A Mother Drinking While Pregnant Can Cause Many
Problems
A mother drinking while pregnant can cause many problems for her newborn child,
one example is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (Ryan, S., Ferguson, D.L. 2006). Fetal
Alcohol Syndrome occurs when a mother consumes alcohol while pregnant causing
the newborn to develop a mental and physical disability. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
(FAS) is a disorder that is developed from the environment that the fetus was in
caused by the consumption of alcohol by the mother while pregnant, resulting in the
newborn developing mental and physical abnormalities, specifically of the skull and
face (Ryan, S., Ferguson, D.L. 2006). There was a specific story that stood out to
me about an eleven year old girl named Ellie. She was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol
Syndromeand... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
2006). A person suffering with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome may experience low birth
weight, large or malformed ears, a short neck, poor hand eye coordination, or a flat
midface, among other symptoms. As for the brain of someone with FAS, there
could be damage to the basal ganglia, primarily responsible for motor control and
emotions, which can impair various cognitive processes. Secondly, a reduced
cerebellum can affect one s balance, cognition and coordination. Finally, there can be
an impaired corpus callosum, which connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres,
the communication center of the brain. As for the mind, the child will develop slow
learning habits, a short attention span, hyperactivity, or memory loss. There could
also be a delay in the ability to speak and talk and being able to read or comprehend
certain subjects (Ryan, S., Ferguson, D.L. 2006).
Diagnosis
The reason why the disorder is called Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is because
not every child exhibits the same symptoms, which leads to difficult branches of
diagnosis (Murawski, N. et. al. 2015). Consuming alcohol during pregnancy is
associated with FASD disabilities, which include fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS),
partial FAS (PFAS) and neurodevelopmental disorder alcohol exposed (ND AE). It
is not hereditary. Some ways to physically identify an infant with FAS are to look at
facial features: