1. Where can my child/myself get evaluated for FASD? / Who does diagnosis of FASD in Minnesota?

Getting a diagnosis is one of the most important things you can do to help your child or yourself. Having an accurate diagnosis and appropriate services can help prevent secondary disabilities later in life. You can see who does diagnosis in your area of Minnesota by clicking on one of the following links:

Because of the limited places doing diagnostic work and the time it takes to evaluate and receive a diagnosis, many of the places have waiting lists. If you are willing to travel, look at what other regions of Minnesota have available for diagnostic services, those clinics may have shorter waiting lists. The places providing services generally take a variety of payment options, but you need to call each place and see what insurance they accept.

2. Where can I find an Occupational Therapist/Pediatrician/Psychiatrist/etc... that understands FASD?

MOFAS is continually working on improving our collection of providers that understand FASD. Our list is growing and is divided into six regions of Minnesota. For a list of providers, click on your region below:

This list is by no means exhaustive and if you have a provider that you would like to see added, please contact us with their information.

3. Do you provide training?

Yes. MOFAS provides many different types of training throughout the year that are open to the public, and MOFAS also does private trainings for individual agencies or organizations. By clicking here you can see the current trainings we are providing that are open to the public. If you are interested in having someone from MOFAS come to your agency and speak, please contact our Training Coordinator at trainings@mofas.org with the following information:

MOFAS charges a fee of $150/hour to do trainings, plus mileage of .505 per mile for round trips of 100 miles or more. However, if your agency cannot afford the set fee, please still contact us. There are a certain amount of trainings we do throughout the year that are free, and we are willing to work within your budget. Once you have contacted MOFAS with your request, we will get back to you to confirm your information. Because we have limited staff and resources, we are unable to personally accept all the training requests we receive. We do however have a Speaker's Bureau who assist with training on FASD and one of those speakers may be asked to do your training.

4. What is FASD?

FASD stands for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and is an umbrella term describing the range of effects that can occur in an individual whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. These effects may include physical, mental, behavioral, and/or learning disabilities with possible lifelong implications. The "umbrella" of FASD can include diagnosis such as:

FASD is not a medical diagnosis but it refers to a variety of conditions that can occur in children born to mothers that drank alcohol while pregnant. FASD is a lifetime disability that affects each child differently. FASD can include physical, mental and behavioral defects. Some children with FASD have specific facial features and tend to be smaller in height and weight. They often have brain injury that never goes away. This means both the child’s thought process and his behavior may be very different than a child who was not exposed to alcohol before birth. The brain damage is the most challenging part of this disability.

5. What causes FASD?

The only cause of FASD is alcohol use during pregnancy. There is no known safe amount of alcohol to drink during pregnancy. There is also no safe time to drink alcohol during pregnancy. Alcohol can affect the baby every trimester of pregnancy:

Drinking alcohol up to the 13th week of pregnancy can cause:

Drinking alcohol between weeks 14 and 26 can cause:

Drinking alcohol between weeks 27 and 40 can cause:

6. Is there a safe amount of alcohol to drink while I am pregnant? / Is there a safe time to drink alcohol when I am pregnant?

No. There is no safe amount of alcohol that a woman can consume during pregnancy. Because every women metabolizes alcohol differently, even the smallest amount of alcohol could harm the developing baby. Because of that risk, there is never a safe time to drink alcohol during pregnancy. From the Surgeon General's News Release on February 21, 2005:

"We do not know what, if any, amount of alcohol is safe. But we do know that the risk of a baby being born with any of the fetal alcohol spectrum disorders increases with the amount of alcohol a pregnant woman drinks, as does the likely severity of the condition. And when a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, so does her baby. Therefore, it's in the child's best interest for a pregnant woman to simply not drink alcohol.

In addition, studies indicate that a baby could be affected by alcohol consumption within the earliest weeks after conception, even before a woman knows that she is pregnant. For that reason, the Surgeon General is recommending that women who may become pregnant also abstain from alcohol."

7. Can a father cause FASD?

No. FASD is only caused when a woman drinks alcohol when she is pregnant. However, a father can be supportive of the mother by encouraging her not to drink alcohol while she is pregnant and by abstaining from alcohol himself as a show of support for the mother.

8. Is There a Cure for FASD?

Unfortunately, FASD cannot be cured. The brain damage that occurs to an unborn baby when a pregnant women drinks alcohol cannot be changed or reversed. However, people with FASD can function very well in life when given the right supports. Supports include a stable and loving home or a job coach and placement program.

The thing we cannot change about FASD are called Primary Disabilities and include:

Secondary Disabilities are the ones that can be prevented when we deal with the Primary Disability properly. Secondary Disabilities can include:

9. How do you know if you/your child has FASD?

FASD is only caused by a mother drinking alcohol during pregnancy. These are some things to look for if you suspect someone you know may be affected: Infants: Low birthweight; sensitivity to light, noise and touch; irritability; unable to suck effectively; slow to develop; ear infections; poor sleep/wake cycles. Toddlers: Poor memory; hyperactivity; no fear; no sense of boundaries; need for lots of physical contact. School-Age Children: Easily distracted; short attention span; poor coordination; trouble with large and fine motor skills; need lots of one-on-one attention. Older Children: Low self-esteem; trouble keeping up in school; poor impulse control; difficulty with public versus private environments; must be reminded of concepts on a daily basis. These signs may also be present in children without FASD, however you will notice that “typical” parenting will not result in changes in behavior for children prenatally exposed to alcohol.

10. If a woman has FASD, will her children have it, too? / Is FASD hereditary?

No. FASD cannot be "passed on" from a mother to a child like having blue eyes can be passed on. The only way for a women with FASD to have a child with FASD is for that woman to drink alcohol when she is pregnant. Also, just because a woman has one child with FASD does not mean she will have another with FASD. As long as a pregnant woman does not drink alcohol, her child will not be born with FASD.

11. How many people have FASD?

FASD occurs in about 10 per 1,000 live births, or about 40,000 babies per year. FAS, the most recognized condition in the spectrum, is estimated to occur in 0.5 to 2 per 1,000 live births.¹ FASD is now more prevalent than Spina Bifida, Down Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy combined.

1. FASD Center for Excellence at http://fasdcenter.samhsa.gov/pdf/WYNKLanguageFASD2.pdf (pdf)

12. I drank alcohol before I knew I was pregnant, will my baby have FASD?

The best thing to do when you find out you are pregnant is to stop drinking alcohol. The sooner a woman stops drinking alcohol during pregnancy, the better birth outcome she will have. Some unborn babies are not seemingly affected by their mother drinking alcohol, while others are affected a great deal. Many women do not know they are pregnant for the first couple months of their pregnancy, and during that time (weeks 3 to 8 of fetus development) the brain and many major organs are developing. That is why the safest thing is to not drink any alcohol during pregnancy, if you are planning on becoming pregnant or are having unprotected sex.