The Prevention Conversation: A Shared Responsibility Project

Dipping dummies into beer can lead to bing drinking in latter life. Pic Robert Duncan 17 August 2007.

Getting help to kids mislabelled as “just naughty”, when they have an unrecognised disability caused by alcohol-related brain damage that occurred in the womb, is a major commitment made by the Telethon Kids Institute.

Already, early intervention in their child development problems triggered by the mother’s alcohol use in pregnancy has been made possible by the institute’s work to establish an agreed-on set of tests and measurements for diagnosis of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) in Australia.

The diagnostic instrument, formulated and being implemented under a contract with the Commonwealth Department of Health, is aimed at ensuring earlier and better-suited assistance is provided to deal with all disability caused by alcohol crossing the placenta and disrupting the development of the growing baby’s brain.

In particular, it will be used to identify and…