Are there tests for FAS? Or is this something that you just have to make an assumption?

Example is a boy whose mother and dad are divorced. Dad suspects that the mom drank throughout the pregnancy. His son displays all the sypmtoms you listed above. His mother has been in and out of treatment her whole adult life and left the boy when he was a baby so she could party. She says there was no drinking in the pregnance.. the father doubts this. Is there a test for the father and son to see if this is what is affecting him?

Thank you for your questions and comments regarding Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). For many of the Blogs on the Website, an initial Blog is a starting place for specific content areas, but your questions provide a great opportunity to add additional detail in the form of another Blog, and taking it to the next level.

For your question “Are there tests for FAS?” the answer is “It depends!” For the most extreme levels of FAS, there are obvious physical indicators, including growth suppression, microcephaly (i.e., small head), cardiac problems, mental retardation, etc. At the other extreme, there are no obvious indicators or tests to confirm FAS. There is no known amount of alcohol that is safe during pregnancy. A majority of children with FAS are not visually confirmed; there are no obvious indicators. As you describe, he presents all of the behavior and other problems reported. This group of children often are described as ADHD, only because that is the diagnosis that comes up for ANY behavior problem in our culture. Their behavior is often disrupted and they may be inattentive, but the more disruptive findings are increased irritability, reactivity, anger, low stress and frustration tolerance, etc.

On a related issue, what about the genetics? Much of the driving force behind alcoholism and other addictions is anxiety, the individual using alcohol and/or drugs to calm themselves. If mom was indeed anxious, as the brief history provided suggests, there is a 50-50 chance the child is also anxious. This would compound with FAS. My next blog post will be about treatment interventions. Thanks for your comment!

From the genetics perspective, we do evaluate kids in genetics clinc where there is known, or suspected prenatal alcohol exposure. As Dr. Nilsson previously stated, many times we do not see the physical features associated with exposure, but if we do, that can add evidence in cases where use is suspected but not known.

The important thing that we want parents, cargivers, and teachers to understand is that even if there are no physical signs, there still could be learning and behavioral impacts of exposure, which is why neuropsychological evaluation is a part of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder evaluation.

Because alcohol exposure causes a spectrum of effects and severity, even with twins who shared the same in utero exposure, we would say that kids in which exposure is known or suspected are at risk for learning and developmental difficulties. Therefore we recommend early intervention instead of the watch and wait approach.

Well said! Thank you for your comments.