Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
After spending more and more time researching Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, it is becoming clear to me, my husband, and Arie's doctors that this is, in fact, the culprit to his lack of growth, feeding issues, difficulty sleeping, mild delays, and raging tantrums. He fits the mold perfectly.
While I'm super sad to know that this could have been prevented, I'm happy to at least have an EXPLANATION for his behaviors. I feel like now we have a starting point and we know which direction to take with help and therapy. Although Arie's birth mom drank alcohol during her pregnancy I hold no ill feelings toward her of course. In fact, we were open to alcohol exposure. Perhaps she was unaware of the possible outcome of repeated alcohol use, or perhaps it is social custom, perhaps she needed to drink to cope with her life situation at that time... who knows. All I know is that I'm blessed to be the one to love him daily and help him learn to work with his issues.
Anyway, I'm trying to find some good books to read about FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder), FAE (Fetal Alcohol Effects), or ARND (Alcohol Related Neuro-Deficits). Any good links about this would be appreciated too! Also, are there other families out there coping with this?? I realize that some of you may want to keep this part of your child's "story" private, but I tend to look at it with a medical perspective. After all, it's a diagnosis that can effect many aspects of a persons life. I also don't think it's something to be ashamed of or hidden. I think it would be great if the families coping with this diagnosis could talk/ share stories/ share ideas and learn from each other!
posted by Ryan | 9/08/2007 10:54:00 PM
3 Comments:
We adopted two children with FASD (one has ARND and one has pFAS). I have a blog at thoughtspreserved.blogspot.com and I write a lot about our journey with FASD.
"Damaged Angels" by Bonnie Buxton is a book you might want to read. ~Kari
I don't know where in the US you live, but the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore (kennedykrieger.org), associated with the Johns Hopkins Hospital, is a wonderful facility for people helping their kids with neurological disorders. They have a FAS clinic and - get this! - an international adoption clinic! How perfect is that?? They also have inpatient and outpatient feeding programs. Check them out.
Hey thanks for sharing. I nanny for a family who adopted a girl who has been diagnosed w/ FAE. They didn't tell me until, oh, 4 months into the job that that was her diagnosis. I think knowing that has helped me some in dealing with her behavioral issues. I wish they had told me earlier and that they would let the teachers and other people who care for her know and that it would come into the open. As much as I want to treat her like a normal kid, I need to make more exceptions for her, and explain things a million times for her to understand. She was also FTT when the parents went to get her and she pulled through just fine.
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