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- FASD: Understanding FASD
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Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a brain-based disability caused by prenatal alcohol exposure. It affects how a child’s brain develops and how it handles information, stress, memory, and the ordinary expectations of daily life. Most challenges you see are not about motivation or defiance — they are about how the brain is working. Children with FASD usually want to do well; their brains just have a harder time connecting past experiences to current behaviour.
A helpful shift in daily caregiving is moving from “Why won’t they?” to “What support does their brain need right now?” When routines are predictable, instructions are clear and simple, sensory load is reduced, and adults stay calm and consistent, children with FASD are far more able to learn, regulate, and connect.
Source: CFS FASD Practice Notes