Prenatal Alcohol Exposure: A Clinician's Guide

Description

Prenatal Alcohol Exposure: A Clinician's Guide provides comprehensive, clinically relevant information for mental health practitioners and professionals in educational, vocational, legal, child welfare, and correctional settings who may encounter individuals with a hidden disability that compromises their success in career, family, and life. The author is a noted scholar and clinician in the field of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), and the book fills a glaring gap in the training literature on prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). Lacking a diagnosis and the professional assistance they so desperately need, people with FASD can experience great frustration and suffering. Many are institutionalized unnecessarily or have entered the criminal justice system. Drawing upon evidence-based research and employing the most current assessment techniques and treatment strategies, the book aims to help the reader understand that pathophysiology is key to interpreting outcomes and that the effects of PAE vary according to the differential impacts of other biopsychosocial factors. The book emphasizes the need for individual clinicians to develop expert knowledge of PAE, rather than create new alternative services or systems to cater to these patients.