The upside of home school

SPENDING TIME IN LOCKDOWN WITH THEIR DAUGHTERS WAS A BLESSING FOR GRANT DENYER AND HIS WIFE CHEZZI AS THEY DISCOVERED ONE OF THEIR GIRLS HAD A LEARNING DISABILITY

HOMESCHOOLING has been the bane of many a parent’s life in these times of COVID, but it was a blessing in disguise for the Denyers. Ten personality Grant Denyer and his wife Chezzi tag-teamed teaching their adorable daughters Sailor, 9, and Scout, 4. Spending hours with their girls as they completed school tasks, the pair noticed Sailor had some learning difficulties. After many tests and psychological evaluations, even a brain scan, she was diagnosed with ADHD. “We were like ‘she doesn’t bounce off the walls’ though,” Denyer shares with Hibernation. “But turns out there’s hyperactive and inattentive ADHD.” The inattentive type of ADHD isn’t what most people picture when they think of someone who’s hyperactive. People who have this form are usually less disruptive and active. They do have difficulty sustaining focus, following detailed instructions, and organising tasks and often appear not to listen when you speak. It was a hugely worrying time initially, but after research and speaking with a host of professionals and some cognitive work, Sailor’s learning has come along in leaps and bounds. “It’s completely transformed her as a student,” Denyer says. “We had a parent-teacher night and she’s jumped a year-and-ahalf in ability in a matter of months with treatment. “She would have slipped through the cracks otherwise. “She didn’t have the behavioural aspects of ADHD, so it was not easily recognisable. She was just having a huge amount of trouble holding on to information and listening and absorbing. “We’re actually blessed. She was at the point where she was starting to let go of schooling, thinking she wasn’t capable or smart enough – that was the language she was starting to use. But it was just untreated ADHD.” It wasn’t all joyous light bulb moments though with Scout pulling her Dad aside and asking him – not-so politely – to stop helping her because “every time you help me I think you are making me dumber”. “I was like ‘how rude … you are only four!’ I was really hurt by that,” Denyer laughs, but confesses: “She was right. We double teamed with the kids – I thought I took the one with the least amount of knowledge so I looked smarter.” The family – who just announced with a sweet Instagram video that they’re expecting their third child – has enjoyed being cocooned in the relative safe haven of their farm just outside Bathurst as the pandemic spread. “I feel a little bit lucky to be honest, to be on a rural property,” Denyer says. “We’re not embedded in a hot spot. There’s a little bit of land for the kids to run around on. We are sort of #blessed in times like this. “The only thing I'm going to bump into around here is a cow and they won’t let me come within 1.5m of them anyway because they are scaredy cats.” Denyer was co-hosting Dancing With The Stars with Amanda Keller when COVID began its initial march across the globe. It was strange times indeed as production had to adapt almost daily to the uncertain times. “We were riding the edge of a scary wave,” Denyer says. “We were making this enormously expensive, large-scale TV show with an enormous amount of body contact. It was spiralling so fast we just had no idea if we were going to be able to finish the show.” There was a close call with Today Extra host Richard Wilkins’ son Christian competing on the show. Wilkins senior tested positive for COVID-19 and Christian lived with him. Cast and crew nervously waited, worrying that the virus would spread through the entire production. Fortunately that didn’t happen, but the decision was made to forgo having an audience at the live show. “We had to suss out how to make it work without that audience and still have the same zing and wow factor,” Denyer says. As we know, DWTS had its glittery grand final with Celia Pacquola the eventual winner. Changes also have had to be made for the limited revival of Family Feud. The 12 episodes were filmed in Sydney, not at its usual Melbourne base. And obviously social distancing protocols have hugely impacted. “I’m a handsy person, I’m a hugger,” Denyer says. “If you’ve ever seen Family Feud, there’s a hell of a lot of hugging that goes on. Your instinct is to climb all over one another. “They’re nervous and making mistakes; you tend to want to physically cuddle them through the experience. “We weren’t able to do that. I was actually surprised how enormously physical the role used to be when I wasn’t allowed to do that anymore.” While he’s overjoyed to bring back a new run of Family Feud to celebrate Aussie battlers and frontline workers – nurses, teachers, firies and farmers – he admits

he did take some convincing to revive the game show. “I really didn’t want to bring it back for no reason – Feud was great for me,” Denyer says. “It served a wonderful purpose at the time and it holds a special place in my heart because it led to a Gold Logie but that was then. Then they came up with this idea and it was a great way to honour the frontline workers. So it was easy to slip the Feud boots on and go for another round.” It’s been somewhat of a gear change for Feud – as Denyer says it’s usually a really “silly, ludicrous slapstick show”. This limited run is filled with so much heart, soul and worthiness. “It’s lost none of its fun – it’s just made you fall in love with the contestants so much more and you really want them to win,” he says. “It’s actually really refreshing and you felt like you were doing something important, even it’s only a TV show. It felt nice and for all the right reasons. “There are people who are nurses in COVID-testing facilities, people who stack the supermarket shelves, firefighters who lost their own homes while they were saving other people’s homes. So many incredible stories – it’s been nice to tell those stories to honour them on behalf of Australia. You know, say we love you and thanks for keeping the wheels turning for our country.” They might be amazing frontline workers – running busy emergency rooms, resuscitating and patching up people, working under extreme amounts of pressure, Feud is a different beast “There were really nervous people who run into the face of danger and you want to help them through the show – but just because they’re amazing frontline workers, doesn’t mean they are amazing game show players,” Denyer says. “So, you’re a mentor and handholder as well as a mickey-taker. Look, if they say something stupid – I’m not going to let that go. I’m going to take the piss. “It might be just a silly game show but for it to be noble for just a minute and, on behalf of the country, be like a human ATM, just handing out cash to the most worthy people in the land … that’s a cool thing.”

FAMILY FEUD, SUNDAY, 7.30PM, TEN