In this episode Douglas Waite, MD, FAAP, member of the executive committee of the AAP Council on Foster Care, Adoption, and Kinship Care, offers practical ways to detect Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and help families receive treatment. Hosts David Hill, MD, FAAP, and Joanna Parga-Belinkie, MD, FAAP, also talk with Peggy Way, whose 38-year-old daughter was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, about communicating with compassion.
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Guests
Douglas Waite, MD, FAAP
Guest
Douglas Waite, MD, FAAP, is Division Chief of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Bronxcare Health System. Dr. Waite holds an appointment of Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital and is a member of the executive committee of the AAP Council on Foster Care, Adoption, and Kinship Care. He has worked with AAP at the national and state levels on raising awareness of the neurodevelopmental effects of prenatal alcohol and substance exposure and is a participant in two panels formed by the AAP, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Administration for Children and Families to develop protocols for screening children in child welfare and the general pediatric population for fetal alcohol and drug exposure. Dr. Waite has special interests in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and the effects of child abuse and neglect upon child development.
Peggy Way
Guest
Peggy Way is the past president of SoCal NOFAS, the Southern California affiliate of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and former chair of the NOFAS Affiliate Executive Council. Ms. Way is currently a FASD Consultant and works on special projects with University of California San Diego’s Center for Better Beginnings, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Peggy is the birth mother of a 38-year-old daughter diagnosed with FAS in 1986 and a member of the Circle of Hope, a birth-mother mentoring and speaker program. Peggy and her daughter, Tracy, have been sharing their story at the state and national level for the past 18 years.
Resources
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is an umbrella term describing a broad range of adverse developmental effects that can occur in an individual with prenatal exposure to alcohol. A child or adolescent with an FASD may have a combination of physical, neurodevelopmental, neurocognitive, and behavioral problems with each manifesting a range of severity. It is not known how many people in the United States have an FASD. Several initial studies, using active case findings of school-aged children, indicate that one to five percent of children in the United States may have an FASD. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data indicate that approximately 12 percent of pregnancies may have alcohol exposure.
To find resources related to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), please visit www.aap.org/fasd.
For more information about screening for prenatal alcohol exposure, please visit www.aap.org/pae.
To learn more about advocacy around FASD, please visit FASD United.
Conflict of Interest Disclosure:
The interviewees have no conflicts of interest to disclose
Music Credits:
"Steadfast" by Blue Dot Sessions at www.sessions.blue
Theme music composed by Matthew Simonson at Foundsound.media
*The views expressed in this podcast are those of the guests and not necessarily those of the American Academy of Pediatrics.