Name: Donna Small
Occupation: Counselor
organizing “Taking Flight” a therapy group for the caretakers of Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome.
History: Adopted her
nephew who has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
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Taking Flight 
Meeting:
7:00-8:30 pm ever other Thursday.
Where: Johnson
conference room in the Yellow Creek Treatment Center
A support group for those
families dealing with children that have problems related to Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome. All are welcome to join
us. Beverages and sandwiches will
be provided. Also, there will be
daycare facilities for youngsters ages 1to 10.
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Taking Flight Meeting Thursday
Donna: (counselor that works with families that deal with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome FAS, and Fetal Alcohol Effects FAE) Come on in, go get some refreshments and pull up a chair.
(a group of about 12 people gather the chairs around in a circle)
This is gonna be a relaxed meeting where we learn and talk about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), and Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE) and all the problems accociated with those. We will also learn about each other and our similar circumstances. Here, no one will be judged; we are here to better help our loved ones and we are here to listen to each other. We are here to laugh and we are here to cry, then laugh again. Together we will learn better ways to help our young ones grow.
Let me tell you a little about myself. I am a recovering alcoholic. I
haven't had a drink for 14 years. I grew up on the rez with my two
brothers and one sister. Nine years ago my sister passed on in an alcohol
related car accident. She was an active alcoholic when her son was born. I
adopted him as my own and both of us have struggled and have achieved much
together dealing with his problems related to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. But he is
the light of my life and I’m sure many of you know what I’m talking about. I
have worked here at the clinic for the last 4 years as an associate counselor and I have been
a chemical dependency counselor for six years. Now I would like to focus mainly on working with the
caretakers of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects many of who are
recovering alcoholics.
If you could all introduce yourselves.....
(An hour later during the meeting)
Herbert: My grandson Johnny is eight years old now and his grandma (Ida) and I keep running into obstacles. We just don’t know how to handle him, never mind help him. We have had him since he was six; his mom couldn’t take care of herself and she couldn’t take care of Johnny. We didn’t even understand what his problems were until last year. He came to us with many health problems. He has speech problems and he has two heart murmurs. He always seems to be acting up. Ida and I just don’t understand what is going on in his head. His schoolteachers are also having trouble with him. His teachers look to us for answers but we don’t have any so this is why we came here tonight. (The rest of the group nods their heads in agreement and makes mmm hmmm noises).
Myrna: My little girl walked home from school the other day. She took off during afternoon recess and walked 4 miles home on the busy road coming into town. When I found out I asked her why and she said that her classmates were teasin her real bad. She didn’t want to ride the bus home so she decided to walk home. Luckly , nothing happened to her, and my mom was home when she got there. The school is worried she will do it again and they don’t want to be held responsible. Short of hiring a body guard I don’t know what else to do. Her classmates tease her so much because she doesn’t know how to socialize too good and she is behind everyone in her class. She ends up hitting and biting them because her feelings get hurt so bad. The school won’t get her a personal teacher’s aid because she scores a 76 on the IQ test so they said she couldn’t have FAS. I’m having trouble getting them to realize you can have FAS and not be considered mentally retarded. It makes me so angry. I know I did that to her and it makes me mad at myself but now that I am trying to help her I don’t really know how. Then I get even more frustrated.
Donna: You’ve all brought up a lot of the things we have all thought about; issues we have all wrestled with. Changes are best made with baby steps. I have a couple of suggestions you could start out with. But one of the most important things is that the teachers and you have the same expectations for your children in the classroom as well as at home. This helps organize the adults so that the kids don’t get confused when they are expected to behave one way at school and another way at home. In order to do this you need to sit down with their teachers regularly. If you are not sure, I am willing to come in and sit with you and the teachers to come up with a plan of how best to work with your children. Or we can talk here about possible plans you and your families can make.
Meanwhile, I am really happy that so many of you were able to open up the way you did tonight. I have many pamphlets and informational packets on the other topics that you just spoke of. They are by the door so please take some before you leave. Well its almost 9 and time for some of us to go pick up the children next door, but if any of you have questions and would like to speak with me I’m gonna be clearing up the food table before I leave. The next meeting is the same time, same place in two weeks. I look forward to seeing you all again.
LINKS