Supporting Children with Prenatal Substance Exposure and Their Caregivers WA4

Prenatal substance exposure (PSE) impacts 1 in 10 children born in the United States. Because women find out about their pregnancies at varying stages of gestation, impacts to the fetus can unknowingly happen between conception and confirmation through various direct and/or environmental exposures. When asking about and or talking about PSE, associated stigmas infiltrate the conversation, making it hard to screen for and identify characteristics that can be common to this population. Effects can be seen early on or take years to impact development. No story is the same -- the same exposure from one child to the next is often inconsistent, which can be very confusing to caregivers and providers. Wonderland’s teams have specialized training to support families through identification, monitoring for characteristics of, diagnosis, and providing evidence-based strategies to support children with PSE ages birth through 12 and their families. Our goal is to share how PSE can present throughout childhood (with an emphasis on early childhood) so attendees can better differentiate what is developmentally appropriate and what may be the impacts of PSE. Children with PSE may have neurobehavioral deficits that can impact how they respond to treatment and what works well in motivating and supporting them. We will introduce how to look at children with PSE through a neurobehavioral lens and share how responses must be modified to best support a child whose brain may be impacted by their exposure. Additionally, we will share how our agency is blending our two programs to support parents in various stages of use, treatment, and recovery--meeting families where they live/reside, providing the tools they need to successfully parent a child with PSE, via our new FLIP team. Our objective is for all who attend to leave not only more knowledgeable about PSE but know how to think differently about the supports and treatment needed with this population.