Addiction Research & Therapy

Background: Abundance of research fi ndings show complex and multilevel developmental delays and retardation of brain developmental systems of (A) regulatory; (B) somatosensory processing; (C) relational and psycho-social; and (D) cortical/ executive functioning, among children diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. However, research on early intervention for young children (infants and toddlers) with FASD is limited.

Objective: To explore outcomes of a neurodevelopmentally based early intervention model with a group of young children

with FASD and their adoptive caregivers, respectively.

Methods: Using a neurodevelopmentally based intervention protocol, young children with FASD and their adoptive caregivers in the study received mental health interventions, individualized according to the pre-test results of the measured brain developmental systems (A, B, C, and D). Pre-post evaluation methods were applied to measure changes on these brain developmental systems for the young children, and parenting styles, behaviors and concerns for the adoptive parents.

Results: Th e results showed substantial developmental improvements for the young children in the study on various developmental systems of A, B, C, and D, and positive improvements for their adoptive parents on all the measured domains.

Conclusion: Outcomes of this study shows (a) positive outcomes of a neurodevelopmentally based early intervention model with young children with FASD; (b) importance of early intervention on developing brain; (c) the importance of direct and full inclusion of the primary caregivers during the intervention process; (d) signifi cant impacts of parenting education on the child’s outcome; and (e) the importance of inter-disciplinary integrated care for the families of young children with FASD.