Shining a light on disorder

Educating the public about the issue of foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in the South West was the idea behind a conference in Bunbury on Monday.

People from the health and education fields joined representatives from the Department of Child Protection at the South West Italian Club to discuss the problem, which occurs when women drink while pregnant which can cause learning difficulties and developmental delays for children.

The conference was organised by Foster Families South West and featured speakers from child health and education service Patches Paediatrics.

Foster Families South West chairwoman Gay Pritchard said the idea of having the conference came about when one of the organisation’s carers approached her following concerns about her child.

“The idea is to get a consensus of knowledge so everyone understands the disorder,” she said.

“My main hope is that carers know there is something they can do and they can get their child diagnosed.

“It was good to get the guys from Patches because they are the experts and they can get the best outcome for children.”

Patches Paediatrics director Dr James Fitzpatrick said the point of his talk was to educate the attendees about the disorder, which was not always easy to diagnose because those affected were sometimes wrongly thought to be lazy.

“We know that women should not drink alcohol while they are pregnant but I’m hoping we can support individuals and this can be a catalyst for change about how it is diagnosed,” he said.

“The idea was to get all the agencies together and develop a plan to tackle FASD because a collaborative approach is needed.”

Dr Fitzpatrick said there was no data about the rates of the disorders in Bunbury or the South West but he was hopeful numbers could soon be gathered.

“We need more information about the prevalence of FASD to have targeted therapy,” he said.

Dr Fitzpatrick said Australia had been slow to recognise FASD as a problem but it was now catching up with the rest of the world.

“We’ve seen an increase in cases over the past 20 years because there is more awareness and it is better diagnosed,” he said.