Trouble with Memory?

Don’t forget to check out this month’s FASD Learning Series webcast: “Cognitive Interventions to Improve Memory” Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012. 9-11 AM.

Topics to be discussed:

• Research on FASD memory interventions
• Memory interventions in other clinical populations, and their implications for FASD
• Specific intervention strategies
• Evidence based practice
• Application of research

 Register now to attend the FREE live webcast.

Check out the FASD Learning Series page on the Alberta Centre for Child, Family, & Community Research website to watch videos of past presentations and check for upcoming webcasts.

In the News Again: FASD and the Justice System

The word is out! FASD in the justice system is a hot topic.  The topic seems to have caught the attention of researchers, reporters, and intervention programs, with numerous recent research studies, news articles, and interventions highlighting the issue. The Edmonton Journal published an article about FASD and justice on January 22, revealing one man’s experiences with FASD and the law, which follows a general trend experience by many individuals with FASD. The article discusses the gaps in our system when working with offenders with FASD. Our system punishes criminals with the assumption that offenders will learn from the consequences of their actions. Individuals with FASD often lack the ability to learn from consequence and experience, which causes repeat offences, as is the case with the individual in the article.

The article quotes a number of experts suggesting that we need to find a new way of dealing with individuals with FASD after they commit an offence and an effective way of diverting them from committing an offence in the first place. The problem lies in HOW to divert/correct criminal behaviour within this population. For the man in the article, intervention came in the form of a supportive partner, an understanding neuropsychologist who encouraged healthy practices, and an advocacy program at Edmonton’s Bissell Centre. 

The Bissell Centre is an agency aimed at eliminating poverty in the community. The centre hosts and number of programs and resources with the goal of self sustainability, community participation, and daily needs being met for their clients.

Read the full article

For some previous posts about FASD and the criminal justice system, check out “FASD Interventions on CBC Radio” and “FASD and Criminal Justice Interventions“.

Trouble with Language?

Don’t forget to check out this month’s FASD Learning Series webcast: “Cognitive Interventions to Improve Language Skills” Jan 25, 2012. 9-11 AM.

Topics to be discussed:

• Research on FASD language interventions
• Language interventions in other clinical populations, and their implications for FASD
• Specific intervention strategies
• Evidence based practice
• Application of research

 Register now to attend the FREE live webcast.

Check out the FASD Learning Series page on the Government of Alberta’s website to watch videos of past presentations and check for upcoming webcasts.

New Research Article on FASD Intervention

The American Journal  of Occupational Therapy recently published an article on FASD entitled Neurocognitive Habilitation Therapy for Children With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: An Adaptation of the Alert Program by Wells et. al.

The authors carried out a neurocognitive habilitation group therapy with the goal of  increasing self-regulation in kids with FASD. The therapy consisted of a 12 week program using techniques adapted from the Alert Program, in which children learn to identify their state of regulation by recognizing when they are over-aroused (their engine is running “too high”), under-aroused (their engine is running “too low”), or at an optimal state of alertness (their engine is running “just right”). The program incorporated a family/caregiver education component, traumatic brain injury treatment strategies, and self-regulation strategies for the child based on their arousal level and situational factors.

Difficulties with self-regulation tie into executive function (higher level cognitive functions, such as inhibition, problem solving, attention, planning, etc) which is a common area of impairment in individuals with FASD. The overall goal of the study was to “improve executive functioning skills and emotional regulation related to the children’s home and school environment”. The Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), a parent questionnaire, was used to measure executive function behaviours, and the Roberts Apperception Test for Children (RATC) was used to measure the child’s problem solving skills by assessing the child’s interpretation of common interpersonal situations.

Both measures showed significant improvements in the group of children who received the intervention over those who did not reveal the intervention. This could indicate that neurocognitive habilitation therapy can improve executive functioning and emotional problem solving skills in children with FASD. This finding is particularly valuable because the intervention was performed in a group setting, which is much more akin to real life than a clinical one-on-one setting. The child’s home and school environments generally contain many other people, with numerous stimuli and distractions. The neurocognitive habilitation program creates a group setting and teaches children to get in touch with internal indicators of dysregulation in order to manage their emotional regulation in the presence of external stimuli and distractions.

Read the full article here.

Adoption Support in New Brunswick

Telegraph Journal, an online media source from New Brunswick, recently published an article about the New Brunswick Adoption Foundation’s “Peer-to-Peer Adoption Support Network”.

The article speaks to some of the challenges involved in adopting a child, and more specifically, a child who has come out of the foster care system. As most of our readers already know, many individuals with FASD end up in foster and adoptive families.

Research has shown that raising a child with FASD can have a significant impact on the family. Also, as the article states, parents can be the biggest advocate for their children; especially a child with special needs. The difficulties of raising a child with FASD, compounded by the stresses involved with adoption and the need to create a stable supportive home environment, can create a huge need for support in adoptive families.

The “Peer-to-Peer Adoption Support Network” in New Brunswick is here to help! The support network is geared toward those who have adopted children out of foster care. A network of volunteers connects adoptive families with resources and other families who have been through the same process. The support network is in an 18 month pilot project phase in 3 counties in New Brunswick, with hopes of expansion.

The Telegraph Journal has recently changed its article access to subscription only, but you can read the full article on “fasdnews” through Yahoo! Groups.

Don’t live in New Brunswick? Check out “Canada Adopts” for other adoptive and foster parent support groups in Canada.

References:

Morrissette, P. J. (2001). Fetal alcohol syndrome: parental experiences and the role of family counsellors. The Qualitative Report, 6 (2). Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/ssss/QR/QR6-2/morrissette.html

Olson, H. C., Oti, R. Gelo J. & Beck, S. (2009). “Family matters:” fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and the family. Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 15(3), 235-49.

Original article source: http://www.canadaeast.com/rss/article/1459551

Happy Holidays

The holiday season can lead to lots of excitement (and sometimes stress and dysregulation, too). Check out these tips for the holidays and tips for staying warm from the Edmonton Fetal Alcohol Network.

Source: http://edmontonfetalalcoholnetwork.wordpress.com/

Reminder:

Don’t forget to check out the Government of Alberta FASD Cross Ministry Committee Learning Series‘ new webcast on Transition Planning, December 14th!

Register now

Previous Learning Series videos are available on the FASD Learning Series website.

Ontario

I spoke with a caregiver from Ontario at the Alberta FASD conference last week. She was raising a young girl with FASD, and was coming to Alberta to learn about resources and strategies because she felt there just wasn’t enough support in Ontario.

Then, just yesterday, I spoke with a masters student from Toronto who is doing her thesis in FASD research. We got to talking about conferences and workshops on the west side of Canada, and she was surprised with how many FASD specific events there were going on in the west. She said that there didn’t seem to be that same kind of focus in Ontario.

After hearing the same feedback from two people in Ontario within several days, this article from CBC News caught my eye:

The article refers to a conference organized by the Anishinabek Nation: Union of Ontario Indians beginning tomorrow in Sudbury.  

Information on speakers and topics can be found on the conference poster.

Other Ontario FASD Intervention News:

Funding for Peterborough:

$83,400 Trillium grant to fund fetal alcohol spectrum disorder services in Peterborough area for two-year period

Support:

For Ontario caregivers who might be feeling the same lack of support as the mother I spoke with at the conference, the FASD Ontario Network of Expertise provides some great resources and information and has a page listing support groups across the province.

To our Ontario Readers:

This blog is a place for information sharing. We encourage you to ask questions and share your stories.

Caregivers: Please feel free to share information about any helpful agencies or services you have accessed in the province.

Service providers: Do you work with individuals with FASD in the province of Ontario? Comment on the post and let Ontario families know you are out there!

A Few Workshops

In addition to the Alberta FASD Conference Nov 21-22 mentioned in last week’s post, here are a few more FASD and intervention related events happening in October:

The Chatham Kent Public Health Unit in Ontario will be putting on a 1 Day FASD Workshop

When: October 20, 2011
Where: Chatham, Ontario

The workshop will feature talks from Bonnie Buxton and Brian Philcox, parents of a child with FASD and founders of FASworld Canada. Buxton and Philcox will speak about FASD facts and issues, how FASD affects our community, and potential solutions.

***

The Government of Alberta’s FASD Cross-Ministry committee provides a series of free webcasts in their FASD Learning Series.

When: Next webcast is October 26, 2011
Where: Online

 This month’s webcast is Safety Planning for the Service Provider. Teresa O’Riordan, Executive Director of NWC Alberta FASD Network provides “safety tips for front-line workers, managers and organizations working with persons affected by FASD.”

***

The Crisis and Trauma Resource Institute will be putting on several workshops in  cities across Canada this fall.

Relevant topics include:

Substance Abuse and Youth- Creating Opportunities for Change
Self-Injury Behaviour and Youth- Issues and Strategies
Anxiety- Practical Intervention Strategies
Addictions and Mental Illness- Working with Co-occuring Disorders

Click here to find out about workshops in your city.

To our readers:

Is there an event happening in your community that you would like to share? Contact us!

Addictions Intervention Training Workshop

The Organic Brain Dysfunction (OBD) Triage Institute is offering a 2 day workshop entitled Addictions Treatment Design for Individuals Living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. The workshop will focus on creating patient specific intervention strategies by taking in to account the patient’s strengths and challenges. Factors impacting risk of substance abuse and addiction will be covered in addition to factors involved in designing individual specific interventions, such as culture, patient history, learning abilities, and medical disposition. After care and service delivery will also be covered.

This workshop targets professionals involved with addictions prevention, treatment, counselling, and aftercare. The workshop will take place in Calgary, Alberta, November 23-24, 2011. This follows the Alberta FASD Conference November 21-22, 2011, also in Calgary.

*Unfortunately, the OBD Triage Institute website is under construction at the moment. Click here to receive an email when the site is up and running. For inquiries or to register for the workshop, email info@obdtriage.com

On a More Personal Note…

With so much information to take in, it’s sometimes easy to get caught up in research papers, news articles, and statistics and become detached from the real reason that all of this information exists in the first place: The individual people who are affected by FASD.

So for this week’s blog post, I thought I’d take things to a more personal level and post a letter that I found through the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, written by a young lady with FASD.

100 Mile House Free Press published a letter written by Shirlana Vance that she had written and read aloud for FASD day on September 9 in 100 Mile House, BC. She writes with a confident and inspirational tone about her future goals along with the struggles she has dealt with and the help she has had along the way to get to the place where she is today. 

Shirlana speaks about bringing out the strengths and abilities in someone with FASD, stating that “Confidence is key most definitely, along with structure and stability”.

 

Click here to read Shirlana’s letter.

 

 

And, in keeping with our intervention theme, the article notes that Shirlana recently completed a youth employment services program at The Cariboo Family Enrichment Centre (CFEC) in 100 Mile House. CFEC is a non-profit society which runs numerous programs and services for families and individuals, based on the needs of the community, including a program specific to FASD which provides support, information, resources, and assistance with accessing diagnosis and assessment.

To Our Readers

We encourage you to share your stories here, too.

Do you know someone with FASD  who has had a particularly positive influence in their life, like Shirlana has with her parents and CFEC?

Please feel free to share with a comment!