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.