COSIG CONFERENCE BROCHURE.pdf - Drexel University College ...

COSIG Co-Occurring Disorders Conference, Hershey PA, May 15-17, 2006
But Don’t All Doctors Learn about
FASD in Medical School?
30 years of molecular biological, clinical and
psychosocial research on Fetal Alcohol
Spectrum Disorders is not in the current
medical school curriculum
What is the Evidence that We Need to Do
a Better Job in Diagnosing and
Treatment?
• These individuals are treated by psychiatrists as
youngsters but are ending in the prison system
• Comprise a large percentage of the foster care,
residential treatment population and are hospitalized in
high numbers
• Are in inappropriate school placements because they are
not identified as being disabled or they “look good”
• Parents are frustrated and “burnt out” by their children’s
behavior never knowing that they need to conceptualize
their children’s behavior differently as a cognitive
disability
• When we evaluate a child and do not factor in cognitive
disability the diagnosis may not be accurate and the
treatment plan will not be comprehensive enough to
manage the complexity of the disability
Costs of FAS
• FAS costs US $5.4 billion in 2003
• An FAS birth carries lifetime health costs of
$860,000 although can be as high as $4.2 million
• Including quality of life, FAS prevention may be
“cost effective” at up to $850,000 per child
• 1 in 100 births in US will have effects from
exposure to alcohol
NOFAS
Caretakers
• Experience high degree of burn-out”
• Experience anxiety over developmental delays
• Often have to come to terms with lack of independence
• Experience problems finding skilled professionals who understand
the reasons for the behavioral issues
• Have to chronically fight the system for appropriate resources
• Are at risk for abusing their child because of unrealistic
expectations and not having any effective means to manage the
demands of parenting a child with complex cognitive disability
Caretakers (continued)
• Be ready to support the caretaker as much as necessary to
decrease emotional reactivity
• Require much time to absorb the reality of the situation of
having a special needs child (may take years)
• Needs understanding from helping professionals (therapist
may need support from colleagues to avoid “burn-out”)
• Blame and or provoking guilt should be avoided in all
interactions (most parents just don’t know that their behavior
towards the child is unjustified)
• They have to be taught to understand and be more accepting
• Be ready to believe the fantastic stories they report
• These stories are generally true
• Need to evaluate the neurotic issues and stress behavior of
caretakers
Russian prosecutors to investigate adoption procedure of boy who
died in US
AP Worldstream; August 5, 2005; MARIA DANILOVA, Associated
Press Writer; 343 Words
... about the fate of Russian-born children adopted ... prompted a senior
Russian lawmaker to call on halting adoptions by U.S. citizens ...
Merryman was the 13th Russian-born child to die ... allowed foreign
adoptions in the early 1990s ... said. Some 260,000 Russian orphans
are ...
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