Educators’ relational experiences with learners identified with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

Abstract

Between 2009 and 2011 a prevalence study on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) was conducted in a rural area of the Western Cape in South Africa by Prof. Phil May from the University of North Carolina, USA with his FASER team from Stellenbosch University. The preliminary rates for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome were estimated at between 9.4 and 12.9% amongst the Grade One learners and these rates are regarded as high (an estimated one in 10 Grade One learners has full-blown fetal alcohol syndrome). The rates for FASD are estimated to be even higher. Although no results on individual learners were communicated to the educators, it is known that educators tend to identify learners with severe learning disabilities as ‘learners with FASD.’ In this article, FASD learners will refer to learners identified by educators to include those learners identified by a full medical and health worker team, as having FASD.

Keywords

• educators
• learners identified with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (fasd)
• learning environment
• relations
• social skills
• wellbeing