School is a huge part of any child’s life as they spend much of their time growing up attending school. School can be quite a triggering place for someone with FASD and it may be a daily struggle for them to attend. Here are some strategies that you may find useful:

• Although it may seem very challenging for your child, we do recommend children living with FASD to be educated in a mainstream school setting. Social inclusion is very important for people with FASD to help them develop social skills with their peers and of course executive functioning. 

• We always recommend making the school aware of your child's diagnosis of FASD, or potential diagnosis of FASD and try to get teaching staff to engage with FASD in the Classroom training/workshops. Educators tend to have the same expectations of students living with FASD as neuro-typical students, and it is essential that these expectations are regularly addressed.

• We suggest that a child with FASD, where possible, is supported by an SNA for the majority of time during the school day. In particular this is useful during unstructured lessons including PE or at break-times. This support has to be applied for by the school SENCo who has to submit an application to the National Council for Special Education (NCSE). We recommend the child having a minimum of 2 different SNA's to prevent the child becoming dependent on one SNA. This is useful for example if an SNA has to be out sick, and may prevent a child from dysregulating if they find themselves placed with a different SNA at any point. 

• In case of conflict or dysregulation, we recommend agreeing a plan with the school/SENCo. Often a child with FASD will go into stress reaction, and will mostly experience 'flight' mode. There are examples of children putting themselves into quite dangerous situations when in 'flight' mode. One solution is to ask the school to designate a quiet area of the school as the child's 'safe space' and maybe locate something colorful and sensory to the touch, like a bean bag for the child to sit on. A corner of the school library that is visible from a corridor is usually a good place to start. The child should be shown this area and told that if they feel like they need to 'run' this is their 'safe space', as often as they need to and whenever they need to. This provides a 'safe' place for the child and location that the SNA and other school staff will know where to find your child. When the child is ready to return to class, they will often return under their own steam, and without any escalation for everybody in the school community.

• It is important for the school to understand and recognise FASD as a neuro-developmental disability. Educational success for children and young adults with FASD is then possible with appropriate strategies and supports in place. 

• It would also be recommended to use different approaches to educate children with FASD where it may be needed. This could include taking people out of their set, class or structured timetable.

• Remind the teacher(s) at every opportunity (ie: parent/teacher evenings) that even if your child is not looking at them, or is fidgeting, or doodling, that they are still listening. Individuals living with FASD are able to do all of these things and listen at the same time.