Educating Families and Professionals
FAS Curricula Now Available!
In 2001, CDC funded four nonprofit
organizations to develop and evaluate educational curricula for
various audiences about fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and other
prenatal alcohol-related disorders and how to access appropriate
services for children with FAS and their families. After being
tested through multiple trainings and found to be effective,
materials from these four organizations are now available. More
about each curriculum is described below.
The Arc of the United States—Silver Spring, Maryland
The Arc has developed and tested a comprehensive curriculum that can
be presented to adult learners in a workshop format. Three modules
address general information about FAS and related disorders,
components of care for children with these conditions, and
advocating for services and supports. Using this curriculum, The Arc
has conducted over 30 trainings in approximately 20 states for more
than 1,000 participants, such as parents/caregivers, professionals,
and trainers. For more information about these materials and how to
order them, please visit
http://www.thearc.org.
Double ARC—Toledo, Ohio
Double ARC has developed and tested separate training curricula for
parents and teachers. The parent curriculum describes the core
deficits of children with FAS and related conditions, teaches
effective parenting techniques addressing these deficits, and
directs parents to service resources for children, including school
programs. The curriculum for teachers describes FAS and related
conditions, ways to recognize children who might have the condition,
and approaches to enhancing school performance. Double ARC has also
created a video on FAS available for use with the curriculum. Double
ARC offers training for facilitators who will be teaching the parent
classes. These materials have been tested with more than 400
participants in sessions for parents and teachers. For more
information about these materials and how to order them, please
visit
http://www.doublearc.org.
Education Development Center—Newton, Massachusetts
The Education Development Center has developed and evaluated an
online education package about FAS and related conditions;
collaborated with state agencies to identify and prepare a state
cadre of trainers; developed, facilitated, and evaluated an online
training-of-trainers (TOT) course to prepare state trainers; and
collaborated with state agencies to develop a system for providing
FAS awareness sessions in schools targeting school staff and
parents/caregivers. The content of the TOT and awareness sessions
includes a comprehensive review of the physical, neurodevelopmental,
and behavioral characteristics of children with FAS; secondary
disabilities; needed services; family stressors and coping
strategies; and what schools can do with limited community
resources. The TOT program was conducted with more than 200
participants from 18 states and Guam. These trainers then delivered
school-based workshops in their respective states. The training
materials, including a how-to guide for states, are now available on
CD. For more information about these materials and how to order
them, please visit http://www.edc.org.
National Indian Justice Center—Santa Rosa, California
The National Indian Justice Center has developed and tested a
training curriculum that focuses on increasing awareness of FAS and
related conditions and encourages a cooperative approach to
referring and responding to persons with FAS within the tribal
community. The curriculum includes information about the medical and
psychological aspects of FAS and related conditions. It was
developed to target American Indian populations and is designed for
use by tribal court judges, law enforcement personnel, social
service workers, tribal leaders, medical health providers, mental
health providers, housing authority personnel, teachers/educators,
and non-tribal judicial system personnel. The curriculum has been
tested with more than 400 participants from tribes in California,
Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. For more information about these
materials and how to order them, please visit
http://www.nijc.org.
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