Kieran's journey through Dore

SOMETHING HAD TO GIVE!!!!

2009-07-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

It is ages since I updated Kierans blog, now seems the opportune moment. Life has not been easy lately Kieran still fought me everytime Dore exercises were mantioned and we were still having battles trying to control what he eats during the day. Even a lock on the school lunch cuboard did not stop him getting at what he wasn't supposed too!!!!!

His last appointment at the dietitian was hopeful he has not put on any more weight since his last appointment. He had developed chest pains though and has been referred to the pediatritian as well as blood tests. Because of the problems with his attitude as well as his health issues I have had to put Dore on hold at present. I wasn't getting help from the rest of the family and I just could not cope with all the demands expected of me.

His school results at the end of year 3 show a huge improvement from the one's last year, he has certainly made strides in english, spelling and reading this year before Dore was put on hold. He has gained level 2 across the board. His progress was showing with the reading books he was bringing home and seeing as he was pre school at the beginning of year 3 and is now able to keep up with the rest of his peers it is news indeed.
He will still need help with his work in year 4 but at least we are now making strides in the right direction.

Kieran asked me today if he could start doing his Dore exercises again, I am willing but we will have to bring dad on board as well or else I can see us slipping back into the bad old ways again. We will see what happens tomorrow, wish me luck!!!! Ellie XXX

KIERAN AND WHEAT INTOLERENCE

2009-03-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

Part of the problems I am now having with Kieran is his general attitude that mum is a meany not only do I instigate his Dore exercises but now to add insult to injury I have taken away his beloved ham sandwiches because he is now on a wheat free diet. Kieran has always had a weight problem and it did not matter how much I tried to curb his weight it wasn't working. We do not have sweets or chocolate in the house and he always eats what we eat, but every time he sees the dietition he has always gained extra pounds.
I began to notice over a period of time that Kieran would wake up looking his normal self but within a matter of hours he would look as though he had balloned in weight. I started to think maybe his problem was to do with an intolerence to something he was eating. Discussed it with the dietitian who said it could be a wheat intolerence, so we started a regime where we cut out all wheat from his diet. Within a week he had lost 6 pounds in weight and was looking better, we then started him back on wheat and suddenly overnight he had balloned again and put 3 pounds back on in 3 days.
So we now know to a certain degree that he is wheat intolerent and to just carry on with the regime. Not easy when your child constantly reminds you what he is now missing in his diet and how awful I am for depriving him of the foods he loves. So with everything else which is happening in this house nothing is really easy and can be a bit slapdash at times, but then I can't expect to be super woman.
My one thing that keeps me going is the realisation that as he improves with Dore so will his attitude and his ability to cope with things that are a mountain at the moment for him. Hopefully he will see the benefit of both and readjust to make his and my life easier.

KIERANS PROGRESS

2009-03-22T05:33:00.000-07:00

We are over a year now into Kieran's Dore exercises and he can still be as obstinate now as he has always been over doing them. He is making progress at school with his reading and now keeps up with the rest of his peers within his group, but we still have a long way to go.
I went to see his teacher a couple of weeks ago and she is pleased with his progress, his motivation to learn at school has made a difference for him and his teachers. He is now back with the SENCO which is a relief because at one point Kieran was not considered priority enough for it.
His teacher did also point out that his mental maths really needed help as well, my face must have been a picture, because her manner became very sympathetic and supportive with what I was already doing for him. I could have actually cried with all the input I have with Kieran at the moment not only Dore, reading, spelling and now his wheat free diet as well (I will come to that in a minute) my first thought was where am I going to fit in his mental maths as well?. Problem was solved 2 days ago though through Dore, he has commenced Mental Exercises so a perfect way to get him to do his mental arithmatic and spellings all in one go.

ASSESSMENT AT KENILWORTH

2008-11-01T06:11:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 28th October Kieran and I made a journey to Kenilworth for his first assessment since Dore went down. We stayed with another Dore mum and all travelled up for both boys assessments, met another Dore mum who also posts on the MyDore forum, her daughter was having her final assessment to finish.
Fun was had by all, met Wynford Dore and his daughter Susie, they made us feel so much at home while we were there. Kierans assessment shows he is progressing well, his eyes need more tweeking than his balance. So we continue as before with his exercises at home and I must admit the assessment was beneficial in helping to motivate Kieran to continue, we haven't had any melt down sessions since we got back when exercises are mentioned.
Also seeing Harry doing his has helped as well, it was Harry that instructed Kieran in doing his while we were there, he is Kierans hero now.

KIERAN & FOOTBALL

2008-11-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

A very good week I think for my Dore children, Kieran played football today and scored 5 goals against a visiting team, won them all their matches. 3 of his goals were the only ones scored in one of the matches.

The coaches want him in the A team not for his goal scoring abilities but for being a goalkeeper, no one can get past him when he is in goal. One of the opposing team set up a cracker of a goal which he hit so hard everyone moved away all except Kieran who happened to be in goal at the time and just hit it away from the goal mouth denying them that goal.

Shaun has to now talk to Kieran to see whather he would be willing to move to the A team as a goalie, difficult choice when you are an all rounder for a 7 year old. His one main fault is listening to what he is being told, sounds familiar doesn't it, but as we know Dore will sort that bit out as he progresses.

It was only last season that he was constantly falling over when running and the amount of times they had to take him out of the match because he did not have the stamina to keep pace. Just shows how much Dore has changed him so far.

Not so good for his efforts within school he is 1 1/2 years behind with reading and writing, I asked for a dyslexia test. Heard back from his teacher who had a word with the SENCO result is he is not considered a priority for testing and there will be no extra help at school either for his reading and writing. So in other words it is now up to us parents to help him. I have been in this position before with his sister Leila and it is all too familiar. Unless they are at least 2 years behind, which if history repeats itself should be by next year, he will continue to struggle.

Our saving grace is we have Dore or else I would be in dispair like I was with Leila at the same stage 4 years ago. In the end it will be the efforts of us parents and Dore that will get Kieran through this. All I can say is thank god for Dore!!!! Ellie XXX

Responsibility Board

2008-08-10T02:34:00.000-07:00

I have finally decided to purchase a "responsibility board" to try and help Kieran to stay motivated. I had a constant battle to get him to do his exercises from day 1 and it does get stressful at times. In the end it is so easy not to do them as the thought of the whinging and crying puts you off.
We have had good results with it, he now has a reason to concentrate on his exercises as we decide on what reward he will get at the end of the month. It not only encourages him to do his exercises but also make his bed, feed the animals and keep his room tidy.
I also brought his dad in on this as it was usually all left to me to do his exercises, the same scenario happened with Leila. If i left it to my husband to instigate the exercises, they would not get done.
Since purchasing the board I have been able to mark some of his exercises easy as he is now concenrating more and doing them properly for a change. Hubbies help takes the stress off me as Kieran does not play his dad up as much as he does me. Only time will tell if it continues to work, but it is worth a try and we are getting good results so far.

A GLIMPSE OF KIERAN'S FUTURE POTENTIAL

2008-06-23T00:14:00.000-07:00

The Dore assessments may not be available at the moment but we carry on regardless with his exercises and he is still continuing to reap the benefits.
Kieran is never really known for coming out with mature and sensiable statements usually it is screaming and having melt downs about the most trivial things. But today he excelled himself much to my and his siblings surprise.Discussing the topic of songs while travelling in the car with all three children, I mentioned Celine Dyon and the film Titanic, this voice from the back of the car said quite seriously "mum you would have thought that those on the ship would have seen the iceburg coming" One thing Kieran has never seen the film and according to Kieran they have not discussed it at school. Somewhere or other he has heard about it and remembered the name of the ship and what happened.
He has also been known to give his sister Leila a geneal knowledge session and where he gets his information from amazes me, I did not know giant squid can be found in China? Just now and again he shows a side that has a lot of potential there it is just tapping into it and bringing it out, all part of the benefit of the Dore programme I feel.
As a footnote he has also gone up a level in reading books since the half term holiday.

3rd Follow up Assessment 13th May 2008

2008-05-13T12:40:00.000-07:00

WELL DONE KIERAN FANTASTIC!!!!!!!

Kieran has been showing good progress over the last 6 weeks of Dore, we went to see his teacher and he was pleased with his progress at school, he has jumped 5 levels in English since starting Dore in January. May seem dramatic but these are the little things which he should have mastered last year I.E finger spaces between words, full stops and writing a sentence you can actually read and understand. No more falling over at football and scoring goals at each practice, many were asking where this sudden ability had come from Dore of course!!!!!

Something seems to have clicked in with Kieran this week at school as well, he came home with reading book and spellings, for the first time ever he was perfect on both, showed confidence and is gaining the ability to understand what he is reading.

This progress showed in his 3rd follow up assessment today, where he gained a gold medal for getting all in the green with strong scores, only had red for one. We were really pleased with him and showed his last assessment being all in the red, we had caught him in his progression phase. All he has to do now is maintain and build on those gains from now on, eye tracking will be tested in the next assessment.

Kieran 2nd follow up assessment 1st April 2008

2008-05-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

Kieran's Equilibrium and Sensory scores were all in the red for this assessment but I was not too worried as his sister Leila's had been the same in her 1st follow up session.

I always see this as the Dore treatment finally breaking down all the coping strategies they have built up over the years to compensate for their difficulties. It showed he was actually making progress.

His eye tracking results were near perfect which I was pleased about as those eye execises seem to be working well. Interestingly I went to a opticians to have him tested for dyslexia so he could have a coloured overlay to help his reading and writing. I was telling them about Dore and the eye tracking and her own tests showed he was near perfect. She did say that Dore really had something of benefit here for other children with eye problems.

Kieran and football

2008-03-22T05:52:00.000-07:00

Kieran played his junior club football today, not a perfect day to do it blowing a gale, but he loves it no matter what the weather.
Dad went with him and was really proud of him scored 5 goals in his matches and his team won overall. I gather everyone was asking where his new found ability had come from as he was passing his own team and the opposition. Dore of course as all the co-ordination and balance issues are being sorted. This was a child who not many weeks ago was having to be substituted all the time, because he could not keep up the pace and was constantly falling over while playing.

Positive Step Forward

2008-03-18T01:13:00.000-07:00

Went to see Kieran's teacher last week and he is pleased with Kieran's progress so far, still at the bottom end of the class but progress no less. At the beginning of the year Kieran was way behind his peers in learning, but since January has leapt 5 levels in his ability.

This may seem dramatic but these are the little building stones to learning I.E putting in full stops (not always in the right place), spaces between words and making a sentence which everyone can read. He has gone up 2 book levels in the last few weeks, still has difficulty but he is gradually getting there and to me all due to Dore, but I do get the impression that his teacher is holding judgement on that???? Ellie XXX

"Tantrums and Exercises"

2008-03-05T11:58:00.000-08:00

Kieran may have only been doing the Dore exercises since January but his motivation to do them is sadly lacking!!!!
I have had screaming, shouting, tantrums and hissy fits over doing them and he will pick an argument just to delay the inevitable. His favourite phrase is "Dore will not help me at school" I have learned very quickly that to try and placate, show empathy or disagree with him gives him the excuse to argue the point and delay the proceedings even further.
I came to the conclusion that I have not got the energy or the inclination to argue with him as what ever tactic he comes up with doesn't make any difference anyway, the exercises have to be done whether he likes it or not!!!!
Now I use Love and Logic advice of one liners I.E "Never mind or if you say so" as I am getting him ready and giving instructions on his exercises. By the time he has completed the first set he has forgotten what his original tactic was. Has worked so far, so time will tell. Ellie XXX

KIERAN'S FIRST FOLLOW UP ASSESSMENT

2008-02-23T07:40:00.000-08:00

Kieran had his 1st follow up assessment this week, he was really excited about going to the center which is probably why he was so hyperactive by the time we got to the airport. I had to take him outside at one point just to cool him down with all the running around he did.

The assessment went well, I was worried because he was so hyper before I did not know how he would react, but it was the one time he did calm down and concentrate. All his scores had gone down which was not a surprise for any of us. It shows the treatment is beginning to work, as it breaks down all those coping stategies he has built up because of his difficulties. He is on track and I am not expecting any real changes at present.

Kieran and the two side of the coin!!!!!

2008-01-22T05:32:00.000-08:00

Kieran came home from school yesterday and told me about bacteria and how it causes illnesses, the antibodies fight the bacteria and if you have chiken pox you produce the antibodies which will be able to fight it the next time.
We were talking about opera the other day and I mentioned it came from Italy, Kieran pipes up and said Italy is shaped like a boot and it is kicking Sicilly on the globe!!!!

The other side of the coin is he had 6 spellings yesterday and got them all wrong, words like "I, me, we, he, my" It just shows how he can have problems with one area and yet excell in another. Dore will sort his problems out as they did Leila's, it just makes me realise what would I do without Dore????

Kieran's Assessment Report

2008-01-11T04:01:00.000-08:00

We have had the report of Kierans initial assessment results for those who are interested, I am well aware that the good scores on his posturegraphy may well go down over the next two assessments as those coping strategies he has built up are finally being pulled down

result of Kieran's initial assessment

2008-01-07T12:13:00.000-08:00

Well we had an enjoyable day but tiring, Kieran fell asleep in the taxi going back to the airport all 15 minutes of it and after that we couldn't stop him from chatting. The results show that Kieran has great potential he is a very bright boy but he does have the cerebellum development delay.

He was positive to the Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (ATNR) but what surprised me he only scored 0.1 for dyslexia which means he is at low risk of having it.

He does has problems with phonics but did well on many of his reading and writing tests, this they felt was because he has already developed ways to compensate for his difficulties even at 7 (those coping strategies that are never perfect!!!)

His balance scores though good could be another result of this and his eye tracking does need some work but again were not as bad as Leila's. One thing I did find out today was that those exercises are individual fo each client, Kieran's are ones Leila did not get until she was 10 months into the treatment.

2008-01-06T06:24:00.000-08:00

Kieran undertook the ACE TEST on line prior to his initial assessment with Dore, this gave us a preview of what his issues were and whether Dore could actually help him.

Kieran's journey through Dore

2008-01-06T03:18:00.000-08:00

My son Kieran is 7 years old and has struggled with learning at school, he has tendencies towards dyslexia and adhd but will not be formally diagnosed until this year.

I too am dyslexic and his older sister Leila had global learning difficulties prior to Dore but is now over 2 years post Dore and continues to remain on a par with her peers.

Kieran will follow in his sisters footsteps by commencing Dore and his initial assessment is tomorrow 7th January 2008.

I have started this blog so that others can follow his progress through the treatment and will hopefully help all those who are considering or undergoing Dore to see what Dore can do and what our children are finally able to achieve.