Monday, June 19, 2017

10 Things About FASD #6: The Struggle with "Normal"

Day 11





Prenatal alcohol exposure can cause permanent life long challenges and each person is affected differently.  Those with FASD can have memory difficulties, processing, auditory, visual and sensory processing issues.

For those affected, no two are alike, but these common difficulties in some degrees affect the majority.

Prenatal alcohol exposure can affect any system of the body including they eyes and the processing of visual information and there are over 428 different diagnoses associated with FASD's.

People with FASDs have a hard time with memory and learning. More than not, a person with FASD is living a moment to moment existence .  My youngest daughter was found at the age of 16 through her a neuropsychological examination to have a profound memory disorder.  I knew that she would often live in the moment and she really does forget. My daughter is just like Dory from Finding Dory. She tells me that she has young people's Alzheimers, except she never could remember in the first place. But she is amazing with electronics.

The reason for these memory and learning problems is that alcohol exposure interferes with brain development. It can reduce the size of certain regions of the brain and can hamper communication between the different parts of the brain.  When that communication throughout the brain doesn't work smoothly, people tend to have problems with executive function.

Executive function is the mental processes that allow us to plan, focus, learn from experience, prioritize and in other words get things done and remember to get things done and why. Persons with FASD will have executive function deficits in some way or another.

Executive function deficits:
https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/executive-functioning-issues

Auditory processing disorder:
Auditory processing disorder (APD), also known as central auditory processing disorder (CAPD), is an umbrella term for a variety of disorders that affect the way the brain processes auditory information.
http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/Understanding-Auditory-Processing-Disorders-in-Children/

Sensory processing disorder:
Sensory processing disorder (SPD; also known as sensory integration dysfunction) is a condition  when multisensory integration is not adequately processed in order to provide appropriate responses to the demands of the environment. 
http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com

Receptive and Expressive Language disorders:
An Expressive language disorder is an impairment that makes it hard for someone to find the right words and form  clear sentences when speaking.  A Receptive language: It can make it difficult to understand what another person says. Some may have both.
https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/communication-disorders/understanding-language-disorders

Persons with FASD due to no fault of their own, everyday will struggle with what comes easily to the rest of us.

When a person with FASD is stressed, they will struggle more with accessing, processing information and regulating their emotions and life can be even more complicated.

Patience and understanding will go a long way to make it easier for them.

Anny

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