FASD Service Coordination

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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 p.m. 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:

• Email: fasdbrant@contactbrant.net
• Call: 519-758-8228 ext. 236

RESOURCES AND WEBSITE LINKS

People With FASD Talking About FASD – Watch a youtube video about people with FASD, talking about FASD

FASD and Educational Accommodations – Individuals that are diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder face many challenges at home, in the community, and in the classroom. This video is a first-hand account of how appropriate supports and accommodations can improve the daily life of an individual living with FASD in an educational setting. FORT and Temenos are specialized FASD informed treatment programs for children and youth diagnosed with FASD experiencing challenges at school which impede their opportunity to learn and achieve at their full potential. The self-advocates in this video are students from the FORT and Temenos programs (Carizon). They want to share some of their knowledge and experience of FASD and how it has impacted their school experience.

Living Life “On the Flip Side” E-Learning Module – English

Living Life “On the Flip Side” E-Learning Module – French

This eLearning training module was developed by the Coordinated Service Planning Provincial Network of which Contact Brant is a member.  The course is for parents and caregivers who have an understanding that FASD is a brain-based disability that requires a shift in our thinking about our loved one’s behaviour from “won’t” to “can’t.” Created by caregivers, this training will help you connect in ways that will give you hope as your journey through each day with your loved one with FASD.

FASD Ontario Website

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

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.