Check out this post for the how, what , and why's of Sveta's FAS diagnosis. Most importantly, getting a diagnosis starts with a history of the birth mother drinking alcohol during pregnancy.
Yes..without disclosure that a mom has drank during her pregnacy a doctor will NOT diagnose FAS, however..they will still do the testing for facial features..and other tests..and can give a query of FAS...or FASD....or ARND....with suspected or unconfirmed allegatations that mom drank during pregnacy..(it totally depends on the doctor)..but..doctors can be sued if the mom says she did not drink and baby's urine is NOT tested at birth..so many doctors will NOT risk it..At least from what we have gone through.
Thank you for the information on FAS. There was a lot of alcohol abuse during the twins pregnancy but only one shows signs of problems. She is a mystery to me, her doctors and her therapists!
Interestingly, the second doctor we saw regarding this said that she may have FAE but that so much has been learned about the brains plasticity and affected children can make tremendous progress. I was also told the effects of FAE and just plain neglect are very similar so I will probably never know what the cause of her delays, etc. were. She did qualify for speech and occupational therapy and has made huge progress in the 4 months that she's been receiving those services. It has eased a lot of my fears for her future.
Whether she has it or not, through your information and what I've learned through my daughter, it's not as dismal a future for her as I was afraid it would be. As you said, "she is who she is" which happens to be very lovable, funny and cute to boot!
Hi Christina. This is Alison in France, Mama to Princess Abigail. I was contacted today by Carmen, in Spain, who knowing of my ability to speak both English and Spanish fluently, asked if I would serve as linguistic go-between between yourself and Carmen. As you may know, Carmen is about to adopt in Ukraine, and needs to understand some things about FAS before she makes her final decisions. Please feel free to contact me on my email alisonbernardkeene@live.fr, and I will forward you the translation of Carmen's questions. Altneratively, I can call you if you leave a contact number. Looking forward to speaking with you soon Take care Alison
you mentioned in that linked post about something with the toes. O has both middle toes curled. Is that what that means? Our district only took her for Sensory issues and I think they might kick her out this year, but I have a feeling as she gets older, she will hit a wall with learning and really want to keep her IEP in place so we dont have to go through all the child study team crap again. that can take ages to reavaluate and put into place. Everyone says "she doesnt have the facial features. she looks fine" If you know what to look for as many of us have been trained to see before going oversees, you can tell. she has the epicanthal fold of the eyes and small palpable fissures (distance bet. inner and outer points of the eyes), small upper lip, small head circ., hole in the heart (there were once two holes), has a filtrim, but not very pronounced, has the stick out ears (thank goodness for long hair on girls). No she doenst have the pushed in nose or a huge space between her eyes and ears well below the norm, but many kids dont show any facial features at all, but have the symptoms. I read a great book that I recommend to any person who adopted a child with FAS "The Best I Can Be: Living with FASE". Go and read it today.
Thank you for posting. Kristina got a diagnosis of FAS from a psychiatrist. The doc read the child's IEP, talked to us about her history while she let the kid run outside the office with her dog and then kicked us out of the room, brought my daughter in and said "so, what are your problems at school?" Obviously my daughter panicked and started talking in a way the doctor could not understand her, never mind that for the last 1 1/2 hours her only interaction was with an animal so she was almost at that level, then the doc called us in the room talked 5 minutes with her and let us go. She then sends the report with FAS diagnosis and that because in Russia drugs were used in the military that probably they also used it in the orphanages?? This so called "professional" scared my daughter to death and expects the child to trust her and talk calmly to her...no one else agrees, there is no confirmation of drinking by mom, no facial features, head circumf is right. On IQ she was 70 with the standard method of testing but her English was still weak so they had her retake it with an International method where speaking a language is not necessary and she scored in the upper range. This is always in the back of my mind, could it be? It just will help to understand her better.
5 inspiring thoughts:
Yes..without disclosure that a mom has drank during her pregnacy a doctor will NOT diagnose FAS, however..they will still do the testing for facial features..and other tests..and can give a query of FAS...or FASD....or ARND....with suspected or unconfirmed allegatations that mom drank during pregnacy..(it totally depends on the doctor)..but..doctors can be sued if the mom says she did not drink and baby's urine is NOT tested at birth..so many doctors will NOT risk it..At least from what we have gone through.
Thank you for the information on FAS. There was a lot of alcohol abuse during the twins pregnancy but only one shows signs of problems. She is a mystery to me, her doctors and her therapists!
Interestingly, the second doctor we saw regarding this said that she may have FAE but that so much has been learned about the brains plasticity and affected children can make tremendous progress. I was also told the effects of FAE and just plain neglect are very similar so I will probably never know what the cause of her delays, etc. were. She did qualify for speech and occupational therapy and has made huge progress in the 4 months that she's been receiving those services. It has eased a lot of my fears for her future.
Whether she has it or not, through your information and what I've learned through my daughter, it's not as dismal a future for her as I was afraid it would be. As you said, "she is who she is" which happens to be very lovable, funny and cute to boot!
Hi Christina.
This is Alison in France, Mama to Princess Abigail. I was contacted today by Carmen, in Spain, who knowing of my ability to speak both English and Spanish fluently, asked if I would serve as linguistic go-between between yourself and Carmen. As you may know, Carmen is about to adopt in Ukraine, and needs to understand some things about FAS before she makes her final decisions. Please feel free to contact me on my email alisonbernardkeene@live.fr, and I will forward you the translation of Carmen's questions. Altneratively, I can call you if you leave a contact number.
Looking forward to speaking with you soon
Take care
Alison
you mentioned in that linked post about something with the toes. O has both middle toes curled. Is that what that means? Our district only took her for Sensory issues and I think they might kick her out this year, but I have a feeling as she gets older, she will hit a wall with learning and really want to keep her IEP in place so we dont have to go through all the child study team crap again. that can take ages to reavaluate and put into place. Everyone says "she doesnt have the facial features. she looks fine" If you know what to look for as many of us have been trained to see before going oversees, you can tell. she has the epicanthal fold of the eyes and small palpable fissures (distance bet. inner and outer points of the eyes), small upper lip, small head circ., hole in the heart (there were once two holes), has a filtrim, but not very pronounced, has the stick out ears (thank goodness for long hair on girls). No she doenst have the pushed in nose or a huge space between her eyes and ears well below the norm, but many kids dont show any facial features at all, but have the symptoms. I read a great book that I recommend to any person who adopted a child with FAS "The Best I Can Be: Living with FASE". Go and read it today.
Thank you for posting. Kristina got a diagnosis of FAS from a psychiatrist. The doc read the child's IEP, talked to us about her history while she let the kid run outside the office with her dog and then kicked us out of the room, brought my daughter in and said "so, what are your problems at school?" Obviously my daughter panicked and started talking in a way the doctor could not understand her, never mind that for the last 1 1/2 hours her only interaction was with an animal so she was almost at that level, then the doc called us in the room talked 5 minutes with her and let us go. She then sends the report with FAS diagnosis and that because in Russia drugs were used in the military that probably they also used it in the orphanages?? This so called "professional" scared my daughter to death and expects the child to trust her and talk calmly to her...no one else agrees, there is no confirmation of drinking by mom, no facial features, head circumf is right. On IQ she was 70 with the standard method of testing but her English was still weak so they had her retake it with an International method where speaking a language is not necessary and she scored in the upper range. This is always in the back of my mind, could it be? It just will help to understand her better.
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