FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME FETAL ALCOHOL EFFECTS

1
FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME / FETAL ALCOHOL EFFECTS

• Presentation

2
PRESENTATION AGENDA

• Background of Project
• What is FAS/FAE?
• Describing Common Learning and Behavioral
  Characteristics
• Strategies for Learning

3
TIMELINES AND FAS/FAE

• People with FAS / FAE may present a complex
  portrait of competencies and delays. It is not
  uncommon to encounter a mix of abilities and lags
  in any one person. The profile of maturation and
  strengths varies significantly between people
  with FAS / FAE. This chart is intended to provide
  a visual cue for gaps which may be masked by
  abilities (i.e., emotional dysmaturity may be
  hidden by strong expressive language skills.)

4
Timelines FAS/FAE Continued

• It is when the expectation that a person is on
  time when they are actually developmentally much
  younger that conflict develops. Why dont you
  act your age! and Grow up are common comments
  which reflect frustration where immaturity has
  not been recognized as part of a normal
  variability in development. One parent said her
  feeling about her child changed after she was
  reminded to Think younger.

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Actual Age of Individual 18

• SKILL DEVELOPMENTAL AGE EQUIVALENT
• Expressive Language
  20
• Comprehension 6
• Money, time concepts 8
• Emotional Maturity 6
• Physical Maturity
  18
• Reading Ability
  16
• Social Skills 7
• Living Skills 11
• 0 5
  10 15 20 25
• Chronological Age

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ATTENTIONAL DIFFICULTIES

• A student with FAS/E may experience difficulty
  with
• being over and under-responsive to stimuli,
• remaining seated, fidgeting or squirming, and/or
• acting without thinking.

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STRATEGIES FOR CLASSROOM TEACHERS

• Teach the student to use self-talk to help stay
  focused (e.g., The first thing I have to do
  is) and to curb impulsive behavior (e.g. Stop
  and Think). Model this behavior in order to
  encourage the student to do this.
• Teach the student to curb impulsive behavior by
  knowing how to initiate action, when to initiate
  action, and how to inhibit behaviors until things
  are thought through.
• Use concrete reinforcements or reminders (e.g.,
  the use of stop hand-signals) to help the student
  change problematic behavior such as calling out
  in class.

8
Strategies for Classroom Teachers Continued...

• Consequences for inappropriate behavior need to
  be immediate.
• A student who needs the stimulation of movement
  could do some activities, such as reading, in a
  rocking chair.
• Try meeting the need for physical stimulation by
  taping sandpaper to the underside of the desk or
  attaching a squeezing (and strength-increasing)
  ball to the desk.
• Some students are calmed by quiet background
  music.
• Arrange a quiet area to use when distractions
  are too great.
• Rhythmic activities such as choral reading,
  spelling and math chants are effective at holding
  attention.

9
Strategies for Classroom Teachers Continued...

• Establish a signal to indicate frustration.
• Teaching concepts through music can be effective.
• Make each activity brief.
• Ask the student for feedback about helpful
  leaning behaviors and not-so-helpful learning
  behaviors. For example, What can we do to make
  this work? and If this was not helpful, why
  not?

10
CAUSE AND EFFECT THINKING

• A student with FAS/E may experience difficulty
  with
• Understanding consequences and what they are for,
• generalizing behavior from one setting to
  another,
• predicting outcomes of different behaviors in new
  settings, and/or
• working within a rigid and egocentric notion of
  what is fair.

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STRATEGIES FOR CLASSROOM TEACHERS

• Take time to talk with the child with FAS/E - you
  will find out how the child thinks. This can
  help you decide on what to do to help the student
  to formulate an appropriate strategy.
• Decide what is most important and what is within
  the control of the child ignore the rest.

• Be as consistent as possible in imposing
  consequences, make them as immediate as possible
  and remind the student what the consequences are
  for.

12
Strategies for Classroom Teachers Continued...

• Help the student problem solve Where did the
  problem start?, What did I do?, Who did I
  affect?, What else could I have done?, and
  What else could I do next time? Write down
  what is said so that the student can follow the
  course of the conversation.
• Help the student take another persons point of
  view.
• Consider the students verbal and memory
  limitations in working through an incident with
  the student and deciding what the consequences
  should be.
• Anticipate and prevent problems through close
  supervision or partnering with peers (i.e., buddy
  system, peer tutor).