News on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
FREEBIE: A Daily Guide for Living: Parenting Children Affected by FAS
The blog Keeping Up With Tiny Titan has a link to a free booklet from the British Columbia Ministry for Children and Families.
They Do Not Remember to Remember
The blog Keeping Up with Tiny Titan offers some FASD words of wisdom.
101 Holiday Strategies for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
Help from the FASD Think Tank, a group of "25 professionals, core network providers and parents experienced in providing creative ideas for living, loving, and laughing together to build solutions for healthy living for persons experiencing the challenges of living with FASDs."
Strategies and Sympathy for Fetal-Alcohol-Affected Kids
'The Mystery of Risk,' a book by a leading researcher on prenatal exposure to alcohol and drugs, has been added to the Harried Parent's Book Club. (11/10/11)
What Worked for My Child with FASD (So Far)
How can schools help students with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder? That's a question I was asked during a radio conversation last week, and one that, judging by a comment to an old post about autism and FASD, most schools still don't know how to answer. Since my son first started in school at age three, there's been fifteen years of history of parents figuring out what helps, and fifteen years of research on techniques that work with alcohol-affected kids. It's no longer true that nobody knows what to do, so you might as well ignore the diagnosis. (4/5/11)
What those with FASD offer society
From The Moose Jaw Times Herald: "Cognitive Disability Strategy behaviour consultant Karmen Krahn Schulties definitely believes Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is something society must fight to prevent. However, at the same time she believes people with FASD have unique abilities and offer much to a community." (9/15/10)
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Day
A post on the Support for Special Needs blog reminds me that today is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Day, scheduled annually on the ninth day of the ninth month to mark the nine months expectant mothers should abstain from drinking alcohol. For kids like my son for whom prevention is too late, I think the absolutely best advice I can give is to get a diagnosis early and take it seriously. (9/10/10)
"Anne of Green Gables" and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
The character of Anne Shirley in the children's classic Anne of Green Gables is spirited and impulsive, good-hearted but prone to getting herself into one scrape after another. That may sound like a spunky and appealing heroine to most readers, but to Helen Hoy, it sounds like a kid with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. (6/22/10)
A Couple More Reasons Not to Drink While Pregnant
Researchers found that, in addition to the neurological chaos we already knew about, drinking during pregnancy might cause leukemia. Not that a certain Real Housewife of New York gives a darn. (5/6/10)
Parents Sue Over Adoption of Russian Boy With Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
From Disability News: "A couple from Virginia Beach is suing Bethany Christian Services, an adoption agency, seeking compensation for the care of their Russian adoptive son, Roman. Chip and Julie Harshaw claim the agency misled them about Roman’s condition, describing him as 'a beautiful, healthy, on-target, blond-haired boy.'" (4/28/10)
Fetal alcohol disorders common in Eastern Europe adoptees
From Reuters: "In a study of 71 children adopted by Swedish families between 1993 and 1997, researchers found that 52 percent had developed a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or FASD." (4/14/10)
Prenatal exposure to alcohol dulls pain response in newborns
From Vancouver Sun: "Infants whose mothers consumed at least 14 drinks per week while pregnant or had been binge drinking before delivery did not react to the pain the way babies born to a control group of non-drinking moms did. (Heart rate, facial grimacing and other measures of pain were observed.)" (2/3/10)
Fatal Link
From Shanan Trail: "The author researched seven school shootings in Minnesota and Wisconsin. A 'prototype' profile for a person with FAS was used to determine whether or not the person responsible for committing a crime had behaviors typical of a person with FAS." (10/14/09)
Explaining Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder to Young Readers
A sister tells about her brother, his disability, and his service dog.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Often Overlooked, Advocates Say
From Disability News: "Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Awareness Day, held annually on the ninth day of the ninth month, seeks to draw attention to what many advocates call an 'invisible disability.'" (9/11/09)
Hunting ways to protect babies when mom drinks
From AP: "Drinking during pregnancy can seriously harm a baby's brain, yet thousands of mothers-to-be still do. Now scientists have begun testing whether a prenatal nutrient might offer those babies a little protection, part of a growing quest for ways to reverse the damage." (6/23/09)
Bootleg Brothers
From Shanan Trail: "In the case of FASD, common doesn't translate into visible. People affected prenatally by alcohol have invisible disabilities. They look normal; the facial anomolies seen in FASD are extremely subtle. The expectation becomes that they should respond and behave normally too." (6/8/09)
Genes May Alter Alcohol's Effect on Fetus
From HealthDay: "Study in mice could explain differing outcomes of drinking while pregnant." (4/23/09)
Dangerous Marginalization
From Shanan Trail: "Adults with atypical neurological development, developmental disabilities and mental illness are marginalized. They don't fit neatly and cleanly into the goals we have for our country." (2/24/09)
After a Troubled Start, a Child Blossoms
From the New York Times: "Cornell Wright, born 12 weeks premature to a woman who used alcohol and cocaine during her pregnancy, spent his first five months in a hospital, suffering complications that included a brain hemorrhage, hepatitis B infection and lung deficits." But years later, in high school, he's doing well. (1/27/09)