What is FAS?

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is an invisible avalanche crashing down and overwhelming public resources.  When we realize an avalanche is a bunch of snowflakes that have been ignored, the task of keeping affected people and their communities safe, seems more manageable.  Each child disabled by prenatal alcohol exposure is like an innocent snowflake.  There is nothing more fragile and beautiful than innocence; but nothing is more tragic than innocence betrayed by ignorance and fear.  Therefore, in defense of innocence, it is the mission of the F.A.S. Family Resource Institute, a non-profit educational organization; to identify, understand and care for each person with FASD.  This web site is published with the hope that it will aid in the preservation of the sweet innocence in those who are affected and that their cries for understanding and help will not be ignored.

Symptoms

MOOD SWINGS

• Impulsive and uninhibited
• Passive and with drawn one minute, switching to volatile temper tantrums the next.
• Unpredictable; may need 24 hour supervision

DEFENSIVE AND STUBBORN

• Unable (not unwilling) to accept responsibility
• Self-centered; behave as if the world revolves around them
• Always having to have their own way and willing to do anything to have it
• Demand and expect immediate gratification.
• Skilled at shifting blame
• Engaging and charismatic yet creative at reframing reality (lying stealing, etc.)

• Moral chameleons; excessive vulnerability to peer influence.
• Hyperactive in non-goal directed activity.
• Unable to stay focused on task, ie to follow rules, finish household chores, school assignments or keep commitments.
• Shortsighted
• Impulsive sexually (aggressive or vulnerable)

• Toward the predicaments they get themselves and their families into.
• Toward authority when caught breaking the rules of society.
• Toward their behavior and consequences.