Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder And Language Development / Impairment

This paper explores the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on motor development. With this topic, came many questions. They are: Is every child effected the same amount, or does it depends on how much the mother drank and how much the fetus was exposed to?, Is there anything the mother can do to reverse the effects of exposure, or perhaps lessen the damage on the child?, Is there a safe amount of alcohol that can be consumed without harm?, And lastly, do the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure ever go away? Coles et al. (2015) and Lucas et al. (2016) suggest answers and evidence to these questions. This paper explains what happens when a fetus is exposed to alcohol, and how it

FAS is defined as a medical diagnosis involving four key features: alcohol exposure, growth deficiently, certain facial features, and brain damage. Infants who have been exposed to prenatal alcohol rarely show all symptoms of the medical condition FAS. Other terms have been used to describe the implication involved with FAS. Frequently used terms are: Partial Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Alcohol-related Neurodevelopmental Disorder and Alcohol-related Birth Defects. A child with Partial Fetal Alcohol syndrome exhibits only some of the physical signs of FAS and will likely have both learning and behavioral difficulties. A child suffering from Alcohol-related Neurodevelopmental Disorder will demonstrate signs of neural damage, problems with memory, poor social skills, and learning difficulties. Children diagnosed with

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is a pattern of mental, physical, and behavioral defects that may develop in the unborn child when its mother drinks during pregnancy. These defects occur primarily during the first trimester when the teratogenic effects of the alcohol have the greatest effect on the developing organs. The symptoms associated with FAS have been observed for many centuries, but it was not until 1968 that Lemoine and his associates formally described these symptoms in the scientific literature, and again in 1973 when Jones and associates designated a specific pattern of altered growth and dysmorphogenesis as the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (Rostand, p. 302). The set of abnormalities characterized by Jones

“Fetal alcohol syndrome is a condition in a child that results from alcohol exposure during the mother's pregnancy” (Fetal alcohol syndrome. n.d.). Each year 1 in 750 infants in the United States are born in the United States alone, while another 40,000 are born with alcohol fetal effects. This happens to a child when the mother continues to drink alcohol during her pregnancy. Fetal alcohol syndrome can cause mental, physical, developmental disabilities in the baby, while fetal alcohol effects are milder, less advanced form of fetal alcohol syndrome.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) refers to a group of physical and mental birth defects resulting from a women’s drinking alcohol heavily or at crucial stages during pregnancy. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was first named and treated in the late 1960's. This condition results from the toxic effect of alcohol and its chemical factors on the developing fetus. FAS is the leading cause of mental retardation occurring in 1 out of every 750 births. The frequency of FAS occurs about 1.9 times out of every 1000 births according to the latest figures, and minor effects can be seen in up to 20% of pregnancies per year. This number changes drastically for women who are clearly alcoholics. As high as 29 children out of every 1000 births will suffer from FAS

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is an increasing problem in our world today. At least 5,000 infants are born each year with FAS, or about one out of every 750 live births, which is an alarming number. In the United States there has been a significant increase in the rate of infants born with FAS form 1 per 10,000 births in 1979 to 6.7 per 10,000 in 1993 (Chang, Wilikins-Haug, Berman, Goetz 1). In a report, Substance Abuse and the American Woman, sent out by the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, at least one of every five pregnant women uses alcohol and/or other drugs during pregnancy (http:/www.nofas.org/stats.htm). Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) refers to a group of physical and mental birth defects that are the

Jones and David W. Smith, two pediatric dysmorphologists. Jones and Smith, along with a group of pediatricians at the University of Washington Medical School, helped to summarize the morphological defects that can affect children born to alcoholic mothers. Jones and Smith observed a group of eight children throughout their adolescence to see the long-term effects of alcohol exposure. Jones and Smith explained that “of the eight children, four of them were severely, mentally handicapped and the other four were moderately, mentally handicapped” (Cooper

The scientific community didn’t recognize the potential harm of prenatal alcohol exposure until 1973, when Dr. David Smith and Dr. Kenneth Jones at the University of Washington in Seattle, published similar findings in the medical journal Lancet. It was then that the term Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was coined (Stratton,1996). Since then, a spectrum of disorders connected to prenatal alcohol exposure has been recognised, with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome being the most severe.

The article, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Language Development Issues in the Classroom discusses the prevalence of alcohol consumption in pregnant mothers in the United States and how drinking alcohol during pregnancy can lead to babies being born with FAS. Children born with FAS can have problems with expressive and receptive language and/or problems with speech production. In terms of expressive language deficits, children with FAS may have problems with word retrieval and grammar (i.e., using the incorrect verb form in a sentence). Additionally, they may be fluent speakers, however, their speech may be devoid of content. Issues with receptive language can lead to comprehension difficulties, it can impact the child’s memory, sequencing

Prenatal exposure to heavy alcohol increases the probability of the child to have developmental problems. One of the main problems of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is related to attention deficit. Children that were exposed to high doses of alcohol during pregnancy have lowest visual and auditory focus and take a longer time to change between visual and auditory attention. However, alcohol did not seem to have a significant impact on their

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2015), in 2011 to 2013, one in ten pregnant women reported consuming alcohol in the past 30 days. Additionally, one in 33 women admitted to binge drinking during pregnancy (CDC, 2015). Consummation of alcohol during pregnancy is one of the leading causes for developmental disabilities. The term fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) is being increasingly used to refer to the full range of problems caused by prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) (Paley & O’Connor, 2009).

Prenatal exposure to alcohol (ethanol) results in a continuum of physical, neurological, behavioral, and learning defects collectively grouped under the heading fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is the most severe combination of these defects under this heading, and is characterized by pre- and postnatal growth deficiencies, facial abnormalities, and defects of the central nervous system (CNS). The developing brain is particularly vulnerable to the toxicity of ethanol, given the broad time frame of susceptibility from neurulation, when the neural tube is formed, all the way through to birth. The cerebellum is an area of the brain particularly vulnerable to prenatal ethanol exposure. Mechanisms proposed for this drastic reduction in brain cells include apoptosis, oxidative stress, and damage to the radial glia stem cell progenitor pool. Physical dexterity, coordination, and visuospatial processing are all affected by these stressors, and eyeblink classical conditioning

During the ten months of gestation, the ever-growing fetus goes through the stages and changes of becoming a functional human. Unfortunately for some, these children will not get the full advantages of life because of the choices of another. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) has been calculated to have an impact on nearly forty thousand infants a year (fasdcenter). To really see the magnitude of the effects of this easily preventable disorder, researchers followed children from birth into later years to study the deficits placed on these individuals.

A person suffering with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome may experience low birth weight, large or malformed ears, a short neck, poor hand-eye coordination, or a flat midface, among other symptoms. As for the brain of someone with FAS, there could be damage to the basal ganglia, primarily responsible for motor control and emotions, which can impair various cognitive processes. Secondly, a reduced cerebellum can affect one’s balance, cognition and coordination. Finally, there can be an impaired corpus callosum, which connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres, the communication center of the brain. As for the mind, the child will develop slow learning habits, a short attention span, hyperactivity, or memory loss. There could also be a delay in the ability to speak and talk and being able to read or comprehend certain subjects (Ryan, S., & Ferguson, D.L. 2006).

Foetal Alcohol Syndrome is a disorder which is related to drinking alcohol in pregnancy which affects the way a baby’s brain develops. The condition was first recognised in America in 1973 and how severe the condition is believed to be linked to how much alcohol a mother drank during pregnancy. Children with FAS have problems with their abnormal growth, neurological development and have characteristic facial features that result from their foetal exposure to alcohol. The facial features can include a smooth area between the nose and lips, a small head, thin upper lip, small and narrow eyes. Neurological problems are caused by damage to the central nervous system. The difficulties experienced are probable to change as an infant grows up and