
Parenting Kids with Prenatal Exposure (Part 2): Transistioning into Adolescence and Adulthood
Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care
03/16/22
•48m
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The impact of prenatal exposures to alcohol and drugs is not something that kids outgrow and the transition into adolescence and adulthood can be particularly tricky. We talk about this transition with Kathy Hotelling, a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and is the co-founder of NCFASDInformed.org. She is also the mother to a 27 year old with FASD.
In this episode, we cover:
- Tell us a bit about your story as the mother of a child with FASD.
- Does the impact and symptoms of prenatal exposure to alcohol change as the child ages?
- Are the impacts different depending on whether the child has been exposed prenatally to alcohol or other drugs, such as opiates, methamphetamines, marijuana, etc?
- We talk about the primary impacts of FASD and prenatal drug exposure and the secondary impacts? Give us some examples?
- How can parents help prevent some of the secondary impacts?
- How does puberty impact children with prenatal exposure?
- How does your parenting need to change as your prenatally exposed child reaches adolescence and adulthood?
- How to prepare your child to launch into adulthood?
- What resources are available to help parents navigate this journey?
- Often times adoptive, foster, and kinship parents do not know for certainty that their child was exposed prenatally to alcohol and drugs. How should they proceed?
- Is it important to have your child officially diagnosed with FASD?
- How do you get your child diagnosed?
- What is the Registry of Unmet Needs or the Medicaid Waiver list and how do you get your child on this registry or list?
- FASD Respect Act- how can people advocate?
This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them. Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
- Weekly podcasts
- Weekly articles/blog posts
- Resource pages on all aspects of family building
Please leave us a rating or review RateThisPodcast.com/creatingafamily
Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.
Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
- Weekly podcasts
- Weekly articles/blog posts
- Resource pages on all aspects of family building
Previous Episode

Parenting Kids with Prenatal Exposure (Part 1): Practical Tips
March 9, 2022
•58m
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Do you suspect (or know) that your child was exposed to alcohol or drugs during pregnancy? We discuss tips for how to best work with these children with Dr. Robin Gurwitch, a professor at Duke University's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Center for Child and Family Health.
In this episode, we cover:
- How does prenatal exposure to alcohol or drugs affect children at different ages?
- Oftentimes adoptive, foster, and kinship families may not know specifically if their child was exposed in pregnancy to alcohol or drugs? How can a parent determine if their child was prenatally exposed?
- What are some of the more common signs, symptoms, and behaviors a parent might see at different ages?
- Birth to age five
- Elementary age
- Tweens and adolescence
- Young adults
- Parents, teachers, and other adults working with these children often don’t think about prenatal exposure because of the lag in time between the exposure and when the more disruptive symptoms appear. At what age do you see parents and kids beginning to struggle more?
- What are some of the common misdiagnoses that these children receive?
- How do the attention and focus issues common with kids who have been exposed to alcohol and drugs differ from ADHD? Is ADHD medication effective to improve attention in prenatally exposed kids?
- Is it common for children with prenatal exposure to be uneven in their abilities? For example, average to above average in verbal skills but substantially below average in other areas.
- What do we mean by “executive function” or “higher level thinking skills” and how does prenatal exposure to alcohol and drugs impact this?
- We hear from parents that one of the most frustrating symptoms is not being able to learn from their mistakes. Doing the same thing even though they have been told not to. Not learning from cause and effect. Is this common with kids who have been exposed to alcohol and drugs during gestation?
- What are some practical tips for working with kids with prenatal exposure to help them thrive at home and at school?
This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them. Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
- Weekly podcasts
- Weekly articles/blog posts
- Resource pages on all aspects of family building
Please leave us a rating or review RateThisPodcast.com/creatingafamily
Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.
Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
- Weekly podcasts
- Weekly articles/blog posts
- Resource pages on all aspects of family building
Next Episode

Stop Managing Behavior and Start Raising Joyful, Resilient Kids
March 23, 2022
•54m
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How can we raise joyful resilient kids? We talk with Dr. Mona Delahooke, a clinical child psychologist and the author of Brain-Body Parenting: How to Stop Managing Behavior and Start Raising Joyful, Resilient Kids.
In this episode, we cover:
- “Too often we are focused on the child’s behavior instead of the child. We are concerned about solving problems rather than cultivating the relationship.”
- A child’s behavior is a clue for us parents to understand what is going on inside the child.
- No one-size fits all approach to child rearing. What’s most important isn’t the rules, but the child. We must understand how our parenting is landing on our child. Personalize our parenting.
- Three pathways to the mind-body platform.
- Body budgeting.
- The distinction between behaviors that seems to be defensive but are actually protective.
- How do you approach tantrums in a preschooler?
- How to co-regulate with our child and why?
- How to build resiliency in our children?
This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them. Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
- Weekly podcasts
- Weekly articles/blog posts
- Resource pages on all aspects of family building
Please leave us a rating or review RateThisPodcast.com/creatingafamily
Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.
Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
- Weekly podcasts
- Weekly articles/blog posts
- Resource pages on all aspects of family building
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