'FASD Informed' Specialist School (Stage 4 Programme)
- somersetmiracles
- Sep 13, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 19
Become 'FASD Informed' to foster a deeper understanding in creating a more supportive environment for those impacted by Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol. For teams supporting children, young people and adults with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD); complex needs, stuck, educational, medical and home challenges; providing essential FASD safeguarding training.
This course is designed for professionals working in specialist indoor and/or outdoor settings:
Teachers, Teaching Assistants, SENCO's, Therapists, Forest School Leaders, Specialist Support staff, Mentors, Care Assistants, Safeguarding leads, Medical Professionals, Educational Psychologists, Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Teachers of the Deaf or Vision Specialists, Dedicated Specialist Teachers, Administration & Reception, Dinner Staff, Care Staff, Volunteers, Technical Support, and Direct Student Support.
Specialist Schools can provide an ideal environment and vital support to children and young people affected by prenatal alcohol exposure Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).
Individuals with FASD show developmental divergence away from their peers throughout their lifetime where in a specialist environment the curriculum can be tailored to focus on tuning in and building on strengths, providing clear routines, and using visual supports or step-by-step instructions to facilitate learning and participation.
The brain domain differences caused by alcohol exposure require the strength of a specialist team to tailor approaches where learning, social skills, and independence may significantly lag behind age expectations, sometimes by several years; this is called a 'spiky neurodevelopmental profile'.
If supported and scaffolded those with FASD thrive in a specialist setting.
Our 'FASD Informed' Specialist School Stage 4 programme provides online live bitesize sessions tailored to your timetable, where we can adjust the time to suit your team in or out of School hours or on inset, where you can dip in and out at your own pace:
FASD Informed™ Specialist School Stage 1: What is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder?….. with no assumptions, all professionals start on the same page; we consider the damage of the brain and nervous system, how this impacts communication, processing, learning, development and essential care needs.
We maintain a commitment to evidence-based approaches, where we aim to support professionals to avoid making assumptions of capacity and instead provide thoughtful, person-centred support that adapts to the unique needs of each individual.
Every session will be adapted to meet your team and/or the individual/s you support but broadly we set out the programme as follows:
Identify how alcohol is Neuro-Developmental Trauma
The impact of alcohol on the brain and its vulnerabilities
Show how alcohol has a direct impact to safeguarding through assumptions made in processing speed and functioning
Examine how the alcohol informs the spectrum of need and some of its 428 co-occurring conditions including Autism, ADHD, Learning Disabilities, Tourette’s etc
Review developmental milestones in the womb; explain the lifelong impact
Recognise the brain functions and how FASD impacts development
Examine the developmental divergence of peers in development
FASD Informed™ Specialist School Stage 2: Interpreting theory into practice, processing speed, transitions, sexualised symptoms, hyper-fixation, perseverance, confabulation, fluctuating capacity, differentiating the curriculum, providing strategies to consider to support the spectrum; digging deeper into the practical considerations with case study reflection.
FASD Informed™ Specialist School Stage 3: Supporting forward planning and anticipated divergence of needs, digging deep into 'switching' techniques, looking outside the box & meeting emerging needs, planning well ahead for transitions (developmental stage appropriate e.g: tuning into strengths, supported internship programmes, job coaching, supported living).
FASD Informed™ Specialist School Stage 4: FASD NICE Quality Standards, OFSTED good practice informing 'FASD Responsive' Practice; personalised care, fluctuating capacity, risk assessment, safeguarding, reflection and case management; forward planning and involving a wider multi-disciplinary team.
'FASD-informed practice' acknowledges the need to see beyond an individual’s presenting behaviours, to consider symptoms and to ask.....
‘What does this child or young person need?’
rather than
‘What is wrong with this child or young person?’
We dig deep to tune into the child or young person that you support where we tailor our programme around individual needs. We offer practical application of educational & therapeutic strategies to support the indoor and outdoor classroom where we tune into the brain injury and central nervous system damage.
FASD continues to be a frequently misunderstood condition, those who are not appropriately trained or knowledgeable can often make inaccurate 'assumptions' due to the fact that many individuals with FASD can superficially present as more able than they actually are, due to their spiky cognitive and neurodevelopmental profiles.
With up to 428 co-occurring neurodevelopmental conditions common to FASD, spanning across 18 of 22 chapters of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) -10. The most prevalent disease conditions include congenital malformations, deformities, and chromosomal abnormalities, mental and 'behavioural' disorders..... we consider the 'symptoms' and look for a positives ways to interpret and scaffold needs.
All participants will receive 'FASD Informed' certification, resources and membership of our network of 'FASD Responsive' Specialist Schools.
We tailor our online bespoke 'FASD-Informed' sessions around the needs of the families you support; every session is unique because we consider carefully the children that you support.
'It was a complete lightbulb moment for me. I attended thinking it ticks a box... this training absolutely is not that as it literally changes lives!
We look at every child we support through a new lense.
I loved everything about the sessions, it was also great to bring the governance team of our School together, where we were encouraged to share skills and experience so much learning and reflective practice together that it has shaped our offer for the future.
We really dug deep to considering the children in our School who were likely to have been exposed to alcohol.... so many lightbulb moments where we all now look through the lense providing a personalised approach .... very powerful.
The experience of the highly skilled speaker was so rich and valuable to my role where they provided such huge insight into the difference my team can make. So inspiring and energising, thank you.'
Headteacher / DSL Specialist School Cornwall
'FASD Informed' (TM) Education delivered by a strong experienced qualified team, tailoring a bespoke service to support your team in becoming FASD Responsive(TM)
We also offer an online 1:1 consultation service and attendance of meetings for stuck or complex cases requiring out of the box thinking to consider the spectrum of needs and to look towards finding a way forwards.
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