The main goals : move out of home establish his own life learn to cope with societal rules – increase personal expectation with diminishing parental support (lots of teens without FASD have trouble with this) Trouble Areas: undereducated poor money management loneliness lack of boundaries poor judgement He may lack the emotional and / or the educational maturity to embark on an independent life but he still has the internal and societal programming that makes [...]
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the FASD adolescent still requires consistency, strong academic supports, and patience hormones are present but without the boundaries & social skills the teen may appear to be functioning higher than he really is sequencing problems may still persist teen will require immediate feedback other emotional problems may coexist – depression – eating disorder – suicide ideation – emotional alienation outrageous behaviours may continue (eg. temper tantrums) school suspensions
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SEXUALITY hormones are probably working fine problems frequently emerge because of lack of boundaries, lack of impulse control, inability to link behaviour and consequences, need for acceptance, social isolation often leads to sexual activity with predictable consequences eg. STD’s, pregnancy, exploitation, easy victimization DRUGS AND ALCOHOL often exploited by older teens & adults substance abuse treatment is generally more difficult, refuses help and more relapses SCHOOL, JOB, DAILY LIFE school frequently causes extreme stress employment [...]
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Many children with FASD have difficulty with sequencing and seeing cause and effect. Life seems to be a series of randomly unrelated events. “Tracking” means to help the child recall an event or situation and its resulting consequences. Bedtime is a good time for “tracking” as he may be more ready to listen (a teachable moment). We want him / her to begin to connect the dots” of life. It may need to be repeated [...]
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The main developmental task for children of this age is to develop a sense of industry. Family stresses are likely to increase as FASD children can be exhausting. Caregivers will benefit from counselling and respite care may become necessary. Peer and sibling relationships can become more difficult because the child may have legitimate difficulty with following the rules, turn taking, cheating, stealing, breaking things and being unpredictable. Children with FASD do not understand the feelings [...]
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