Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

My oldest 2 children are both meth, alcohol and other drugs affected. Several people have continued to tell me that my kiddos are perfectly normal and that they don't need any extra help. So, I'm writing this To be informative. I know my children. I know where they struggle. Yes, for short times my kids seem just like normal kids- but you don't see the everyday. Meth has issues of its own a lot of which haven't been pinpointed yet. Instead I will focus on FAS or fetal alcohol syndrome. Yes my oldest 2 have FAS. "An FAS child can have a spectrum of problems, ranging from learning disabilities to severe mental retardation.  FAS are usually very likable and sweet, generous to a fault, and usually have poor impulse control.  FAS children can have short term memory problems and be very untrustworthy because of it.  FAS women (in the moderate to severe range) tend to have FAS babies.  They don't have the ability to reason through the consequences of their actions.  They tend to be very sexually active when they are old enough because they don't reason well cause and effect.  They are extremely trusting yet resist anyone who tries to control them.  As younger children, they are apt to wander off, can't always remember simple instructions.  But always appear very capable and normal.  They are brain damaged.  The result of a birth-mother who drank while pregnant.  The severity of the FAS is normally related to how much the mother drank, but there is no way to tell until the child is older as to what disabilities she/he will have. parents of FAS children need to provide as much stability and routine as possible.  They they have to keep their eyes on them and give them a lot of wiggle room if they forget to do something after you told them the 100th time.  That their impulsiveness is a result of brain damage, not because they don't want to obey.  An older FAS child needs an advocate at all times.  They don't have the ability to make good decisions about where they go after school or with whom.  They are likely to get themselves into compromising situations." wifeandmommy.blogspot.com Sarah-Ruby has low impulse control. She likes to hoard things that aren't hers. She struggles with short term memory loss. She is very sweet when she wants to be. Michael has a speech delay, he struggles with partial hearing loss. Forgets simple instructions.

Content?

As an early adult I was content. Happy in my knowledge that I would someday marry, have children and spent my life as a stay at home mom. Life was simple and uncomplicated. I never intended to use my degree. I wanted a degree to stand as an example to my kids, a way to teach them to accomplish their goals. I have 4 days left to teach. Actually less than that if you consider that Mon no school, Tues is a full day, Wed yearbooks and a dance, Thurs all day assemblies and Lagoon, Friday school is 3 hours long and basically no one comes. So, I have 1 day. T'was the week before the end of school, I've gone through my class, I've packed up my 'admiral rosenvall' pencils but left the orange hall pass, I scrubbed all the sinks, my tables, my walls. They look sad and lonely, just like the school halls. The kids have all left, school year is over! I hope they've had fun, learned something or another. The core curriculum is hard to fully cover, "See you next year!" shouted with delight, Sounds bitter when followed by, "oh, you're leaving. That's right." My 8th graders wonder what fate they await, Some fear the future, imagine their plight. Mr. Nichols my replacement; I hope he's alright. My 9th graders angry, bitter at a loss, Mr. Anderson said, "Devastated." he's my boss. I made Kathi cry when I told her and then, Todd soon followed the grief parade. That's when I decided to end the tirade, And not say a thing, for as long as I could. Until rumor spread, I knew that it would. 8th grade do you remember: When I ate play dough in half? To show you the layers of a rock, what a laugh! The play dough stuck to my teeth all day long, Tasted way salty-- super gross. How about when I burned Ryan's paper for the class? And Zandons I cut into a string of little men. To show physical and chemical change. Will you join my particle party? Fusion? Fission? Convection dance! Will you remember the song? Convection fueled by fission forms mid-ocean ridges, Ridge push leads to sea floor spreading, slab pull and subduction, Weak subduction zones good for Earthquakes, melting plutons and volcanoes, Silicic volcanoes they constantly flow, Pyroclastic volcanoes get stuck and then blow, Volcanic gases help form the atmosphere. Spewing gases, carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrogen. Layers divided due to density. Troposphere, Stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, exosphere. Exosphere is the beginning of space, Welcome to the final frontier, Our sun, the medium star,and her satellites, Mercury, Venus, earth, mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Eris. So many songs, things to remember. Fair well, my 210 teenager children, My 3 kiddos at home need their mommy.