FAQ

It helps to have a short explanation ready for teachers or staff who haven’t worked with a student with FASD before. A version many caregivers use: FASD is a brain-based disability caused by prenatal alcohol exposure that affects how the brain processes information — especially memory, attention, executive functioning, and emotional regulation. That means a student may understand something in the moment but struggle to recall it later, and may become overwhelmed more easily than other students. What helps most is structure, repetition, clear instructions, and supportive strategies rather than consequences or punishment.

A brief explanation like this shifts the conversation from behaviour management to learning needs, and often unlocks more collaborative problem-solving. Reframing “won’t” as “can’t” is a small change in language that helps a teacher see your child differently — and respond differently.

Source: CFS FASD Practice Notes

Supporting a student with FASD works best when you and the school function as one team. Most teachers and support staff genuinely want to help, but many have little experience with FASD specifically — and you bring something they can’t get on their own: you see your child across many settings and over time, so you know what helps them regulate, what triggers them, and which strategies actually work.

Share those observations in concrete terms (“she does much better with a visual schedule taped to the fridge”; “he needs about fifteen quiet minutes after school before any conversation”), ask the school about strategies that support learning and regulation rather than just managing behaviour, and request regular communication about progress — not only when there’s a problem. Expect to revisit supports as your child grows; what worked in Grade 2 may not fit Grade 5.

Source: CFS FASD Practice Notes

Request a scheduled meeting with the classroom teacher, learning support staff, and an administrator if possible — that gives space to talk about strategies rather than reacting incident by incident. Share concrete information about FASD and what tends to help versus what tends not to, since many staff have heard of FASD but haven’t had detailed training in how it affects classroom regulation. Ask about specific accommodations: predictable routines, visual schedules, planned breaks, reduced sensory load, a quiet space, advance warning of transitions, and simplified multi-step instructions. Ask explicitly about an IEP or learning support plan — a formal plan documents accommodations and helps them survive teacher and schedule changes. Collaborating so the same supports are used at home and school gives your child a coherent environment.

Loop in your support team — the child’s social worker, your resource social worker, an FASD key worker, and any assessing professional can be helpful presences in meetings and can help you prepare what to ask for. If the calls escalate toward disciplinary measures, the school suggests suspension or a placement change, or repeated requests aren’t being acted on, escalating through the school district (district learning support, inclusion, or special education contacts) can shift the conversation. Where your child has a formal diagnosis or documented neurodevelopmental difference, that documentation is often the leverage that opens district-level conversations.

Source: CFS FASD Practice Notes

When schools aren’t familiar with FASD, ordinary classroom challenges — impulsivity, dysregulation, forgetting instructions, difficulty staying seated — can read as misbehaviour, defiance, or insufficient discipline at home. The strategies the school recommends are usually consequence-based and assume your child can apply rules consistently if motivated. For a child with FASD that assumption usually doesn’t hold, so the strategies don’t work, the school sees no improvement, and the calls keep coming. The loop is exhausting, and it isn’t a reflection of your parenting.

The shift that usually changes this is reframing the conversation from behaviour to brain-based regulation needs — the behaviours are signals about what’s hard in the classroom (sensory overload, transitions, unclear expectations, demands beyond current capacity), not about what’s missing at home. It can help to name the pattern calmly, in writing: “I appreciate the calls and want to work with the school. I’m noticing the strategies being used aren’t matching how my child’s brain works. Can we meet to plan supports that account for the brain-based picture?”

Source: CFS FASD Practice Notes

Brain-based learning differences usually respond to changes in how information is presented and supported — not to more pressure to keep up. Work with teachers to provide visual supports and step-by-step instructions; visual schedules, written instructions, picture prompts, and demonstrations stick where verbal instructions alone often don’t. Break tasks into smaller, manageable pieces — a four-step assignment is often more workable as four separate tasks. Support predictable routines for homework, and lean on repetition and practice rather than punishment for mistakes, since a child with FASD often needs to meet a concept many more times before it becomes durable. Adjust expectations to match what your child can manage now, then build from there.

A useful frame to share with the school team: structure tends to work better than consequences, visual cues better than lectures, co-regulation better than punishment, and repetition better than expecting memory. If the gap between effort and results is widening, the school isn’t yet using brain-based strategies, or your child doesn’t yet have an IEP or learning support plan, requesting a meeting and asking specifically about a plan is often the right next step. The child’s social worker, an FASD key worker, or any assessing professional can support the conversation.

Source: CFS FASD Practice Notes

For children with FASD, learning challenges are usually rooted in how the brain processes and retains information — not in effort or attitude. The main brain-based factors are executive functioning differences (planning, organising, sequencing, switching tasks), memory challenges (information that’s learned doesn’t reliably stick, so what was clear on Monday can be gone by Wednesday), slower processing speed, and difficulty with abstract thinking. Your child often understands the lesson in the moment; the challenge is the gap between understanding once and being able to use it later.

This isn’t your child failing to try — it’s what learning looks like when memory, executive functioning, and processing speed work differently. The characteristically uneven FASD profile shows up clearly at school: strong verbal skills but difficulty with written work, grasping big ideas but losing the steps, doing well in one subject and falling behind in another. The strengths are real and so are the gaps, and both need to be planned around.

Source: CFS FASD Practice Notes

Start by looking for patterns, then adjust both home and school. Support a predictable morning routine with visual schedules so getting ready becomes a familiar path rather than a new negotiation each day. Talk with the school to compare notes on stressors and triggers — you and the school are often seeing different pieces of the same situation. Request adjustments at school like a planned check-in with a trusted adult at arrival, a quiet space, a slower start, or reduced sensory load. A small, matter-of-fact positive — a favourite breakfast on the way, a brief moment of connection before drop-off — can give the nervous system something concrete to lean into during the transition. The aim isn’t bribery; it’s easing the morning.

If refusal is escalating toward a near-daily pattern, your child is showing significant anxiety (sleep disruption, stomach-aches, withdrawal), something has changed at school, or you’re feeling burned out, a more formal conversation with the school team — including learning support staff and an administrator — can shift the picture. The child’s social worker, an FASD key worker, or a counsellor familiar with school anxiety can also support your family. If no learning support plan or IEP is in place, this is often the moment to start one.

Source: CFS FASD Practice Notes

For children with FASD, school refusal is usually about something the child cannot easily name. The brain-based factors most often involved are anxiety about something that has happened or that they anticipate, previous negative experiences they haven’t been able to process (a hard interaction with a teacher, a peer conflict, a moment of overwhelm), difficulty moving from the safety of home into the busy school environment, sensory overload they’re bracing for, and feeling overwhelmed by academic, social, or behavioural expectations they know they can’t meet.

Your child may say “I don’t want to” or “I’m tired,” or give a different reason each day, when the underlying picture is a nervous system bracing against something that feels too big to manage. Treating school refusal as a regulation problem rather than a behaviour problem usually changes what helps. Looking for patterns — certain days, a particular class, days the routine ran differently — is usually the first clue about what’s hard.

Source: CFS FASD Practice Notes

Try opening with strengths. Something as simple as “Before we talk about the challenges, could we start by sharing something that’s going well?” shifts the tone of the whole meeting — it surfaces successes that usually go unspoken in problem-focused conversations, helps the team see your child as a whole person rather than a list of concerns, and tends to reveal which environments and strategies are already working so you can build on them.

Some caregivers also bring a photo of their child to place on the table. It keeps everyone focused on the student as a real person, not a behavioural problem to solve, and tends to make the conversation more constructive. Going in respectful and open, ready to share what works at home and to explain FASD as a brain-based difference, is the posture that gets the most back.

Source: CFS FASD Practice Notes

A few things tend to help when the calls keep coming. Frame the behaviour to the school as a regulation challenge, not defiance — that shift often opens conversations about supports, accommodations, and environment instead of consequences. Work with the team to identify what helps: predictable routines, reduced sensory stimulation, planned breaks, visual instructions, advance warning of transitions, and a calm space your child can use to recover. Ask that these strategies be written into the IEP or learning support plan so they stay consistent across teachers. After a meltdown, focus on recovery rather than punishment — once the nervous system is overloaded, consequences add stress without producing learning. Sharing what helps your child regulate at home can shape what the school tries next.

If the calls are increasing, your child is showing school avoidance or anxiety, the school is suggesting suspension or alternative placement, or you’re feeling unsupported, request a meeting with the school team — including learning support staff and an administrator. Your resource social worker, the child’s social worker, or an FASD key worker can also help advocate for an FASD-informed approach. If no IEP or learning support plan is in place yet, this is often a good moment to start one.

Source: CFS FASD Practice Notes