FASD in the Classroom : A Collaborative Guide for Educators and Families

This practical, lived-experience guide to understanding FASD in education is a vital tool for schools wanting to provide the support and education that their students deserve. It includes clear classroom strategies for educators, and guidance on how to work together with parents and carers to advocate for children.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is widely misunderstood in education settings. Children with FASD can be seen as defiant and poorly behaved; school responses are often repeated sanctions which make things harder still for children, affecting their relationships and education. Families can also feel blamed as behaviour is seen to be a result of poor parenting. This positive guide, steeped in expert advice and personal experience, is designed by, and created to help educators, parents, and carers recognise how FASD presents in learning and day-to-day functioning, and respond in ways that work, which are both compassionate and effective. Tackling key issues including memory, attention, and sensory processing to social vulnerability and fatigue, it offers realistic, actionable approaches that can be used immediately. It also covers the significant role of productive home-school collaboration and how to achieve this. Clear, empathetic, and grounded in lived experience, this is the missing introduction for anyone supporting a child with FASD to thrive in education.