It is a required course in those pursuing a degree in education to take a course that describes the effects of alcohol and drug abuse on fetuses. The course offers information about the lasting scars of the abuse and the impact it can have on their learning abilities.

Being armed with this information doesn’t quite prepare you for actually teaching the children affected by their parents’ alcoholism and drug abuse. It is a shock to see what damage has been wreaked on these innocent children, by their own mothers and fathers.

Lizzie’s eyes are very blue and they would have been pretty except that there was something wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on it immediately, but there was something. Later, at a meeting with the school social worker concerning classified students in my class, I remembered what it was: Lizzie was a victim of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

I knew Lizzie’s father. He was a school custodian who worked the night shift, a nice, pleasant man, easy-going man. It was his job to clean the section of the building where my class was located. He always said hello and he had told me that I would be having his daughter in my class this year. I had met his wife at Parents’ Night and she seemed quiet and nice. I didn’t know anything about them. I had heard that they drank quite heavily and that he had once been put on administrative leave because of drinking on the job. I put this down as school gossip and didn’t really think about it.

The rumor of their drinking became startling clear after my meeting with the social worker. Lizzie’s eyes were a result of alcohol poisoning, she said. Both her parents drank both before her conception and her mother drank heavily during the entire pregnancy. As a result their daughter’s eyes were set wider apart than normal, a sign of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Her motor skills and her ability to learn were also affected to a serious degree. Comprehension and retention of subject material was
limited. If a test had fifteen questions on it Lizzie was able to do only two and those two needed to be teacher-assisted.

“She is gong to have difficulty getting and keeping a job,” said her Child Study Team counselor. It was heart-breaking. She was a sweet girl and she tried so hard but lacked the concentration and comprehension required to learn a foreign language.

Lizzie struggled in my Italian I Studies class all year. Her average was below 55 but because she met the criteria set forth in her Individual Educational Profile, she passed for the year. She was exempt from exams. We had a meeting with Lizzie’s parents where her teachers gave them their progress reports for their daughter. On my recommendation and with the approval of the CST, she was not taking a second year of a language. It was also agreed that she take only low level core courses and no academics beyond them.

I couldn’t help it, but at the meeting I felt a rage towards her parents for what they had done to their child. I found it hard to look at them without showing my anger.

Lizzie is only one of the many children I have seen over the years who are affected by alcohol and drugs that were taken prenatally and during pregnancy. Each one had a myriad of problems that ranged from mild to severe.

The programs that schools have concerning drug and alcohol abuse are not strong enough. The damage done to a fetus is usually glossed over, giving only a one or two sentence lip service. This is a shame.

The speakers who address the students in these programs need to speak honestly and at length about the damaging and lasting birth defects of alcohol and drug abuse by parents. Too many children will become adults still carrying the effects of what their parents did; their lives forever changed because of a “habit.” Through no asking of their own, children are being given an unwanted “gift,” the liability of brain-damage that will impact them and society.

Urge your school to have more comprehensive programs about alcohol and drugs.
Urge them to be blunt and brutally honest about what alcohol and drugs can do.
Make these programs a mandatory part of the curriculum, included in Health classes. Let kids know that alcohol and drugs are not “sexy, smart or cool.” Let them know these substances are really disgusting, stupid, and dangerous.
If we do these things then girls like Lizzie will not have been innocent victims of parental stupidity. They will be born having a fighting chance for a good life.