Developing Inclusive Practice for Young Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

101 Pages·2017·1.56 MB·English

by  Carolyn Blackburn

Developing Inclusive Practice for
Young Children with Fetal Alcohol
Spectrum Disorders
Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) have emerged as a major
phenomenon within the education and health care systems. Prenatal exposure to alcohol
is known to result in a range of birth anomalies for infants and children. Children with
FASD experience a range of developmental delays, which limit their participation and
progress in a range of educational and social settings.
Written by one of the UK’s top experts in the field, this practical and informative
resource explores the complex and compounding socio-cultural, historical and political
factors surrounding maternal drug and alcohol use, and the implications this has for
young children’s learning and development across the childhood workforce. The book
provides a framework of knowledge and understanding as a tool to develop inclusive
practice.
DevelopingInclusivePracticeforYoungChildrenwithFetalAlcoholSpectrumDisorders
is an essential read for all early childhood professionals and practitioners. It offers a range
of pedagogical strategies to improve children’s long-term developmental trajectory, whilst
supporting children and families in a sensitive, respectful manner.
CarolynBlackburnisaSeniorResearchFellowintheSchoolofEducationandSocialWork
atBirminghamCityUniversity.Sheledtwoprojectsrelatedtoearlychildhoodprofessional
knowledgeandtheeducationalimplicationsofFASDandhassupportednumerouschildren
with FASD in mainstream and special education. Carolyn is a Board Member of the
EuropeanAssociationonEarlyChildhoodInterventionandaWinstonChurchillFellowon
EarlyYearsInterventionandPrevention.

Developing Inclusive Practice for
Young Children with Fetal Alcohol
Spectrum Disorders
A Framework of Knowledge and Understanding
for the Early Childhood Workforce
Carolyn Blackburn
c
mi Economic
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Firstpublished2017
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
andbyRoutledge
711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
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©2017CarolynBlackburn
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ISBN:978-1-138-83930-4(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-138-83932-8(pbk)
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byTaylor&FrancisBooks
Contents
Foreword vii
Acknowledgements ix
1 Introduction: The role of teratogens in children’s development 1
2 Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders 7
3 Policy for early childhood inclusion and intervention 21
4 Theory, assessment, pedagogy and support 35
5 Framework of knowledge and understanding to support young children
prenatally exposed to alcohol/diagnosed with FASD 51
6 Making human beings human: Relationship-based early childhood inclusion
and intervention 59
Appendix A: Sensory preferences profile 66
Appendix B: Sensory passport 70
References 78
Index 85
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Foreword
The World Health Organization describes Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) as a
‘time-bomb ticking’. This timely book may help us diffuse that time bomb before it
explodes! Carolyn Blackburn brings all of her experiences as an early childhood profes-
sional and researcher to bear in illuminating just how destructive to fetal development
alcoholis,andhowprenatalexposuretoalcoholcansignificantlyalterthedevelopmental
trajectory of children. The whole thrust of this text powerfully reminds us that FASD is
100% preventable, and 100% irreversible.
Years of research in the field of Early Childhood Intervention (Guralnick, 2005) has
clearlydemonstratedthebenefitstochildrenandfamiliesofearly,timelyandindividually
tailoredsupport.However,lackofprofessionalknowledgeaboutFASD,thebio-psychosocial
ramifications and the implications of the compromised learning pathways, mean that
interventions may not be designed to embrace young children with FASD as active lear-
nersengagedinastimulatingenvironmentthatcanaidandpromotetheirdevelopmentin
all domains. To shape high-quality practice in the future, professionals deserve to have
their pathway of development illuminated and articulated. The wealth of information
presented in chapters on policy, evidence-based practice, support and intervention in this
book do just that.
Carefully crafted text, littered with case studies, aids the readers’ understanding of
who this child is, their likely prior experiences, and how, with skilful support, nurture
and care their development can be optimised throughout early childhood inclusion and
intervention. Children’s experiences even after the toxicity and commensurate trauma of
the prenatal period are not without further potentially negative episodes. Some children
mayloseorberemovedfromtheirbiologicalfamily.Theymayfindthemselvesinmultiple
foster care placements. This will impact on bonding, nurturing and attachment.
In an early childhood setting there is the risk that the child may become withdrawn,
agitated or develop unusual attachment relationships which need additional support. How
will they communicate if they are overwhelmed by feelings of insecurity? Will they find
learning too challenging as they try to regulate their emotional state? Or become nervous
and anxious in a busy, fast-moving setting – an anxious child is not a learning child.
The strength of this book lies in the fact that it keeps the child as its central focus; at
the heart of its debate, pulling on perspectives from research across a variety of dis-
ciplines and internationally, and from evidence-based practice from an array of inter-
disciplinary perspectives. The family-centred approach adopted throughout the book
wraps around the child, whether that be from the biological family, the foster carer, or
adoptive family.
Foreword viii
Carolyn Blackburn has opened a window of professional opportunity for early child-
hood professionals through the information, knowledge and insight she offers in this
book.Couchedinthelanguageofearlychildhood,clearlysetinthecontextofthoseearly
years, the reader is invited to embark on a journey for and with the child with FASD.
Through powerful and illuminative discussions around policy, theory, pedagogy and
support, this book certainly achieves its aim of introducing a framework of knowledge
and understanding as a tool to develop inclusive practice for young children prenatally
exposed to alcohol.
It does so with creativity, care and compassion.
Professor Barry Carpenter, CBE
Acknowledgements
I would like to dedicate this book to all of the children and young people with Fetal
Alcohol Spectrum Disorders whom I have had the pleasure to meet and work with in
educational settings, and the families they live with who have shared their stories with
me over the last fifteen years.
Further thanks to the professionals who strive continually to improve their inclusive
practice to support children in the best way possible.
Not least, sincere thanks to all of the charities (mostly run by parents of children with
FASD themselves) that tirelessly campaign for the rights of children, young people and
adults with FASD.
This book would not have been possible without the support of Alison Foyle and her
colleagues at Routledge Education.
My knowledge about FASD has grown from my professional friendship with Dr Raja
Mukherjee, Professor Barry Carpenter and Jo Egerton, and the opportunities I have had
to share the lives of children, families and professionals.