Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of West Florida, 2005. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 218 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

This study utilized the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and the Personality Inventory for Children, Second Edition (PIC-2) as measures of cognitive and personality functioning for children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder with comorbid Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (FASD/ADHD) and children with ADHD. This study revealed the WISC-IV and PIC-2 each provided unique information to the neuropsychological examination of children with FASD/ADHD and ADHD. Furthermore, the FASD/ADHD group and the ADHD group were found to have significant differences in terms of cognitive and personality functioning. The results also indicated the groups could be differentiated using the WISC-IV and the PIC-2 independently with a high degree of accuracy. The current study further elucidated the unique cognitive and personality profiles of children with FASD/ADHD and ADHD and identified key areas of difference between the two groups. Moreover, the current study documented the utility of the Classification and Regression Tree procedure as a useful diagnostic tool in the differential diagnosis of FASD versus ADHD using commonly used cognitive and personality measures. / Department of Educational Psychology

The majority of children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) have comorbid Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (95%; Fryer et al., 2007). The goal of this study was to compare the neuropsychological and adaptive skills profiles of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with or without comorbid FASD in order to improve interventions for both of these populations. This study paid particular attention to neurological, cognitive, and adaptive skills strengths and weaknesses in children with ADHD/FASD and children with ADHD without comorbid FASD. By identifying these strengths and weaknesses recommendations were able to be made to help the functioning of each of children with ADHD/FASD and children with ADHD in their home, community, and school environments based on their neuropsychological and adaptive skills profiles. Neurologically, children with ADHD/FASD and children with ADHD have been shown to have impairment in the basal ganglia, cerebellum, corpus callosum, frontal lobes, hippocampus, hypothalamus, occipital lobes, parietal lobes, temporal lobes, and thalamus. Cognitively, children with ADHD have been shown to have difficulty in areas such as working memory and processing speed with less significant deficiencies in verbal ability and perceptual organization whereas children with ADHD/FASD have shown impairment in all of these cognitive abilities. When compared to typically developing children with approximately the same level of general intelligence, children with ADHD have been shown to obtain lower standard scores in all domains of adaptive functioning and children with FASD have been shown to demonstrate significant adaptive skills deficits throughout the lifespan. This study used specialized statistical procedures including Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), Discriminant Analysis (DA), and Classification and Regression Tree (CART) in order to investigate the neuropsychological and adaptive skills in 81 children with ADHD/FASD and 147 children with ADHD. The statistical analyses indicated that children with ADHD/FASD and children with ADHD have similar cognitive and adaptive skills profiles; however, the children with comorbid ADHD/FASD were significantly more impaired in verbal ability, perceptual reasoning, working memory, processing speed, and overall adaptive skills. The current study took a step forward in helping to make diagnostic decisions based on the similarities and differences between children with ADHD with and without comorbid FASD. Given the data from the current study indicating the significant differences in cognitive and adaptive skills in these two samples, it is imperative that psychopharmacological interventions be tailored to these two seemingly similar yet different groups, especially as these two groups may respond differently to stimulant medication, the first line of medicinal treatment for ADHD. Children with ADHD/FASD should also be treated with more intense interventions in the home, community, and school than children with ADHD. / Department of Educational Psychology

Thesis (MEdPsig)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The research in this qualitative study focuses on the role of the Educational Psychologist in facilitating inclusion of a learner with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). The international movement towards inclusive education, with emphasis on the inclusion of all learners irrespective of their special needs in mainstream schools, gained momentum in the South African context with the announcement of Education White Paper 6, Special Needs Education: Building an Inclusive Education and Training system. More learners with FAS are accommodated in mainstream schools and research has indicated that most cases of FAS in the world prevailed in the Western Cape. FAS is one of the leading causes of mental retardation and the challenges which the inclusion of learners with FAS pose to those who have to facilitate inclusive education, has urged this study. The study seeks to explore the role of the Educational Psychologist in the process of facilitating inclusion of a learner with FAS. An eco-systemic approach underpins the study. A single learner with FAS within the context of the family and education system was chosen by means of purposive sampling as the focus of a qualitative, case study. The eco-systemic approach makes it possible to explore special needs in terms of intrinsic factors (within the learner) and extrinsic factors (within the system) in order to address the needs of the system. Semistructured interviews were held with respondents from different levels of the eco-system in which the learner functions. A review of personal records and field notes were used to gather information related to the education and learning process. The data were analysed using aspects of content analyses. Four themes emerged: support to the learner, support to the school, support to the parents and support to the school community. The findings indicated that the inclusion of learners with FAS predicts a change and an expansion in the role of the educational psychologist. Early identification, early intervention and a multi-functional team approach seem to improve the long-term prognoses of learners with FAS. The facilitation of inclusive education for learners with FAS poses a challenge to the educational psychologist to render individual support, but also to provide support in a holistic systemic manner, focusing on those who work and live with the individual learners. The learning, behaviour and developmental barriers which learners with FAS may experience were highlighted with the hope to guide those who work with these learners. Several positive and negative factors were indicated and recommendations were made. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie kwalitatiewe studie fokus op die rol van die Opvoedkundige Sielkundige in die fasilitering van inklusiewe onderwys aan 'n leerder met Fetale Alkohol Sindroom (FAS). Die internasionale beweging na inklusiewe onderwys, wat die insluiting van alle leerders, ongeag hulle spesiale behoeftes, by hoofstroomskole onderskryf, het ook in Suid-Afrika neerslag gevind met die uitreiking van die Onderwys Witskrif 6, Special Needs Education: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System. Meer leerders met FAS word by hoofstroomskole ingesluit en navorsing het getoon dat die voorkomssyfer van FAS in die Wes-Kaap die hoogste ter wêreld is. Die feit dat FAS tans een van die vernaamste oorsake van verstandelike gestremdheid is, en die uitdagings wat die insluiting van leerders met FAS aan diegene wat inklusiewe onderwys moet fasiliteer bied, het hierdie navorsingsondersoek genoop. Die doel van hierdie studie is om 'n in diepte ondersoek te doen na die rol van die Opvoedkundige Sielkundige in die fasilitering van inklusiewe onderwys aan 'n leerder met FAS. 'n Ekosistemiese benadering het die teoretiese raamwerk van die studie gevorm. 'n Enkele leerder met FAS is binne die konteks van sy familie en die onderwyssisteem, met behulp van doelgerigte steekproefneming, gekies om die fokus van die kwalitatiewe gevallestudie te vorm. Die ekosistemiese benadering maak dit moontlik om spesiale behoeftes ten opsigte van faktore wat primêr by die leerder (intrinsiek) voorkom, sowel as faktore wat in die sisteem (ekstrinsiek) voorkom, te ondersoek en te verseker dat die behoeftes van die sisteem aangespreek word. Semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude is gevoer met respondente uit die verskillende vlakke van die ekosisteem waarbinne die leerder funksioneer. 'n Oorsig van persoonlike rekords en verslae asook veldnotas is gebruik om inligting oor die leerder, die onderrig en die leerposes te bekom. Inhouds-analise is gebruik om die data te analiseer. Vier temas het uit die data na vore gekom, naamlik: ondersteuning aan die leerder, ondersteuning aan die skool, ondersteuning aan die ouers en ondersteuning aan die skoolgemeenskap. Die bevindinge dui daarop dat die insluiting van 'n leerder met FAS 'n roluitbreiding en 'n veranderende rol vir die Opvoedkundige Sielkunde in die vooruitsig stel. Vroeë identifikasie, vroeë intervensie en 'n multi-funksionele spanbenadering kan die langtermyn prognose van leerders met FAS verbeter. Die rol wat die Opvoedkundige Sielkundige op die verskillende vlakke van die ekosisteem kan speel, ten einde inklusiewe onderwys aan 'n leerder met FAS te fasiliteer, lê opgesluit in die mate waarin geïndividualiseerde, maar tog ook holisties omvattende ondersteuning aan diegene wat met hierdie leerders werk, gelewer kan word. Uit die bevindinge het suksesvolle en minder suksesvolle aspekte duidelik geword. Dit het daartoe bygedra dat die leer-, gedrag- en ontwikkelingshindernisse, sowel as die sterkpunte van die leerder met FAS, duidelik geword het en wenke vir toekomstige gebruik verbesonder kon word. Op grond van die bevindinge en aan die hand van literatuur is aanbevelings gemaak.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 128-139). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Over the past decade, the "problem" of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects among Aboriginal peoples has received increasing attention from the Canadian nation-state. However, few feminist, anti-racist, anti-ableist, and anti-colonial scholars have offered a critique of FAS/E "prevention" policies aimed at Aboriginal women. In this dissertation, I present my analysis of the "official knowledge" and "public pedagogies" articulated in one such policy, The First Nations and Inuit Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/ Fetal Alcohol Effects Initiative (herein "the Initiative"). This analysis unravels the complex and contradictory tensions in contemporary state policy formation. My findings show how the Initiative paradoxically supports the development of inclusive, grassroots approaches to FAS/E prevention in Aboriginal communities while at the same time eclipsing the voices and concerns of Aboriginal women. Though neglected in the official policy texts and talk of the Initiative, young Aboriginal mothers' agency and insights are central in the dialectic of ideology, discourse, and lived experience that this study documents. To facilitate this shift, I engage a productive methodological synthesis of textual analysis, institutional ethnography, and participatory research, by grounding my analysis of the texts in indepth group interviews with six Aboriginal mothers whose lives include substance use and FAS/E. This study offers significant implications for the development of future policy, research, and "culturally appropriate" pedagogy for and about FAS/E "prevention". My findings do not support the outright rejection of medical models of disability, as has been favoured by many critical theorists and activists on the grounds that such models are universally oppressive and disenfranchising. Rather, the women's insights into their own lived experiences emphasize the simultaneously enabling and disabling consequences of medicalization. Accordingly, my findings underscore the urgent need to reconsider the roles of "race", gender, class, nation and dis/ability in contemporary theories and practices of substantive citizenship and nation-building in and outside of education. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is a disease caused by prenatal alcohol exposure. It is characterized by craniofacial abnormalities, growth retardation, central nervous system defects, learning disabilities and a variety of other minor defects. Even though it affects 2-5% of individuals born every year, very little is known about the mechanisms that cause it. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) presents as an interesting and efficient model for studying this disease. This study provides some insight into the mechanisms underlying observed FASD phenotypes and, more specifically, the transcription factor elf3, which is downregulated in response to ethanol exposure during early embryonic development. Here we show a number of elf3 target genes that are downregulated during early development in response to ethanol exposure. We also give some insight into the expression pattern of elf3 in relation to zygotic genome activation. Translation blocking morpholino oligonucleotides were used to implicate Elf3 in epiboly movements during gastrulation and zebrafish tail development. Taken together these results help to strengthen the zebrafish as a model for FASD in addition to giving greater insight into both the expression pattern and role of Elf3 during development.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Joanne Rovet.

The main objective of this study is to construct a profile on the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome that can assist individuals working with these children. The focus of the study is the recognition of the emotional needs of the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome. Most studies done previously suggest that children with Fetal alcohol syndrome show behaviour similar to children with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Although a child with Fetal alcohol syndrome shows the same characteristics as a child with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, the manifestation of their emotional needs differ. The Child with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder does not necessarily show symptoms of cognitive developmental delay where the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome show symptoms of cognitive developmental delays. A Gestalt play therapy model has been used to show that through play therapy the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome can be guided to emotional awareness. These techniques are easy to use and applicable in class situations where the childcare worker, teachers or counselor work with the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome. The empirical research was done by means of quantitative research with was done by using the Conner symptom checklist to determine if the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome is hyperactive and impulsive and qualitative research with was done by means of participating observation Gestalt play therapy with the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome. The results show that the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome is hyperactive, impulsive and inattentional. These guidelines provided in the study will help the teacher and the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome cope better in the classroom environment and the child will learn how to cope with his emotional behaviours. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)

The main objective of this study is to construct a profile on the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome that can assist individuals working with these children. The focus of the study is the recognition of the emotional needs of the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome. Most studies done previously suggest that children with Fetal alcohol syndrome show behaviour similar to children with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Although a child with Fetal alcohol syndrome shows the same characteristics as a child with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, the manifestation of their emotional needs differ. The Child with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder does not necessarily show symptoms of cognitive developmental delay where the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome show symptoms of cognitive developmental delays. A Gestalt play therapy model has been used to show that through play therapy the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome can be guided to emotional awareness. These techniques are easy to use and applicable in class situations where the childcare worker, teachers or counselor work with the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome. The empirical research was done by means of quantitative research with was done by using the Conner symptom checklist to determine if the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome is hyperactive and impulsive and qualitative research with was done by means of participating observation Gestalt play therapy with the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome. The results show that the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome is hyperactive, impulsive and inattentional. These guidelines provided in the study will help the teacher and the child with Fetal alcohol syndrome cope better in the classroom environment and the child will learn how to cope with his emotional behaviours. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)