Category: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FAS/FASD)
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FASD Respect Act: A Historic Win for Advocacy in 2025
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Month 2025 will be one that goes down in history. This is the year that FASD Respect Act language is thisclose to being enacted by Congress. For the first time in twenty years, federal programs to address FASDs are moving towards being reauthorized, marking a renewed commitment to FASD-informed supports across…
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The Stigma of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Explained
Not every incidence of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) results in a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASDs). How can we get funders to understand this and reduce the stigma?
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FASD Awareness: Analyzing ‘Princess Margaret and the Curse’
I was so excited to read this new book, Princess Margaret and the Curse by Meryle Secrest, that asks us to consider whether Princess Margaret had fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. It came out on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Day, which is the ninth day of the ninth month of the year, in a…
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Understanding FASD: Awareness Month Insights
It’s the first week of FASD Awareness Month, but not enough people know that. In fact, too few know that FASD stands for “Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders” and that no one in the US has FASD. Rather, they have AN FASD, because FASD is an umbrella term for the birth defects caused by prenatal alcohol…
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Alcohol During Pregnancy: Understanding Risks and Misconceptions
In the past week, two different studies came out about prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). One, the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC), surveyed more than 1,600 adults in the United States regarding maternal health (eurekalert). The other, published in the Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research (Hoboken), surveyed more than 1,500 women in the United Kingdom, then had them…
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Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: What You Need to Know
I’m fresh out of the 9th International Research Conference on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, and my mind is reeling from the information I learned or relearned. For example, I’m trying not to be disheartened. I really am. But this is a lot… And the FASD world needs more people from all walks of life to…
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We CAN Mitigate FASDs
One of the conditions that Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) may be mistaken for is Williams Syndrome. In general, it looks the same, the behaviors are the same, and the outcomes are the same. However, Williams Syndrome is typically diagnosed by the time a child is 3½, and FAS is, well, typically not ever diagnosed. Regarding…
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Krabbe? Cancer? FASD?
We’re talking about screening for a lifelong condition that can’t be cured that conservatively affects 5% of the population…1 in 20 live births!
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FASDs: Just Because We Don’t See Them Doesn’t Mean They’re Not There
Doctors can’t do it themselves. They need all of our help to educate about the harmful effects of PAE and diagnose FASDs.
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FASDs in Corrections: We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know
Determining whether someone has a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder – which in itself is not diagnosable – has proven to be difficult, at best. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, or FASDs, is the umbrella term describing the range of adverse effects that can occur in an individual due to prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). The diagnoses, per…
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