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fetal alcohol syndrome
fetal alcohol syndrome Research Paper
fetal alcohol syndrome
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Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is a condition affecting children born to women who
drink heavily during pregnancy. There are three criteria used to describe the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure and to make a diagnosis of FAS.
The first of these is a pattern of facial anomalies, these features include:
Small eye openings
Flat cheekbones
Flattened groove between nose and upper lip
Thin upper lip
These characteristics can gradually diminish as the child ages, but it is important to note that diagnosis does not change because of this.
The second criteria is growth deficiencies:
Low birth weight
Decelerating weight over time, not due to malnutrition
Disproportional low weight to height
Height and weight below the tenth percentile
The third criteria used to diagnosis FAS are brain injury. This includes:
Decreased head size
Behavioral and/or cognitive problems such as: mental handicap; learning difficulties; problems with memory; problems with social perception
Neurological problems (impaired motor skills, poor coordination, hearing loss)
A person diagnosed with FAS may show one or more characteristics listed above, and there is a great variability in the outcome. ( McCreight, 1997)
Partial FAS is the recommended term used to describe the cluster of problems facing those who have some of the characteristic facial abnormalities associated with FAS, and one other component of FAS such as: growth deficiency; behavioral and cognitive problems or brain injury. This is only of course if it is known that there was significant prenatal exposure to alcohol. (Abel, ...
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...Children Affected by Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome & Fetal Alcohol Effects. Washington: University of Washington Press.
5. Kleinfeld, Judith/ Wescott, Siobhan. 1993. Fantastic Antoine Succeeds! Experience in
Educating Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Alaska: University of Alaska Press.
6. McCreight, Brenda. 1997. Recognizing & Managing Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome-.
Fetal Alcohol Effects: A Guidebook. Washington: Trade Paperback.
7. Streissguth, Ann P. / Kanter, Jonathan. 1998. The Challenge of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome:
Overcoming Secondary Disabilities. Washington: University of Washington Press.
8. Villarreal, Sylvia Fernandez. 1992. Handle With Care: Helping Children Prenatally Exposed
to Drugs and Alcohol. Santa Cruz: ETR Associates.
In the case-study provided I was able to examine information about Ann a six year-old girl who is fearful of her classmatess and does not want to play with then. I examined this case from the biopsychosocial perspective and came up with possible causes for Ann’s shy, fearful, anxious behavior around her classmates. Biologically, Ann could be on the Fetal Acholol Spectrum due to her mother drinking during her pregnacy. This could be the cause for Ann’s delay in social development and caused her to be fearful of her classmates. Drawing from the case information Ann was one month premature, which could be a cause of FAS. You would not be able to fully diagnose this because there is not a test for it. But, I would ask Ella Ann’s mother if Ann had a low birth weight, had feeding diffculties, missed milestones, deattachment, and more. Psychology, Ann could be suffering from an anxiety disorder due to
A mother who drinks while she is pregnant stands a high risk of harming their unborn child because the alcohol passes through her blood to her baby, and that can harm the development of the baby’s cells. This is most likely to harm the baby’s brain and spinal cord. Many of the common effects of a child suffering from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is: distinctive facial features, growth problems making them smaller than the average child, and learning and behavior problems.
lip, skin folds at the corners of the eyes, indistinct groove on the upper lip, and an
There is no known safe amount of alcohol a woman can drink while pregnant. Alcohol can cause life-long physical and behavioral problems in children, including fetal alcohol syndrome. FAS is a serious condition where babies can be born with mentally ill condition and may have deformation mainly in there face. When you consume alcohol during pregnancy, so does your baby, because alcohol passes freely through the placenta to your baby. If you choose to drink alcohol while you are pregnant, you will increase the risk that your baby will be born with a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Fetal alcohol syndrome is a condition in a child that results from alcohol exposure during the mother 's pregnancy. Fetal alcohol syndrome causes brain damage and growth problems. The problems caused by fetal alcohol syndrome vary from child to child, but defects caused by fetal alcohol syndrome are
a patient's birth defects. In other words, FAE is a less severe form of FAS.
Pregnant women who drink often miscarry or have low-birth weight infants, and are at a much greater risk of having a child who has fetal alcohol syndrome. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can include heart defects, poor coordination, hyperactive behavior; learning and developmental disabilities, and mental retardation. These problems are long term and also come with physical deformities like a narrow head, smaller eyes, and stunted growth. These effects are more common to women who are either heavy drinkers or binge drinkers.
affect several age groups. Children can develop GAD and suffer from it the rest of their lives.
The intake of drugs and alcohol during pregnancy can cause many different birth defects. Drugs and alcohol can easily reach the baby while inside the mother. When a pregnant woman consumes a drug or some alcohol it enters into her bloodstream, then makes its way to the placenta. When it reaches the placenta it travels through the umbilical cord to the baby’s body (Schniderman pg. 27). Once it reaches the bay it can cause a lot of different problems. Drinking alcohol can cause the baby to be born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. If too much alcohol gets into the baby’s bloodstream the baby will most likely have FAS. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can affect an infant after it is born or even later on in life. Kids with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can be impulsive at times, and they tend to not learn from their own mistakes and behavior unlike other children (Stewart pg. 47). Having a child with FAS could be very hard. They have difficulties trying to learn certain things. Learning from mistakes make life so much easier, and having a child who cannot do that could be very stressful. Many people put the...
There are five types of typical intervention for FAS patients (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome [Wikipedia entry]. (n.d) Retrieved December 1,...
Burd, L. and Martsolf, J. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Diagnosis and Syndromal Variability. Physiology and Behavior, 46:39-43 (1989).
FASD is not a clinical diagnosis, as stated before; it is an umbrella term for the range of disorders that are a result from alcohol exposure in the womb. The different disorders are Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), and Alcohol-related Neurodevelopmental Disorder (ARND) and Alcohol-related Birth Defects (ARBD). Another term used in some sources is Fetal Alcohol Effect (FAE); this term came about when researchers noticed that there were individuals that showed some signs of FAS but not all.
Multiple studies have found that FAS is the single most common cause of mental retardation that is completely preventable. When alcohol is consumed during pregnancy it acts as a teratogen, which means it is a substance that interferes with growth and development, and is capable of causing birth defects such as hearing loss, vision loss, reduced cognitive ability, and motor skill deficiencies. Flattened mid-face, short nose and a thinner upper lip are also common physical abnormalities (Tangient LLC, 2014). When consumed, alcohol from the mother’s bloodstream crosses easily into the fetal bloodstream. Because of their size, the unborn baby has a lower capability to metabolize the alcohol, thus it remains in its system for a longer period of time and can result in...
In 2004, the term “Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders” was agreed upon by a group of national experts to be used as an umbrella term to encompass all the disorders caused by prenatal alcohol exposure. When signs of brain damage appear following fetal alcohol exposure in the absence of other indications of FAS, the conditio...
Prenatal alcohol exposure has become a serious problem not only in our country, but also all around the world. It is affecting the future generations of this planet and their health. The public needs to be well informed on the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure and how to prevent it from happening. By doing this, it will save our people billions of dollars as a whole and will stop abnormalities in the people. FAS and FASD are malformations that don’t need to happen and can be prevented so easily. If only the people knew the severity of the consequences to their actions.
“I brought you into this world, and I can take you out!” A child has most likely heard that phrase at some point in their life. Although, it is not ethical or legal for a mother to “take her kid out of this world”, it does bring up a good point that it was through her body, that the child was born. One of the most important responsibilities in this world is a mother carrying a child in the womb. There are many divine processes that take place during gestation, but there are also many contributing factors from the mother that can affect the developing human. These factors may include what a woman ingests and exposes her embryo or fetus to. Sadly, alcohol use during pregnancy is an ongoing problem that can have detrimental affects on the fetus, including Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Choosing to drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy is a choice, a risky choice. Unfortunately some women don’t even know they are making a risky choice by consuming alcohol because it is in the early stages of pregnancy. It is common for a female to not find out they are pregnant until at least the fifth or sixth week after fertilization. In 2006, 49% of all pregnancies in the United States were reported unintended on a national survey.1 The highest rate of preventable birth defects and mental retardation is due to alcohol use.2 In this paper, I will further discuss FAS, the potential effects of binge drinking during the embryonic stage of gestation, and what actions need to be taken in order to reduce the incidences of alcohol related birth defects.