What is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder?
- Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) is an umbrella term describing the range of effects that can occur in an individual whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. This may include physical abnormalities, sensory integration variables (how we “filter and feel” information), learning disabilities and/or behavioural issues with lifelong implications.
- It is referred to as organic brain injury because it was caused by something (such as alcohol, virus, or DNA issue) that altered the normal development of the fetus during pregnancy.
- Diagnoses within FASD are medical diagnoses, not a psychiatric or psychological disorder. As it encompasses the entire body, including the brain, it is considered a whole body disorder.
- It is a permanent brain injury/dysfunction that the individual will not “grow out of.”
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