Supporting School-aged Children
The effects of prenatal exposure appear to lessen over time. By the time they have reached school age, the effects of the home environment have become more important than the prenatal exposure. Nevertheless, there are some challenges children may face.
Some of the more general effects include:
- Increased anxiety/depression: feels need to be perfect, or feels unloved; may feel others are out to get him, feels worthless or inferior, nervous/high strung/tense
- Increased social problems: acts too young for age, clingy, doesn’t get along with others, gets teased a lot, not liked by other kids
- Can’t get mind off certain thoughts
- Repeats certain acts over and over
- Stares
- Has strange ideas/behaviors
- Can’t concentrate for long
- Can’t sit still, restless
- Confused, daydreams, impulsive, stares
- Poor schoolwork
- Morality problems: no guilt after misbehaving, lies/cheats/steals, prefers older kids, hangs around kids who get into trouble
- Aggressive: argues a lot, demands attention, destroys things of his own or others, disobedient at home and/or school, stubborn, sudden changes in mood, talks too much, unusually loud, temper tantrums
Prenatal exposure to cocaine: May have behavioral and emotional difficulties. Increased irritability, problems sustaining attention, difficult temperament, sleep and eating disorders, hypersensitivity and restlessness
Prenatal exposure to alcohol: May experience FASD effects, including small stature, coordination problems, hyperactivity, learning disabilities, speech and language delays, low IQ, problems with daily living, or poor reasoning and judgment.
Managing Behavior
School aged children who have been prenatally exposed should be provided with plenty of opportunities to build motor skills through play and proper equipment.
There are also emotional interventions that can be used to help, including:
- Create a safe environment for child to express feelings
- Talk to the child about the range of emotions
- Help child define his or her problem in concrete terms, breaking it down into pieces, and walk through possible solutions
- Give child affection he or she may have missed as an infant
- Use books to help child explore feelings and reward for expressing feelings
Behavioral interventions can also be helpful, such as:
- Communicate desired behavior using a chart of family rules
- Provide predictable and appropriate consequences for behavior lapses
- Model appropriate behavior
- Redirect child’s attention and remove the child from the situation
- Help child to stay on task by developing a task list and calendar together with visual cues or symbols – break tasks into smaller ones
- As child grows he or she will spend less time with you and more time with professionals; work with professionals involved in child’s life to help monitor for behavior or learning challenges and report any changes to you
Advocacy
To help advocate for the needs and well-being of a prenatally exposed school-aged child:
- Work with school and child’s teacher’s to make sure environment is conducive to child’s needs
- Ask for a school assessment to determine any learning challenges
- Occupational therapy services
- Make sure to educate others about the child’s attachment issues if they exist and expect that some will not understand
