Educating Adolescents with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Caregiver Support Needs

Journal of Child and Family Studies volume 26, pages2843–2851(2017)Cite this article

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify caregivers’ needs in helping youth with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) succeed in school. Sixteen caregivers raising a youth with FASD participated in telephone interviews that included the question: “What do caregivers need to help youth be successful in school?”. Participants then sorted responses to these questions into piles they believed to be a conceptual fit with one another, and the data was analyzed using multi-dimensional scaling and cluster analysis. Five concepts emerged: (1) Working to meet the needs of the individual, (2) educational accommodations, (3) FASD-literate schools, (4) resources, and (5) therapeutic supports. These concepts were compared and contrasted with the existing literature.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of this research through a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. We would also like to thank the caregivers who participated in this study for their time and expertise.

Funding

This study was funded by The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Western University, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada

    Kyle Cleversey & Jason Brown

  2. University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2R3, Canada

    Aamena Kapasi

Authors
  1. Kyle Cleversey
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  2. Jason Brown
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  3. Aamena Kapasi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kyle Cleversey.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Cleversey, K., Brown, J. & Kapasi, A. Educating Adolescents with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Caregiver Support Needs. J Child Fam Stud 26, 2843–2851 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0776-7

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Keywords

  • FASD
  • Education
  • Caregivers
  • Youth
  • Needs
  • Services
  • Concept mapping