BBC -
Foetal alcohol syndrome: Why fathers
need to watch what they drink too
A father's alcohol consumption has long been overshadowed by the focus on
what a mother drinks. But that could be about to change following new research.
Read more
The Conversation (New Zealand) - Heavy
drinking in NZ is dropping – but not fast enough to stop the brutal legacy of
fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
Rates of heavy drinking in Aotearoa New Zealand are starting to decline,
matching trends seen in Europe. This may reflect greater awareness of the harm
caused by alcohol, as well as financial pressures and the reduced affordability
of alcohol products.
Read more
The Mandarin (Australia) - Prevention or
patch-up? Individual responsibility for FASD doesn’t make sense
There is a curious statement on page 105 of the current Australian Dietary
Guidelines published by the National Health and Medical Research Council: Foetal
alcohol syndrome is also still present in some Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander communities.
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NITV (Australia) - Kit the Koala: the
mob-made animation destigmatising and embracing neurodivergence
The project, a two-part animated series developed by Hewlett and the Strong
Mothers group at Carbal Aboriginal Medical Service in Toowoomba, follows the
adventures of Kit the Koala, who lives with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
(FASD).
Read more
The Sarnia Observer (Canada) - Sarnia
committee raising awareness of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
Too few Canadians know the impact fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)
can have, says Sarnia’s Katie Paquette.
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Irish Examiner (Ireland) - Support services
suspended in Clare for families of people with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder
Among the indicators of FASD are ADHD, low body weight, poor co-ordination,
poor memory, attention difficulties, difficulties in school, and learning
disabilities.
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CBC (Canada) - New CK treatment centre
should lower wait times for kids with autism, FASD, province says
Kids who need access to services for autism, fetal alcohol spectrum
disorder and physiotherapy should have shorter wait times in the future now
that the province has broken ground on a larger building for them.
Read more
AIHW (Australia) - Australia's mothers and
babies
The consumption of alcohol is widespread within Australia and entwined with
many social and cultural activities. Alcohol consumption in pregnancy can lead
to poorer perinatal outcomes including low birthweight, being small for
gestational age, pre-term birth and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)
(NHMRC 2020).
Read more
VIDEOS and MATERIALS
THE EMPOWERED FILMMAKER - What's it like to have FASD? - Dakota Omoth
A short film by Dakota Omoth that sheds light into their lived experience
with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). This film was made as a part of
the Empowered Filmmaker in Grande Prairie, Alberta.
Read more
FASDSUCCESS - Top 10 Tips Parents Want
Educators to Know about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome(FASD)
The top 10 things educators need to know about FASD are from the caregivers
who live it daily. We’ll cover everything from how to adapt teaching methods to
meet the unique needs of these students to the importance of positive
reinforcement and extra supervision during school transitions.
Read more
FASD United (formerly NOFAS) - Glimpses of
FASD - Meet MJ
FASD United is excited to launch “Glimpses of FASD,” an exciting new short
video initiative featuring individuals living with FASD sharing their own
stories in their own words. The videos are a great way for people to learn more
about FASDs and what it’s like to live with them in just a few minutes.
Read more
Patricia Kasper, Your FASD Coach - Finding
Identity: Adoption and FASD
In this episode of "Living with FASD," host Patti Kasper is
joined by Dr. Susan Rich and Dr. Jack Rocco for an insightful discussion on the
intersections of adoption, trauma, and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).
Read more
Patricia Kasper, Your FASD Coach - From
Rupture to Repair: Healing FASD Family Dynamics with Antonia LIndsey
In this episode of Living with FASD, host Patti Kasper welcomes back
Antonia Lindsay, a renowned therapist and art therapist, for an in-depth
discussion on navigating life with FASD. They delve into the complexities of
maintaining relationships within families affected by neurodiversity, focusing
on the themes of rupture, repair, and regroup.
Read more
FASD Embraced - Experts Define Fetal
Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)
Conservative estimates are that 1 in 20 children have an FASD. That makes
this condition more prevalent than Autism Spectrum Disorder, yet few are
familiar with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. The world needs to know.
Read more
The Battles We Pick - Fetal alcohol
spectrum advocate Sandra Ionno Butcher on bringing diverse stakeholders
together fo...
Sandra Ionno Butcher has been chief executive of the National Organisation
for FASD for six and a half years—and active in efforts on behalf of the Fetal
Alcohol Spectrum Disorder for nearly a decade—after spending the bulk of her
career advocating for nuclear disarmament.
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RESEARCH
Disability and Health Journal - Fetal alcohol syndrome and population level
health care usage in British Columbia, Canada
These findings indicate that youth with FAS require urgent attention for
each of the medically-related variables included in this study. The need for
attention to their health care needs may increase as these youth transition
from pediatric to adult health care services.
Read more
Drug and Alcohol Review - Identifying and
responding to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in child and family health:
Lessons from an exploratory mixed methods study
Health workers in this study requested high-quality training and the
development of FASD practice guidelines to improve role clarity and clinical
impact when working with FASD populations.
Read more
Gene - Genetic admixture predictors of
fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) in a South African population
Our findings indicate that the SACC population may be a valuable asset to
identify novel disease-associated genetic loci for FASD and other diseases.
Read more
bioRxiv - Ethanol exposure model in
zebrafish causes phenotypic, behavioral and gene expression changes that mimic
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in human birth cohorts
We conclude that the zebrafish model effectively mimics several FASD
phenotypes observed in humans, confirming gene expression changes we have
previously documented in a human observational study and providing a valuable
platform for exploring the underlying mechanisms of alcohol-induced embryonic
alterations and for developing diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets for
early intervention.
Read more
Children - First Description of a Large
Clinical Series of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Children and Adolescents in
Reunion Island, France
Children with FASDs combine significant vulnerabilities, associating
exposure to alcohol during the preconception and/or the prenatal period,
prematurity, complex familial and sociocultural living conditions, and a
genetic anomaly in almost a quarter of cases.
Read more
OSF - FASD: Where we have come from,
trends, and future directions
People with FASD have many strengths, which are often overlooked in
research. They have been described as skilled musicians, artists and
sportspeople with wide vocabularies who are resilient, compassionate,
hardworking, and kind. Increasing attention is being paid to FASD but this is
not enough.
Read more
The American Journal of Occupational Therapy -
Knowledge of Occupational Therapists in Child Development Units:
Implications for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis and Treatment
This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and awareness of Occupational
Therapists (OTs) in child development units about dangers of alcohol
consumption during pregnancy and the characteristics of children with Fetal
Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).
Read more
bioRxiv - Deliberative Behaviors and
Prefrontal-Hippocampal Coupling are Disrupted in a Rat Model of Fetal Alcohol
Spectrum Disorders
Together, these findings indicate that third trimester AE disrupts mPFC-HPC
oscillatory interactions and choice behaviors.
Read more
BMJ Journals - Initial health assessments
of children looked after: health needs snapshot with emphasis on risk of foetal
alcohol spectrum disorders
The survey provided a valuable snapshot of the local CLA population which
will support the commissioning of services. It highlighted the need for ongoing
data capture of health issues. A particular spotlight was thrown on the lack of
easily available information on PAE and a consistent diagnostic and management
pathway for FASD.
Read more
Adler University - The Prevalence and
Association of Biopsychosocial Factors With Maternal Alcohol Use During
Pregnancy in Canada: A Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis
Research on FASD prevalence varies widely between countries, highlighting
the need for country-specific data to inform effective alcohol legislation. In
Canada, prevalence estimates are outdated, necessitating an update.
Read more
Children - A Population-Based Study on
Women Who Used Alcohol during Pregnancy and Their Neonates in Ontario, Canada
It is crucial to routinely screen childbearing-age and pregnant women for
alcohol and other substance use as well as mental health problems in order to
prevent adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes.
Read more
Substance Use & Addiction Journal - Cross-Site
Evaluation of Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention Implementation Programs
in Healthcare Systems Serving Individuals of Reproductive Age
Maximizing the use of technology, employing flexibility in program
delivery, and institutionalizing processes and protocols improved workflow,
efficiency, and program reach.
Read more
Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience - Prenatal Tobacco and Alcohol Exposure,
White Matter Microstructure, and Early Language Skills in Toddlers from a South
African Birth Cohort
Tobacco and alcohol are the two most common substances used during
pregnancy, and both can disrupt neurodevelopment, resulting in cognitive and
behavioural deficits including language difficulties. Previous studies show
that children with prenatal substance exposure exhibit microstructural
alterations in major white matter pathways, though few studies have
investigated the impact of prenatal substance exposure on white matter
microstructure and language skills during the toddler years.
Read more
Alcohol - The
Effects of Moderate Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on Performance in
Hippocampal-Sensitive Spatial Memory and Anxiety Tasks by Adult Male and Female
Rat Offspring
The results suggest that moderate prenatal alcohol exposure does not have a
considerable effect on retention of spatial information, but produces a general
reduction in anxiety-like behaviors in the elevated plus-maze.
Read more
Frontiers in
Computational Neuroscience - Deep Learning for Detecting Prenatal Alcohol
Exposure in Pediatric Brain MRI: A Transfer Learning Approach with
Explainability Insights
Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) refers to the exposure of the developing
fetus due to alcohol consumption during pregnancy and can have life-long
consequences for learning, behavior, and health.
Read more
Drug and Alcohol
Review - Screening and early intervention for substance use during
pregnancy: A retrospective case note review of antenatal care records
Despite longstanding recommendations, screening and intervention practices
for substance use appear inconsistent. With the recent emergence of vaping, no
evidence of updated approaches to identifying e-cigarette consumption in
pregnant women was found.
Read more
OSF - Contextualized
Effects of Maternal Cannabis During Pregnancy on Childhood Alcohol Sipping in
the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Project
PCE effects on adolescent alcohol sipping are indirect and are confounded
with maternal behaviors before and during pregnancy.
Read more
Journal of Studies on
Alcohol and Drugs - The relationship between alcohol availability and
drink-driving policies and admissions to substance use disorder treatment
during pregnancy
Restrictions on grocery store spirits sales and BAC laws were associated
with lower and higher alcohol treatment admission rates among pregnant people,
respectively, suggesting general population alcohol policies are relevant for
pregnant people’s treatment utilization.
Read more
Substance Use &
Addiction Journal - Identifying Patients at Risk for Alcohol-Exposed
Pregnancies: The Importance of Addressing Multiple Risk Factors
There is a need for system modifications to assess multiple behaviors
simultaneously and alert providers when a combination of behaviors increases a
specific health risk, such as an AEP.
Read more
Alcohol: Clinical and
Experimental Research - The international prevalence of prenatal alcohol use
obtained via meconium biomarkers: A systematic literature review
This review assesses both the international prevalence of PAU obtained
using meconium biomarkers in general maternity populations and, when feasible,
the level of agreement between meconium biomarkers and self-reported PAU.
Read more
Alcohol, Clinical and
Experimental Research - Trends in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder research:
A bibliometric review of original articles published between 2000 and 2023
FASD remains considerably under-researched. While there has been an
increase in the number of original FASD research articles published annually
over time, this is much lower than expected compared to publication trends for
other neurodevelopmental conditions, and the wider scientific literature.
Read more
Alcohol, Clinical and
Experimental Research - Assessing and supporting children and young people
with probable or diagnosed fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: The experience of
clinicians working within child and adolescent mental health services
This model provides new insights into the barriers and facilitators CAMHS
clinicians experience when assessing and supporting CYP with probable or
diagnosed FASD, highlighting key clinical implications.
Read more
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