How TST has helped fashion student Tatijana Hall-Roberts

Within months of her birth in January 1993, it became apparent that there was something different about Tatijana Hall-Roberts. It was only when she had a severe febrile convulsion lasting over 90 minutes, when only 11 months old, that the complexity of her epilepsy began to reveal itself. At two Tatijana regressed and was no longer able to speak and hid in corners, though she did love singing and was extremely creative. The severe convulsions continued. Working with osteopaths and a homeopath, Tatijana made gains and entered mainstream school as a very bright student working a year above her age by the end of her first year at school.

Through the next 11 years Tatijana had continual periods of blue light journeys to hospital, and even with the high dose of the anti epileptic medicines, continued to have a variety of seizures . From the age of 11 to 13 she was fortunate to be at a really emotionally intelligently run school lead by a Head Teacher who dispelled the fear of epilepsy and allowed Tatijana to be a normal child , and by the time she got to year 8 she had very few seizures and was achieving highly in all her subjects and was a talented and creative artist.

A change of school with none of the brilliance of the former school reduced her to a withdrawn anxious girl isolated from her peer group and isolated in the “special needs” room culminating by the end of her third year there in her hiding in hedges at lunchtimes, undetected by the school, as she was too embarrassed by her seizures to be seen. She was failed at every level by the school and left as a very dependent and disabled girl with very low self belief and self esteem. A chance stumble across a website for autistic children, connected Tatijana’s mother Tracey with Advance Centre and the amazing work that Linda Scotson does with children with brain injuries. It was perfect timing, as at that point the only option the doctors could offer was extensive brain surgery to remove the scarred area of her brain however it was not without risks and there was a chance that her seizures could get worse.

In February 2009 Tatijana was assessed by Linda Scotson and for the first time in her life, Tatijana was given real hope of a full cessation of her seizures. Linda explained how her mother’s high stress levels whilst pregnant with Tatijana and her tendency to hold her breath meant that there were many occasions when Tatijana, as a developing foetus; did not get enough oxygen. To protect the brain Tatijana’s body diverted oxygen from the developing lungs and diaphragm to ensure the brain remained well oxygenated, however this situation meant that when Tatijana was born both her lungs and diaphragm were under developed and her growing body needed more oxygen then her lungs and diaphragm could support. With this message of hope and the need to begin the therapy as soon as possible, Tracey asked the school if Tatijana could have a week off school and if the school teachers could supply the work she would need. The Headteacher failed to pass on the message and it was only 6 weeks later that this became apparent, by which time Tatijana was in the thick of her Art and Textile GCSE exams and she could not have time off. The stress of these exams and the frustration of the delays meant that Tatijana had many seizures and time off school and was not able to complete the exams with her classmates; rather she had to do additional hours a few weeks later.

It was in the latter part of her last year at this school that she began working with Linda Scotson and within weeks of starting The Scotson Technique therapy TST her seizure rate decreased dramatically, however it was only when she left this school and went to West Suffolk College and was made to feel good about herself and with the help of a mentor, she began to reconnect with her talents and her personality and self esteem re-emerged. The amazing staff saw her talent and worked to help her develop this, and in this happier healthier environment she was calmer and happier in herself. She was once more taught as a normal talented young lady with a medical condition. Tatijana continued to work with Linda Scotson doing the daily TST massages herself with both accuracy and regularity and more and more positive changes happened. She had so much more energy, she was able to keep up with conversations again, she began to develop a sense of humour and slimmed down into a lovely well toned hourglass shape. She became more and more resilient and was able to handle criticism, pressure and deadlines without having additional seizures as had happened in the past. Her skin tone changed and instead of a mottled pale skin she had clear skin. Her eyes gained a real sparkle to them and she became better at answering questions as she was able to find the words with ease.

In the second year at college, Tatijana elected to major in Textiles and Fashion and the combination of doing something she loved, in an environment in which she felt both welcome and valued and the continued gains from the improved breathing and sleeping from TST allowed her to achieve so much more than anyone could have imagined. She ended the year as a prize winner and got high grades which enabled her to get one of only 45 places to study Fashion at Norwich University College of the Arts in Norwich.

There is no doubt that the quality and ability of educational establishments to deal effectively with Tatijana’s medical conditions has been a direct influence on her seizure rate and level of achievement, however the additional gains we have seen over the past two years and the sustained reduction in her seizures and the improvements in her cognitive and neural capacities lay squarely at the feet of the wonderful work Linda Scotson has done through working with Tatijana and in Tatijana doing her TST therapy.

Tatijana’s future looks very bright and we have so much to thank Linda Scotson and her team for.