that has no additives my live would be much simpler

Also wanted to add we switched OT from Friday afternoons to Tuesday afternoons. This seems to help him deflate and bring him down before he hits the overload point - which used to happen just almost every wednesday.

I think you may have mentioned the brain gems before - it sounds familiar. I'll have to look into it. I've also discussed listening therapy with our OT as he matches the profile for someone who could benefit from it a lot - almost perfectly. Our OT worked in the UK for 10 years and couldn't bring the equipment she used there with her, so she still needs to gather some of the normal stuff she likes to use, but she's hoping to get in August which would be great.

so... if you're a newbie and reading this: take heart. It may feel absolutely desparate and hopeless, but soon enough (hopefully) you will look up, and take stock, and realise that things are somehow, indefinably better/easier/brighter/happier.

Thanks ladies...

Kate, Don't worry to much about a vitamin supplement. I took my daughter off of all vitamins when we started Feingold (last Oct.) and was freeking out worrying she wasn't getting enough of this or that. She had her 6 y.o. physical last week and went from being in the 50th percentile for height and weight to the 75th percentile. Other than a couple of bouts of strep throat, which I attribute to beginning a new day care in January, she has been healthier than ever this year. It's wonderful to hear how well your son is doing. Keep up the good work!!

Thanks LAC, that's good to know.

Also interesting on the percentiles. Both my elder kids sit on the 10th centile lines for their ages, M as the eldest is confirmed SPD, my elder daughter has lots of red flags for SPD. But my youngest has very few (if any), and she's on the 50th centile which is much more normal compared to the older 2... wonder if any of the studies have tracked weight/height.

Many moms who post on the Feingold forum mention a dramatic growth spirt after beginning the diet. If your child is a picky eater, I'm not sure you'd see the same results, but I understand many people see a decrease in pickiness about two weeks after starting probiotics.

wow, interesting!

my 3 yo is actually way more picky. She seems to think we're trying to poison her, will start to eat something then after a while will scream in horror when offered the same food...

def think she needs a probiotic as well. She had a fungal ear infection earlier this year and now has ringworm - seems she has candida overflow...