Think Once, Think Twice, Think FASD – Better Understand Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Now!
Each key feature 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 (PFAS) … Read more
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 … Read more
History The earliest known observation of possible links between maternal alcohol use and fetal damage may have been made in 1899 by Dr. William Sullivan, a Liverpool prison physician who noted higher rates of stillbirth for 120 alcoholic female prisoners than their sober female relatives and suggested the causal agent to be alcohol use (Sullivan, 1899). … Read more
Today’s episode covers the definiton of FASD and attempts to clear up the confusing terminology that has been used in the past. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) describes a continuum of permanent birth defects caused by maternal consumption of alcohol during pregnancy. Maternal alcohol crosses the placental barrier and can stunt fetal growth or weight, … Read more
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. It was a good interview, and we continued with many FASD topics. If you haven’t heard part one, go ahead and download it … Read more
This is an introductory bonus track – the first half of an interview conducted on-air by KDWA on December 5, 2006, with Alice Garceau, an adoptive mother of an FASD child, and myself. Alice has been active in the FASD community for several years, runs a support group in the southern Twin Cities area, has … Read more
This is the introductory FASD podcast about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (frequently called by its acronym, FASD) and introduces the metaphor of the FASD Elephant™, 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 … Read more