Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is a relatively new medical diagnosis and society is still struggling with it, says a psychologist who works with people with the condition.
"It's important to know this whole issue of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is really a work in progress," said Dr. Jonathan Down, a developmental pediatrician at the Queen Alexandra Centre for Children's Health.
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder describes the physical and mental defects that can result from brain damage resulting from alcohol exposure while a child is in the womb.
The condition wasn't medically described until 1973 by two pediatricians working at the Harborview Hospital in Seattle, a city that continues to be at the forefront of FASD research.
Even now, diagnosis requires a complex and expensive medical consensus from a group of professionals.
At Queen Alexandra, diagnosis is undertaken by a team of five: a developmental pediatrician, a psychologist, a speech and language pathologist, an occupational therapist and a social worker.
But diagnosis can be held up by the social stigma feared by mothers asked to recall their drinking history, especially when they were pregnant.
Down, however, noted more than half of all pregnancies in Canada are unplanned. Furthermore, as many as 70 per cent of Canadian women drink alcohol to some degree. Put those two statistics together and the chance of fetal alcohol exposure is high.
"It's very hard to say fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is 100 per cent preventable," Down said.
He also insisted everyone needs to drop the stigma and start to deal with the issue - brain damage caused by alcohol.
"If a person has FASD, it's important to recognize it's the alcohol," Down said. "Whether it's consumed in Siberia or in downtown Victoria, it's going to cross the placenta and it has the potential to cause brain damage. These people [with FASD] were just in the wrong womb at the wrong time."
As far as treatment is concerned,
Down said little can be offered currently except accommodation. So for children, things such as pre-class exercise can be helpful, regular breaks can be built into the day or they can be taught with visual, as opposed to written, materials.
"One of my concerns is what happens after the diagnosis," Down said. "We have intervention programs for autism, but we don't have similar type of programs for children with FASD."
