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Helping Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Related Conditions

A Clinician’s Overview

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The Effects of Parental Dysfunction on Children

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Abstract

This chapter presents an overview of the possible consequences for children born affected by maternal drinking during pregnancy, and discusses diagnosis, assessment, and intervention issues. A case history of Josie, a girl with FAS, is included in this chapter, and traces her story from birth to the start of middle school. Alcohol is a neurobehavioral teratogen—an agent that can cause defects in the structure and function of the developing central nervous system (CNS). Prenatal exposure to alcohol can interfere with the developing brain at many levels, altering its coordinated developmental schedule. As a result, alcohol exposure before birth can have long-term consequences for learning and behavior, and can potentially create lifelong disabilities. Alcohol effects are wide-ranging, occurring along a continuum. The most obvious impact is known as ‘fetal alcohol syndrome’ (FAS), while the partial expression of these problems has traditionally been known as ‘fetal alcohol effects’ (FAE) or, more recently, given labels such as ‘alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder’ (ARND).

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  1. Heather Carmichael Olson
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Robert J. McMahon

  2. Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

    Ray DeV. Peters

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Olson, H.C. (2002). Helping Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Related Conditions. In: McMahon, R.J., Peters, R.D. (eds) The Effects of Parental Dysfunction on Children. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1739-9_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1739-9_8

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