Today’s podcast reviews brain functioning and how it can be impacted by FASD. In order to truly understand FASD behaviors and interventions, one must truly understand how the brain works (at least the basics). Otherwise, we forget the FASD brain is injured and make those misattributions–and poor choices for interventions–that create worse outcomes… frustration, anger, [...]
Today’s podcast reviews useful metaphors and non-useful misattributions regarding FASD. The information is critical in re-tooling how people can think differently about FASD and FAS, and it is great information for those newer to, and experienced with, FASD. This is the first of a multi-part series edited from a workshop on the FASD Wheel (TM) [...]
The Fetal Alcohol Diagnostic Program (FADP), in Duluth, MN, spearheaded by the Executive Director, Jeanette Lang, and her crack team, has developed a way to harmonize the four diagnostic systems’ guidelines for measuring CNS damage viz-a-viz FASD evaluations and diagnosis. Their standardized approach is referred to as the Ten Brain Domains, which provides clear definitions of [...]
Each of the key features of FASD can vary widely across individuals exposed to prenatal alcohol. While consensus exists for the diagnosis of FAS across diagnostic systems (see last podcast), minor variations among the systems lead to differences in definitions and cut-off criteria for other diagnoses across the FASD continuum. The FASD conditions of Partial FAS [...]
Any Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is diagnosed by assessing the four key features that were first identified in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) in 1973. FAS requires a positive and severe finding in all four key features, but other FASD conditions may vary across a continuum of severity. FAS is the only expression of FASD that has [...]
History Sometimes, there are references bandied about that suggest the negative effects of fetal alcohol exposure have been known or documented in biblical or ancient Greek and Roman sources. These were first suggested in one of the first research articles on FAS (Jones, K.L., & Smith, D.W. (1973). Recognition of the fetal alcohol syndrome in [...]
Today’s episode covers the definition of FASD and attempts to clear up the confusing terminology that has been used in the past. In the show notes below, certain words that you may be interested in looking up are linked to Wikipedia for definitions. Just click on the word, and a new window will pop up [...]
This is a beginner’s bonus track – the second half of an interview conducted on-air by KDWA on December 5, 2006, with myself and Alice Garceau, an adoptive mother of an FASD child. Alice has been active in the FASD community for several years, runs a support group in the southern Twin Cities area, has [...]
This is a beginner’s bonus track – the first half of an interview conducted on-air by KDWA on December 5, 2006, with myself and Alice Garceau, an adoptive mother of an FASD child. Alice has been active in the FASD community for several years, runs a support group in the southern Twin Cities area, has [...]
This is the introductory podcast about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (frequently called by its initials FASD) and introduces the metaphor of the FASD Elephant(TM), a new way to think about this complicated disability, which results in permanent brain damage to a fetus when drinking alcohol during pregnancy. In this episode, Michael Harris, (a licensed psychologist [...]
