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Diagnosis

Current Canadian Guidelines for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder, 2015 (FASD) has three categories:

  • FASD with Sentinel Facial Features

    • The three facial features are:

      • Small eye openings

      • Flatter groove between the nose and upper lip

      • Thin upper lip
         

  • FASD without Sentinel Facial Features

  • At Risk for Neurodevelopmental disorder and FASD

 

An individual is best assessed by a multi-disciplinary team that can do the medical and neurodevelopmental brain domains assessments.   This type of team includes:

  • Doctor with expertise in FASD and differential diagnosis

  • Occupational therapist

  • Speech-Language pathologist

  • Psychologist

FASD diagnosis flowchart. The information presented is available below

The following neurodevelopmental brain domain should be assessed by the team. 

An individual needs to have impairment in at least

three of the following:

  • Academic Achievement

  • Adaptive Behaviour, Social Skills and Social Communication

  • Attentional Issues

  • Cognition

  • Dysregulation (Affect, Sensory)

  • Executive Functioning

  • Language

  • Memory

  • Motor Development

  • Neuroanatomy / Neurophysiology

References

Cook JL, Green CR, Lilley CM, et al.; (2015) Canadian Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Network. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: a guideline for diagnosis across the lifespan. CAMJ

Scott, Louise A (2016, March). FASD 101 +: The Practical Realities.  Hamilton Wentworth District School Board.  Hamilton, Ontario.

McLachlin, Kaitlyn (2017, November).  Hamilton FASD Conference 2017.  Moving Forward FASD Conference.  Hamilton, Ontario.

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