The Important Basics
Understand the strong emotions faced by families living with FASD. Our knowledge, beliefs, judgment, and personal issues around alcohol influence our interactions with families.
-Mary Lou Canney was awarded
Alaska’s Department of Mental Health
“Parent of the Year” award.
A recovering alcoholic and
single mother,he struggled to
rear her children, including
Ryan with FASD.
Alaska’s Department of Mental Health
“Parent of the Year” award.
A recovering alcoholic and
single mother,he struggled to
rear her children, including
Ryan with FASD.
- A crucial step in developing successful programming for a student with FASD is to understand how the effect of alcohol spreads beyond the child to affect the entire family. The educator who sees the student in the context of family, and creates a connection with that family, builds a foundation for long-term educational success.
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- Realize that children, like adults, do the best they can with the understanding they have. When they repeatedly make the same mistakes, you need to take a different approach
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- Put structures in place for success, and teach habit patterns as the pathway to understanding. The need for structure is life-long for a person with FASD.
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Some basic accommodations include:
- Adequate levels of supervision
- Use of structure and routine
- Use of language that is appropriate to the child’s learning profile and learning style.
- Adequate levels of supervision
- Use of structure and routine
- Use of language that is appropriate to the child’s learning profile and learning style.
- Consider misbehaviours in students with FASD (such as inattention and lying) as coming from lack of understanding, rather than non-compliance.
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- Leave nothing to chance or guesswork. You need to be very specific with students with FASD. Think how you would address this subject with very young children. Be very direct.
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- Talk to students with FASD so they understand
- Use concrete language. - Understand the role that memory plays in a student’s ability to learn and to sustain a consistent level of performance. |