Facing FASD

Getting the right school setting is one of the biggest things that gives caregivers space. Too often, though, children with FASD are seen through a behaviourist lens instead of as having a brain-based disability.

In this episode, Anna talks with Ailsa Clarke, founder of Valiant Minds Education. Ailsa is a secondary teacher with more than 20 years' experience and the adoptive parent of a son with FASD. She also holds a Postgraduate Certificate in the Diagnosis and Management of FASD from the University of Edinburgh. She brings together lived experience, classroom know-how and clinical training to act as a "translator" between families and schools.

They cover why "all behaviour is communication" isn't enough on its own, why trauma-informed practice doesn't fix a brain injury, and how to get busy teachers to really engage with FASD. Ailsa explains the one-page "grab and go" pen portrait she creates with families, and shares practical advice for going into school meetings as an equal partner.

In this episode

● Ailsa's journey from secondary teacher to parent advocate to FASD education consultant

● Why parents arrive at school meetings burnt out and often traumatised, not as a "blank slate"

● Behaviourist vs brain-based approaches, and why trauma-informed practice alone isn't enough for FASD

● SEMH and enhanced support settings: what helps and where they can go wrong

● The shame, blame and isolation of the early years, and the "second shift" after school

● Masking and the Coke bottle effect

● IQ myths, and "intellectual disability equivalence" as a way to explain support needs

● Why teaching consequences doesn't work when the neural connections aren't there

● Making FASD tangible for teachers by showing them a child's spiky profile

● Executive functioning, cognitive fatigue and "brain fuel"

● Positivity, flexibility and humour, plus blocked care in teachers