Educating Children and Young People with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

The range of learning difficulties associated with children who have Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) have been highlighted as an emerging but little understood area of Special Educational Needs. Current prevalence rates suggest that one in 100 children have FASD, yet within the educational arena there has been almost no attention paid to the very specific learning needs of students with FASD or the best educational strategies required to support them in the classroom.

Barriers to learning for students with FASD include distractibility, hyperactivity, poor short term memory, sensory processing difficulties, difficulty in understanding abstract concepts, social communication difficulties and difficulty in generalising information from one situation to another. This engaging and highly practical book will raise awareness about FASD across the education workforce and provides a range practical teaching and learning strategies from which teachers and support staff may construct personalised learning plans for students with FASD in order to improve outcomes under the Every Child Matters Agenda. The authors of this book also:

• Explain the links to neuroscience that can lead to a child having FASD.
• Discuss the overlapping and co-existing disorders, such as ADHD and autism spectrum disorders.
• Show to how to support and empower teachers.
• Provide ready to use teaching resources and strategies that can be used directly in the classroom.

The book will be suitable for Initial Teacher Training students as well as Continuing Professional Development for Newly Qualified and experienced teachers.

Introduction  1. Understanding FASD  2. Understanding Overlapping and Co-existing Disorders  3. Understanding how FASD Impacts on Learning  4. Understanding Family Dynamics and how to Support and Empower Families  5. An ECM Framework for Suggested Teaching and Learning Strategies