-
Courage and Parenting a Child with FASD
I wrote this in May when we had a not so great month here at school and home due to FASD and explosive behaviour. Sometimes I day dream about where I could go if I just left. Maybe for the day, maybe longer. Sometimes I contemplate never returning. Yesterday was one of those days. I love my kids, my family, my husband. But some days the scale tips. This past May was a month of this. When the Scale Tips – How it Feels Parenting a Child with FASD. Do you ever have those days where the scale tips? Where how much I hate living with FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum…
-
YOU NEED this – Caregiver Kick Start #specialneeds
There is nothing quite like attending a conference or a workshop and leaving feeling energized, validated and understood. You know that feeling, right? It’s like a giant sigh of relief and a reminder that this unique parenting is doable. But, then you leave that space and you return to your home. Maybe you maintain that zen approach for 3 days, or a week at most and something happens and you slide right back into that overwhelmed, exhausted state you were in before. How can you get back to that space where you are in control of your feelings and reactions? I have the answer: Caregiver Kick Start! A couple of…
-
Ten Ways to Help a Child with FASD
For the first five years of my daughter Ainsley’s life we spent countless resources trying to figure out ways to help manage her disability. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is incredibly tricky to diagnose, and then to manage on an average day. FASD is fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, an invisible brain injury brought on my prenatal alcohol exposure. In Ontario we are likely 15 years behind the autism movement and advocacy effort. I have been told this by many experts in the education and health care fields. So, in the province where I live we have very limited resources right now. It’s likely my child will likely never receive the exact…
-
The Protective Factor of Diagnosis and Three Ways to Help a Person with FASD Now
When it comes to children and any form of disability early diagnosis and intervention is often key to success. Why is that? Because having a way to frame a child’s behaviour can make all the difference in the world to how you approach that child as a parent, as a therapist, a doctor, or a school. If you try to teach a fish to walk you end up frustrated, but worse than that you end up making the fish feel stupid. Proper diagnosis of FASD is critical to success. So why do we have such difficulty diagnosing and treating children and youth with FASD? And what is it? FASD, or fetal…
