NCJ Number
177583
Date Published
July 1998
Length
96 pages
Annotation
Following a review of the literature on fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and fetal alcohol effects (FAE), this report recommends how this information might be applied to assessment and programming strategies used by Correctional Service Canada.
Abstract
Diagnosis of FAS requires a positive history of maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy as well as three symptomatic criteria: prenatal and/or postnatal growth delay, characteristic cranio-facial anomalies, and central nervous system impairments. Research has also found more subtle forms of FAS that have been termed fetal alcohol effects, which often have two but not three of the formal symptoms of FAS. In both FAS and FAE, the damage is permanent. In school-age children with FAS/FAE, the primary disabilities are hyperactivity, attention deficits, learning disabilities, arithmetic difficulties, cognitive deficits, language problems, and poor impulse control. In adolescence and adulthood, the primary difficulties are memory impairments, problems with judgment and abstract reasoning, and poor adaptive functioning. There is considerable evidence of a link between FAS/FAE, attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity, conduct disorder, and delinquency and crime. Recognizing this, it is important that offenders with FAS/FAE be identified, so that researchers can determine their treatment needs and design and evaluate correctional programs that take into account the cognitive and behavioral deficits of these individuals. Specific recommendations are offered for implementing such procedures through Correctional Service Canada. 52 references