ADHD vs FASD

ADHD vs. FASD

            Excessive exposure of alcohol to a neonate is the main cause of birth defects, developmental disorders and disabilities. Not all children that have been exposed to alcohol in utero have characteristics of a child with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. Many of the cases of fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol spectrum are more prevalent internationally. It is hard to distinguish between a child that has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and a child that has fetal alcohol syndrome. The goal of this study was to distinguish the difference between children that had been exposed to alcohol and children that had attention deficits. The hypothesis for this study was that children in the clinical groups would have a decline in neuropsychological areas; alcohol-exposed kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders would have severe neuropsychological impairments than alcohol exposed kids without attention deficit hyperactivity disorders or children that hadn’t been exposed to alcohol with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition was used to measure the IQ of all the kids.

The Delis-Kaplan Executive Functioning System was used to measure executive functioning. The Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery was used to measure nonverbal components of neuropsychological functioning. In the findings race did not play a vital role with the test outcomes. The gender of the child made a difference when it came to the WISC-IV. In the findings children that had been exposed to alcohol regardless of if they had attention deficit hyperactivity or not, demonstrated more verbal impairments. However, the findings did not show relationships between neuropsychological performance and IQ scores. Also, the ages of the kids varied. The results of this study could have been skewed because the children were not able to take their medicines. In future studies, there is hope that there will be other characteristics that distinguish the differences between fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders.

Abstract

Source: http://psycnet.apa.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/journals/neu/27/6/713.pdf