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Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)

FASD describes the range of disabilities and diagnoses that result from drinking alcohol during pregnancy.  No amount of alcohol during pregnancy is considered safe.

Contact Brant is your first place to contact to get the services you need for children and youth who have social, emotional, behavioural, psychiatric and/or developmental concerns or special needs including Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).  Contact Brant makes it easy for you through just one phone call.  We also provide information to anyone who calls about available services in the Brant area.

Contact Brant is the Coordinating Agency and Access Agency in Brant.  Having a clear place to call for support is important in our community, to make it easier for families to access services for their child, and to reduce families having to repeat their story.

Anyone can refer a child or youth to Contact Brant services, including a child, youth parent, guardian or professional.  Call Contact Brant at 519-758-8228, or use this secure referral link Contact Brant Referral.

FASD Service Coordination

Contact Brant provides Service Coordination support to families of children and youth living with FASD, or suspected of being affected by FASD.  Your Contact Brant FASD Service Coordinator will:

  • Provide information and strategies on FASD
  • Help connect your child to services and other community supports and resources
  • Develop a service plan with you.

Eligibility for FASD Service Coordination

  • The child/youth is age 0 – 18, or age 18 – 21 and still attends school and
  • Has a formal diagnosis of FASD, or FASD is suspected

Education on FASD

The FASD Service Coordinator is available to provide education sessions to parents and professionals about FASD.

Understanding FASD

  • FASD is a brain injury and referred to as ‘invisible’ as we cannot see the disability
  • Consider a child’s developmental age not actual age – expectations need to match the developmental age.
  • FASD is a “Disability of Thinking”.  Create thinking-free days with routines, repetition, and consistency.
  • It is NOT that children with FASD WON’T, it is because they CAN’T.
  • Encourage supported independence – Make getting help or receiving support a ‘good thing’.
  • When things are not working – step back, reduce expectations, increase supports, and focus on your child’s strengths.

FASD is among the leading causes of cognitive and developmental disability among children in Canada.  FASD can affect individuals of all races, ages, cultures, classes, genders and sexualities.  Children and youth with FASD often appear more capable than they are, and often, are unlikely to recognize their own strengths/needs

Children and youth living with FASD are more likely to have mental health issues, substance use and other health, social and behavioural problems, disrupted school experiences, and be in conflict with the law.  These cause stress and emotional distress for the individual and their families and caregivers.

FASD Caregiver Support Group

Are you caring for a child or youth who has, or is suspected of having, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder?  Peer to peer support is available.  Come join us!

When:            Second Wednesday of the month (except July, August, December)

Time:             6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

Where:          Contact Brant, 643 Park Road North, Brantford

Benefits of Support Groups:

  • Meet other parents and caregivers who have similar challenges
  • Find encouragement and emotional support
  • Learn strategies to help your child at home and school
  • Learn how to access resources in the community

For more information on the FASD Caregiver Support Group, contact the parent group leaders:

More Information on FASD

Click on the icon for the FASD Ontario website:

  • Strategies, videos, training opportunities, resource guides and tips for caregivers and professionals

Click on these links for more resources:

www.knowfasd.ca –Interactive website based on gender and developmental stages with information and interventions. “Get to know FASD across the lifespan and learn about interventions”

ALL-ABOUT-ME – a tool for children and youth

Caregiver Resource Guide FASD – Contact Brant also has hard copies of this

I-Am-a-Caregiver-poster – summary document

My Brain Me and FASD – a book for children and youth

My Brain Me and FASD – video

Call the Contact Brant FASD Service Coordinator for more information, resources and support.