Supporting Teens who were Prenatally Exposed
The effects of prenatal exposure appear to lessen over time. By adolescence, the home environment exerts much more influence than the prenatal exposure.
Some of the more general effects include:
- May exert control through violence
- Premature sexual activity a possibility
- May show limited abstract thinking
- Depending on survival strategies learned, may not have good self-care skills including nutrition, hygiene, short and long term planning abilities, ability to set and stick with goals, tolerate frustrations or setbacks
- May be more at risk for experimenting with substances
- May have impulse control problems, along with poor problem solving skills
- Increased negative risk-taking, including experimenting with substances, sexual behavior
Managing Behavior
Teens who were prenatally exposed to alcohol or other drugs should have
- Opportunities to talk about feelings
- Different ways to build self-esteem by focusing on individual strengths and limiting unreasonable expectations
- Discussions about right vs. wrong, with rewards for good choices
- Established consequences for immoral behavior
- Ongoing support and emotional reassurance
- Involvement in decisions that affect him or her
- Support managing impulsivity by staying firm with established rules
- Conversations about safe sex and alcohol and drug use
- Clear understanding of expected behavior
- Ongoing supervision and help in making safe, sound, positive decisions
Advocacy
Some teens who were prenatally exposed will need special advocacy, including:
- Continue seeking support of learning specialists if needed
- Seek extra-curricular tutors
- Prepare for independent living – explain how it works, talk with a vocational specialist
- Seek continued psycho-educational and other assessments
- Continue to communicate with teen’s teacher’s about child’ challenges
- If child is involved in criminal activity, make sure that judges, lawyers, probation officers, etc are aware of teen’s history
