Notes On Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

A psychology instructor with extensive experience working with individuals with developmental disabilities, Dr. Robert Fettgather has served as an associate faculty member with Mission College since 1983. In this capacity, Robert Fettgather teaches courses in developmental psychology, general psychology, and psychopathology. You will find Robert Fettgather on local hiking trails in any season.

Developmental disabilities are typically life-long disabilities that begin during the developmental period and affect appearance, learning, behavior, and language. 

An unhealthy diet during pregnancy can result in certain developmental disabilities, including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). Some infants exposed to alcohol during pregnancy have historically shown signs of FASDs. These include hyperactive behavior, poor reasoning, an intellectual disability or low IQ, poor memory, and speech delays. Different developmental problems spawn from FASDs, and only a segment of these signs are psychological. Non-psychological signs of FASDs include low body weight, abnormal facial features, impaired growth, poor coordination, and vision problems. Many of these signs and symptoms are lifelong. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend total abstinence from alcohol during pregnancy. If a pregnant woman consumes alcohol, the substance may transfer to the fetus through the placenta and cause adverse consequences for fetal brain development. Since a fetus' brain grows throughout pregnancy, abstaining from alcohol at any stage of pregnancy can be beneficial. The CDC also recommends female abstinence from alcohol when anticipating pregnancy because it may take four to six weeks before pregnancy can be identified.

Skills For Life

An associate professor of psychology from Grass Valley, California, Robert Fettgather, PhD, has taught the subject at Mission College in Santa Clara, California since 1983. In this role, Robert Fettgather has written extensively on the subject of people with disabilities, including one of his first articles on a life skills curriculum, “Be an Adult", published in 1989 in Lifelong Learning: An Omnibus of Practice and Research. Journaling and reading are among Robert Fettgather's favored past times.

A developmental disability can involve a wide range of abilities and functional impairments. The research on instruction for teaching life skills for this population promotes instruction in many subjects including self-care, household tasks, communication, and functional math/reading. All of these skills are important because they are utilized to meet the demands of everyday living. Besides self-care and communication, both math and reading occupy an important place in the curriculum. Learning basic mathematical concepts will prepare students to count money, give and receive correct change, and budget. Depending on functional level, these skills will also come in handy when having to make measurements (understanding volume) and when making a budget, a very essential life skill. Like everyone else, students with disabilities should learn to properly manage their money, so they make good purchasing decisions. Children with disabilities also must master basic and functional reading skills such as recognizing symbols that is a skill central to reading maps and road signs. If able, they must also learn how to navigate the internet and use search engines. More significantly, reading is a part of understanding important personal documents to make good life decisions as necessary.

Empowering students with special learning needs involves numerous practices teachers can take into the classroom. For example, for some students, experts suggest that teachers avoid overly complicated and multi-step instructions. As opposed to giving out unnecessarily detailed directives, teachers should provide students with easily understandable instructions that are accessible to everyone in the classroom. With peer tutoring, student ambassadors who have a deeper understanding of the lesson can assist others who may have difficulty understanding the material.

A Famous Brain Injury and a Well Known Experiment

 

Robert Fettgather has taught at San Jose State University, National University and Mission College in Santa Clara. In addition, Robert Fettgather has addressed State and National Conferences on a variety of topics. 

Damage to the right parietal and occipital lobes can cause a condition known as spatial neglect where the individual ignores objects in their left visual field. Phineas P. Gage (1823–1860) was an American railroad construction foreman who is remembered for survival of a terrible accident in which a large thirteen pound tamping iron was driven completely through his skull- destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe!

As a result of the accident, he is said to have suffered a change in personality, becoming a surly, aggressive drunkard who was unable to hold down a job. 

Reflection Point: Is your personality determined solely by your brain? 

There are two cerebral hemispheres and the structures connecting them (the corpus callosum). The split-brain research studies of Roger Sperry, particularly in his work with epileptic patients, helped scientists to figure out that the two cerebral hemispheres are not identical.  In trying to treat epilepsy, Sperry cut through the corpus callosum creating a kind of "split brain".  In this experiment, the patient 'Joe' is being tested by Michael Gazzaniga who worked with Roger Sperry.

The left hemisphere is typically more active when a person is using language, math, and other analytical skills. The the right hemisphere demonstrates more activity during tasks of recognition and perception as well as the expression of emotions. Lateralization is the term for this split in the tasks of the brain.

Neurons And The Nervous System

Robert Fettgather, Ph.D. is a counselor, educator, writer and activist residing in Grass Valley, California.  He holds a doctorate in psychology and master degrees in both psychology and education. Robert Fettgather has served as Special Consultant in psychometrics to the Departments of Education and Developmental Disabilities for the State of California. Robert Fettgather also holds a specialist credential in learning handicapped and community college credentials in both learning and developmental disabilities.

The role of the nervous system is to carry information to and from all parts of the body. The cells in the nervous system that relay and carry information are referred to as neurons. Neurons use an electrical signal to send information from one end of its cell to the other end. At rest, a neuron has a negative charge on the inside and a positive charge outside. When a signal arrives, "gates" in the cell wall next to the signal open and the positive charge moves inside. The positive charge inside the cell causes the next set of gates to open to allow those positive charges to move inside. So in this manner, the electrical signal makes its way down the length of the cell.

Neurons relay messages on to targeted cells using a chemical signal. Dendrites receive information from other neurons, and axons send information to other neurons. When the electrical signal makes its way down the axon and arrives at other end of the neuron (the axon terminal), it enters the outermost tip of the terminal (the synaptic knob). That engenders  the neurotransmitters in the synaptic vesicles to be released into a space between the two cells that is filled with liquid. This fluid-filled space is called the synapse or the synaptic gap. The neurotransmitters are the chemical signals the neuron uses to communicate with its target cell. The neurotransmitters fit into the receptor sites of the target cell and create a new electrical signal that then can be transmitted down the length of the target cell.

The central nervous system (CNS) is made up of the brain and the spinal cord. The spinal cord is an elongated bundle of neurons that relays information between the brain and the rest of the human body.  Afferent (sensory) neurons relay messages from our senses to the spinal cord. For example, sensory neurons would relay information about a sharp pain in your finger or when you touch your hand on a hot stove. Efferent (motor) neurons direct commands from the spinal cord to our muscles- for example, a command to pull your finger back.

Interneurons connect sensory and motor neurons and help to coordinate the signals. All three of these neurons act together in the spinal cord to form a reflex arc.