FASD

Challenge Family caregivers of people with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDDs) often experience stress and mental health difficulties (e.g., anxiety, depression). However, there are few services to support their wellbeing. Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) helps people to cope by increasing acceptance and mindfulness skills, which may help these caregivers. Commitment Training (ACT) Project Summary The [...]

Challenge Math presents a steep challenge for many school-aged children, especially when a learning disability or neurodevelopmental disorder affects some of the skills it requires. Students with FASD, for example, can struggle with visual-spatial processing, self-regulation, and working memory. Project Summary A tutoring program called the Math Interactive Learning Experience (MILE) tackles not [...]

Challenge Every person with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) has their own strengths and challenges. That means there is no one-size-fits-all pathway through the available interventions and services. Families have to figure out what makes the most sense given their child’s needs, age, goals and context. Project Summary Kids Health Brain Network has [...]

Challenge Children with neurodevelopmental disabilities often struggle because of deficits in attention and executive functions/EF (e.g., inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility). These deficits contribute to severe long-term impairments at school and in life. Project Summary Dino Island is a tablet-based game-like intervention designed to improve attention, short-term memory, and self-regulation (EF). It is specifically designed [...]

Challenge Accessing supports and services for FASD can be very challenging, and families and individuals are often unaware of existing supports or face barriers to access. Project Summary The Fetal Alcohol Resource Program (FARP) was established in 2015 in collaboration with Citizen Advocacy Ottawa (now ABLE2). Its purpose was to take on a navigator [...]

Challenge Identifying children who are at risk of FASD early on can be challenging. Often receiving a formal diagnosis requires confirmation of prenatal alcohol exposure, which isn’t always possible. The current FASD diagnostic assessment process also typically happens once a child is school-aged because existing tools lack the sensitivity to identify young children and infants. [...]

Challenge Math presents a steep challenge for many school-aged children, mainly when a learning disability or neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) affects some of the skills that it requires. Students who were prenatally exposed to alcohol, for example, can struggle with visual-spatial processing, working memory, and self-regulation : the ability to monitor and exert control over their thoughts, [...]

Challenge Following an FASD diagnostic assessment, individuals will receive a list of recommendations about services, supports and interventions with which to connect. The challenge is that the recommendations are often lengthy, may not always be understandable to families, and are provided and explained at at time when individuals and families are feeling overwhelmed. Project Summary [...]

Challenge The ability to better characterize the cellular mechanisms underlying brain dysfunction in FASD is vital to treat the disorder better. The purpose of this project is to provide a detailed understanding of these mechanisms as a means of possibly identifying novel targets for future drug development. Project Summary Studies have shown that prenatal alcohol [...]

Challenge There are still a lot of unknowns when it comes to FASD. First, the disorder presents in many different ways. It also remains unclear exactly how alcohol is impacting the brain and what factors contribute to its impact. Project Summary The Canada FASD Research Network National Dataform Project—a comprehensive database of individuals living with [...]