Resources and Information on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Provided by the Native American Family Support Project Spirit Lake Tribe

FAS, FAE or FASD - Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Effect or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder are all different diagnoses for children who are impaired due to being exposed to alcohol in the womb. If you have a family member who has developmental disabilities related to alcohol, we suggest you take some time to go to the website listed below. Read through the recommendations by parents, the pages on what is reasonable to expect for each age group.

Minnesota Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome- we highly recommend this site for two uses. First, it gives reasonable expectations for people with FAS by age, 0-3, 13-18, etc. Sometimes your frustration can be helped just knowing what is reasonable to expect of your young adult with FAS. It also provides an overview of characteristics of people with FAS, but goes one step further and gives some good advice. The MOFAS website continually reminds us that people with FAS/FAE tend to be behind in social development, even compared to others with the same IQ. Leaving home at age 18 may not be a reasonable expectation for an individual who has difficulty understanding social boundaries - when it is okay to touch someone, for example. Rather than being continually frustrated that a person is always late or misses appointments, it is necessary to provide constant reminders. If you catch yourself often telling your family member to "Act your age", you really need to spend some time reading the web pages on this site.