Philadelphia Medicine Winter-Spring 2021 - 19

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Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
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What the medical profession knows regarding alcohol and pregnancy, Turchi said, is that when the child is conceived, " the brain
starts developing within days of conception, " she said. " You can see
that within the first seven days of development, the brain can be
affected by alcohol. So that's the challenge: how many women know
the exact day they get pregnant? That's why there is no safe time. "
There's no safe type of alcohol. And there's really no safe amount.
" We know that alcohol affects and targets certain areas of the brain
and we see how it manifests in the deficits that kids have, " she said.
" Like anything else, more is worse. "

FAS children, she said, have a hard time with self-regulation.
The children need to compensate for the stresses, she said, so when
they come home from school, " they are completely unraveled, " she
said. " They are kids who tend to be somewhat immature, and they
don't do as well with social learning and adaptive EQ. They tend to
be at high risk for people taking advantage of them.
Sometimes the children get into so much trouble in school
they get suspended, she said, if schools don't have the supports to
address their needs.

Importantly, the Center wants to remove any shame from the
equation on how to treat the syndrome.

" Students, at times, get violent, " she said. " Or sometimes they
are just so withdrawn. It depends on the child and if they have the
appropriate school placement. "

" We're not looking to make women get tremendous guilt, " Turchi
said.

Those children need a lot of one-on-one mentoring and guidance,
breaking down their work into simple-to-do tasks, according to Turchi.

This involves helping them with attention issues, " and really helping
However, women of childbearing age " really should abstain from
having alcohol, " she said. " Or for those women trying to become some of that individual therapy. They often need a lot of support
pregnant, I would recommend that women abstain from drinking. " for their learning problems and the information process, " she said.

Long-term effects
What are the long-term effects of the syndrome?
According to the pediatrician, babies tend to be cranky, or their
growth is affected.
" The irreversible brain damage that happens with kids is that
their language is delayed, " she said. The children " often have speech
delays. They often have kids who have really poor sleep. Even as
younger kids, they don't sleep well. They can be very hyper and
have attention issues. "
Turchi said the children struggle a lot with learning things such
as math, " what we call executive functioning, " she said.
For these children, " school sometimes is really hard. If you think
about it, you go to your desk, sit down, take out your pencil: You're
going all day long. "

Not about blame
Turchi said there is a lot of emotion tied with giving a diagnosis
to a parent about something they did that impacted their child. But
any kind of blame is removed from the equation.
" We're very sensitive: This isn't about blame, " Turchi said. " That
often is the toughest thing we do: support them. And even if you
are an adoptive parent, sometimes there is blame on the other side.
" For the biological parents, this is a really tough diagnosis, " she said.
Parents are often frustrated and upset when they learn
about a syndrome such as fetal alcohol or anything related to
childhood sickness and disease. They have a right to be, Turchi
said. But the key is having the coping skills and mechanisms
in place to ensure the children not only survive, but thrive.
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Winter-Spring 2021 : Philadelphia Medicine 19

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Philadelphia Medicine Winter-Spring 2021

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