This term is now being used by many medical professionals, among them Dr. Bob Clayton in Texas, and is being actively promoted by Dr. Kieran O'Malley and Ann Streissguth at University of Washington. They use this term in their latest papers and you can find Dr. O'Malley's article on this in FAS Times, reprinted on our FASworld website, www.fasworld.com, go to FAS MEdia.I like this term. It indicates that full FAS is part of the spectrum of disorders resulting from prenatal alcohol.
Four times as many people have the so-called "milder" forms of FASD...sometimes called FAE, ARND, etc. These people are at even higher risk than those with FAS, as they're rarely diagnosed. Research now indicates that many people who suffer from learning disabilities, ADHD, behaviour problems and/or mental illness may have been affected by alcohol before they were born.
My sense is that the kind of research being done by Ed Riley in San Diego, and others, may be able to show this damage clearly by MRI or other kinds of diagnostic tools within the coming decade.
A New Diagnostic Classification: FASD
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