FASD News - 7/2021

CBC (Canada) - How My Teen With A Disability Is Teaching Me About Dignity
Dignity is defined as the state or quality of being worthy of honour or respect. It comes from the Latin dignitas, meaning worthy.
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News Medical - New research examines how alcohol exposure impacts aspects of neuroplasticity
It is now well accepted that the birth and integration of new neurons continue beyond development and into adulthood. New discoveries and insights on how alcohol impacts this and other plastic processes are discussed in "Alcohol and Neural Plasticity," a special issue of Brain Plasticity.
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Healthing - As kids with FASD turn 18, worry over support intensifies
Many families across the country are struggling to figure out what comes next for their adult child living with a developmental disability.
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Hello Sunday Morning - I didn’t know alcohol could harm my baby, before knowing I was pregnant
I conceived my first child at 30. I had been married for 4 years when I ceased my long-term use of the birth control pill. I continued to drink alcohol at weekends, socially, but knew about avoiding certain foods and to reduce my caffeine intake. I am well educated and had done my research. I didn’t want to completely change my lifestyle, as long as my approach was ‘safe’ for my developing baby.
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Eileen Devine - Tending Both Sides of the Parenting Coin
When I ask how you’re doing, knowing intimately what’s involved in parenting a child who requires massive amounts of your time and energy, the thing I am most curious and concerned about is how you are doing at a physiological, nervous-system level.
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CanFASD - Top FASD Research Articles of 2020
Announcing our list for the top FASD articles of 2020! Every January CanFASD does a literature search for research that was published within the previous year. This year the search revealed over 400 articles published on FASD in 2020.
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March of Dimes – Beyond Labels
Stigma may stop someone, including a pregnant woman, from accessing the health and support services they need.
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ABC News (Australia) - FASD has no cure and is often misdiagnosed, but there is hope and help for those affected
This is what happened to Jessica, who says there were clear signs she had issues throughout her childhood, but her symptoms were dismissed as phases she would grow out of.
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VIDEOS and MATERIALS
CanFASD - Identifying Best Practices for FASD Prevention, Intervention, and Support
More and more online opportunities for professional development are popping up in our increasingly virtual environment. Although there are lots of courses out there for specific professions, there are very few online learning opportunities for the range of professionals who work with people with FASD and women who are at risk of having a child with FASD.
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FASD Hub Australia - Meet Dr Nicole Hayes
Meet Dr Nicole Hayes, who is exploring the impact of sleep difficulties on children with FASD and their carers. She hopes this research will help identify ways we can support these children and families in their daily lives.
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FASD Hub Australia - Meet Dr Rebecca Pedruzzi
Meet Dr Rebecca Pedruzzi from the Telethon Kids Institute, whose research goal is to ensure women and their families are supported through effective public health campaigns to make the decision not to drink during pregnancy.
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Change.org - Recognition of FASD as a Disability in the QLD Education System
We are calling to recognise FASD as a disability under the QLD Education Adjustment Program (EAP) to give these kids the support they need. The lack of recognition of FASD as a disability is profoundly limiting the educational engagement of this vulnerable population.
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Adoption with Nyree - Could your ADOPTED child have fetal alcohol syndrome?
Adopting a child with fetal alcohol syndrome which is often undiagnosed and the common behaviours to expect. Many children with fetal alcohol syndrome go undiagnosed and unsupported throughout their lives. Here are some common behaviors for you to understand that may help you on your adoption journey as an adoptive family.
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Rural FASD Support Network - FASD Transitional Planning
Pateresa Winter of the Lakeland Centre for FASD in Cold Lake, Alberta share how they have provided transitional planning for youth and young adults with FASD for the past 12 years in a rural setting.
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Spotlight on FASD - Podcast Season 2, Episode 6 - Why Does Your Child With FASD Lie?
In this week's episode we open up the conversation around this very tricky aspect of living with FASD. So many parents, carers, teachers and other professionals really struggle with what feels like being lied to, we talk about what it really is and how we make the adjustments required to handle it.
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usgovACF - Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (audio description)
Parenting a child with a disorder on the fetal alcohol spectrum can present many challenges for foster and adoptive families. It is vital for these families and the professionals who support them to understand the reasons behind any learning and behavioral challenges so they—together—can “try differently.”
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FosterFamiliesNC - Introduction to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
Recent research has shown that 1 in 20 first graders have Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, but so few physicians, allied health professionals, and parents really know how this lifelong developmental disability manifests itself.
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AKCenterForResourceFamilies - FASD Across the Lifespan: Session 1 Introduction and Diagnosis
In Session one of the FASD Across the Lifespan Training Series, Marilyn Pierce-Bulger present information about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and prenatal alcohol exposure and details the diagnostic process in Alaska.
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Proof Alliance – Let's Have a Conversation
We appreciate you joining us in having an important talk about fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, or FASD. FASD occurs when a baby is exposed to alcohol in the womb, leading to lifelong brain injury, among many other potential conditions.
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AUCD FASD SIG - Services and Supports for Adults with FASD
When children with disabilities become adults, there is a significant reduction in services and supports available. For individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), however, that loss of services is even more dramatic.
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Elephant In The Room – Podcast: Caring for those with FASD
Talking about raising and caring for individuals with FASD. The trials, the tribulations...the love.
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RESEARCH
Global Pediatric Health - Institutionalized Children and the Risk of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD); A Primer for Clinicians, Adoption Staff and Parents
A large proportion of adopted institutionalized children may not follow a normal developmental trajectory. If not afflicted by FASD, there is a positive impact of adoption on children’s cognitive development and in general they are comparable to their non- adopted peers.
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Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability - “It’s ignorant stereotypes”: Key stakeholder perspectives on stereotypes associated with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, alcohol, and pregnancy
Our results align with research about difficult experiences of FASD stakeholders. However, while Canadian news analyses found people with FASD portrayed as criminals, our participants identified mostly non-crime stereotypes. Participants also sometimes shifted the burden of motherhood stereotypes from low-income to higher-income women.
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Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada - Perspectives of Canadian Health Care Providers on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: A brief report exploring 15 years
The findings from these surveys may inform the development of ongoing educational initiatives to help HCPs with screening for alcohol use during pregnancy and early diagnosis and prevention of FASD.
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European Journal of Paediatric Neurology - Evidence-based interventions for children and adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders – A systematic review
There are only a few randomized-controlled trials regarding therapy research for children and adolescents with FASD. Evidence-based intervention studies indicate that especially the combination of parent and child sessions present a promising approach for the treatment of FASD.
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Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research - Estimated Prevalence of Harmful Alcohol Consumption in Pregnant and Non‐pregnant Women in Saxony‐Anhalt (North‐East Germany) Using Biomarkers
Estimated prevalence rates differ greatly with respect to the biomarkers and cut‐offs used. The isolated measurement of CDT/%CDT might result in an overestimation of harmful alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
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Journal of Neuroscience Research - Ethanol modulation of cerebellar neuroinflammation in a postnatal mouse model of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are alarmingly common, result in significant personal and societal loss, and there is no effective treatment for these disorders.
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BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth - Barriers and enablers of implementation of alcohol guidelines with pregnant women: a cross-sectional survey among UK midwives
Our results suggest that skill development and reinforcement of support from colleagues and the wider maternity system could support midwives’ implementation of alcohol advice at each antenatal appointment, not just at booking could lead to improved outcomes for women and infants.
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Plos one - Protective factors against tobacco and alcohol use among pregnant women from a tribal nation in the Central United States
Identifying social determinants of tobacco and alcohol use during pregnancy is critical to improving health outcomes for the next generation. This is especially important on a rural Tribal Nation where influences such as isolation, cultural barriers, and historical trauma have made it uniquely challenging to prevent substance use during pregnancy.
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Children - Maternal Tobacco and Alcohol Use in Relation to Child Malnutrition in Gauteng, South Africa: A Retrospective Analysis
This study determined the association between maternal tobacco and alcohol use, and malnutrition, among infants aged ≤ 12 months (n = 300), in selected health facilities situated in Gauteng, South Africa.
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Molecular Medicine Reports - Prenatal ethanol exposure impairs the formation of radial glial fibers and promotes the transformation of GFAPδ‑positive radial glial cells into astrocytes
During embryonic cortical development, radial glial cells (RGCs) are the major source of neurons, and these also serve as a supportive scaffold to guide neuronal migration. Similar to Vimentin, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is one of the major intermediate filament proteins present in glial cells.
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Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research - Phosphatidylethanol as Blood Biomarker of Alcohol Consumption in Early Pregnancy: An Observational Study in 4067 Pregnant Women
In an unselected pregnant population in Norway 1.4 % had a positive PEth sample around gestational week 12 whereas 0.4% had a positive sample around week 24. The use of PEth as an alcohol biomarker should be further investigated as a possible diagnostic tool in the antenatal setting.
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BMC Psychiatry - Magnitude and associated factors of substance use among pregnant women attending antenatal care in public hospitals of eastern Ethiopia
The magnitude of antenatal substance use in the study area was 26.5%. Pre- pregnancy substance use, partner substance use, monthly house hold income and family substance use were found to be positively associated with substance use during pregnancy.
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Child Maltreatment - Prenatal Substance Exposure and Child Maltreatment: A Systematic Review
State and federal policies regarding substance use in pregnancy, specifically whether a notification to child protective services is required, continue to evolve. To inform practice, policy, and future research, we sought to synthesize and critically evaluate the existing literature regarding the association of prenatal substance exposure with child maltreatment.
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Drug and Alcohol Dependence - Timing of mortality in mothers with recurrent convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol and their children, from childbirth to child age 17
Severe maternal AUD, as characterized by rDUI, increases the risk for child mortality over that of Controls through age 17. Delays in rDUI maternal mortality until child age 6 may indicate a period when maternal referral for intervention to reduce harm to child and mother is likely to be especially effective.
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Public health nursing - Intimate partner violence, prenatal stress, and substance use among pregnant Black women
Perceived stress during pregnancy partially mediated the association between previous experience of IPV and marijuana use among pregnant Black women. Interventions are needed to reduce IPV that would lower stress during pregnancy and consequently substance abuse to improve pregnancy outcomes and maternal and newborn health.
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Public Health Reports - Discordance Between Perinatal Alcohol Use Among Women and Provider Counseling for Alcohol Use: An Assessment of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System
Disparities in alcohol counseling occurred despite the national recommendation for universal screening and counseling prenatally. Continued integration of universal screening for alcohol use during pregnancy is needed.
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