Week One

            Kaylee Morris was born on September 19, 2010 to Trish Morris and Brody Adams in Richmond, Virginia as a result of an unplanned pregnancy. Trish and Brody met in one of their classes at James Madison University their freshman year of college. Kaylee was the result of a one-night stand at a fraternity party after one too many drinks to celebrate the end of their first college semester.

            Trish, who came from a modest family with strict rules, suffered from depression all through high school and was looking to make a fresh start her freshman year before she got pregnant. After the death of a close friend over winter break, Trish turned to alcohol to help her cope with her depression. She was unaware of her pregnancy until she was four months along but continued to drink heavily on a daily basis to cope with her depression. Brody was a motivated student pledging a fraternity at the start of his freshman year before Trish got pregnant.

            Kaylee was 3 pounds and 10 inches when she was born. Doctors immediately took note of her extremely small head and abnormal facial features. She was also below the third percentile for birth weight and height. After being kept in the hospital for about a week, doctors also noted that she was not sleeping enough for a newborn baby and had trouble sucking, which caused feeding problems. Kaylee had to be hooked up to a feeding tube and a breathing tube overnight to ensure she was breathing and being nourished. Before being released to go home, Kaylee was diagnosed with severe Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. There is no cure for FAS but treatment is available. Trish and Brody must take Kaylee to the doctor three times a week to check her weight and height.

            At home, Kaylee cried often and slept very little. A hearing and vision test were both recommended to her doctor due to her severe diagnosis. Kaylee passed her vision test but failed her hearing test. Her audiologist suggested a behind-the-ear hearing aid for her moderate conductive hearing loss in both ears. She grew very slowly and still only weighed twenty pounds by the time she was one month old. Trish's mother was the primary caretaker during the difficult first few months and had a lot of trouble comforting Kaylee when she cried and fussed so often. Kaylee's lack of sleep often made her much more irritable as well.

            She was still in the bottom third percentile for her age in weight and height by the time she was six months old. The primary concern became her lack of attentiveness and growing irritability. Kaylee was babbling with bilabials at six months and her language development was not stinted much by her fatal alcohol syndrome. Kaylee was very difficult to calm down when she was upset and would cry without reason often, even at the age of 8 months. Keeping her attention was almost impossible because any sound would distract her. She would also make very sudden and uncoordinated movements when trying to learn how to walk. She rarely would look anyone in the eye and seemed to have trouble pointing out pictures in storybooks. She would sometimes hit her head on visible objects and her parents started to wonder again about her vision.

Decision Point: Do the parents take steps towards determining a visual impairment; and if so, what steps?

Questions:

1.     Why is Kaylee's diagnosis considered "severe" Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?

2.     How often does the mother have to consume alcohol while pregnant to have a high chance of giving birth to a child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?

3.     What impact does the mother's depression have on the child?

4.     What developmental milestones during toddlerhood might the child miss due to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.