Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs) Interventions (Child & Adolescent)

The Math Interactive Learning Experience (MILE) program is an intervention designed to facilitate math learning in children who have a history of being diagnosed with a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. The intervention can be used in one on one habilitative care environments and in small group school environments. The program teaches math concepts using manipulatives to support problems with working memory skills and visual-spatial reasoning. In addition, a metacognitive learning technique called FAR (Focus and Plan, Act, and Reflect) is used to teach the child to self-regulate and monitor their thinking processes during the learning. There are optional components of the program that teach caregivers about the impact of prenatal alcohol exposure, how to advocate for their children, and how to support their child's math learning. In addition, instruction in behavioral regulation training is given to parents to support their child's readiness to learn.

Alert Program® provides an organizing framework and process to address issues of self-regulation for both children and adolescents. The program is designed to take complex sensory processing information related to modulation and self-regulation, and make it accessible for the lay person through:

• Capitalizing on the higher cognitive functioning by using the cortex for thinking through self-regulation options, to help individuals recognize problems with lower-level functioning
• Improving sensorimotor regulation which contributes to improved emotional, social, and behavioral regulation, as well as improved executive functioning.
• Focusing on helping individuals learn to monitor, maintain, and change their level of alertness so that it is appropriate to a situation or task.

Alert Program® consists of activities that incorporate sensory integration techniques with cognitive approaches. Knowledge of self-regulation and a repertoire of sensorimotor strategies enhance one's ability to learn, interact with others, and work or play within varied environments, in addition to building self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-monitoring skills.

The Families Moving Forward (FMF) Program is a manualized, yet individualized, behavioral consultation intervention. FMF is tailored for families raising children 3–12 years with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) or fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), and clinically concerning behavior problems.

The FMF Program offers a specialized intervention approach delivered by trained providers. Clinically, FMF combines positive behavior support techniques with motivational interviewing and cognitive-behavioral treatment. FMF offers:

• Caregiver support and coaching
• Psychoeducation on PAE effects, treatment-relevant FASD information, and advocacy
• Anticipatory guidance and skill building in caregiver use of proactive parenting strategies (e.g., accommodations)
• Behavior planning
• Targeted school and provider consultation, and community resource linkages, are also offered.

GoFAR is a manualized intervention program for parents and children ages 4 to 9 years old with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) whom have problems with self-regulation and adaptive functioning. GoFAR aims to improve self-regulation, reduce disruptive behavior, and improve adaptive functioning in the home. The GoFAR program focuses on disorders of affective and cognitive control that are central to behavioral and adaptive disorders from infancy through young adulthood. By school age, such problems often present as attentional problems, deficits in executive functioning, and disorders in conduct and behavior. GoFAR addresses these problems in young children by bringing together computer game technology and behavioral techniques for affective and cognitive control. The methodology is based on previous work that suggests that a metacognitive technique (FAR: – Focus/Plan,– Act, – Reflect) is helpful in improving behavioral and educational outcomes in FASD. An important element is the GoFAR computer game, which supports the understanding and development of metacognitive control techniques and reinforces its use by clinically referred children, ages 5 to 10 years old. The game is incorporated into a 10-week, manualized intervention program, which focuses on improving adaptive functioning and behavior.

Parents and Children Together (PACT) is a group therapy intervention for foster and adopted children who were affected by prenatal exposure to alcohol and their parents/caregivers. PACT is based on the premise that difficulties with self-regulation contribute to the day-to-day challenges experienced by children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs), including executive functioning deficits and emotional dysregulation. The program is designed to teach children to recognize individual deficit areas and to develop strategies to compensate for areas of weakness, all while building upon existing skills and strengths. The development of this group treatment model integrated techniques and interventions utilized in therapy for traumatic brain injury (TBI) with components of the Alert Program^®, curriculum that helps children improve self-regulatory skills by teaching children how to first identify their arousal level and then how to choose appropriate interventions to alter their arousal level based on situational demands.