Proposal: Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome present multiple challenges to adoptive and foster parents. This presentation will focus on the importance of clinical therapeutic interventions to improve behavior management, parent-child relationships, child outcomes, and marital issues. Rational: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome refers to conditions created through the exposure of a fetus to the alcohol intake of his mother, including, alcohol-related neurological disorder (ARND), and alcohol –related birth defects (ARBD). FASD affects children from all ethnic groups and socio-economic backgrounds impacting both family and child. FASD creates developmental impairment that cannot be normalized but can be improved with appropriate clinical interventions, to help caregivers, educators and health professional understand that the child’s unique needs. Increase accurate knowledge and awareness prevents misinterpretations of the child’s behavior and helps avoid inappropriate discipline and punishment. Summary: FASD symptoms are not always detected or understood by the family. Recognizing the syndrome and diagnosing it correctly can be helpful to individual at any age. Adoptive/Foster Parents can be isolated, stressed, confused, overwhelmed, while struggling with daily issues and situations. Therefore, adequate education, support and training together with protection from negative child raring environment can make the different between achieving a reasonable degree of independence and life satisfaction.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Family
General public, Professionals