Episode 14: FASD Hope with Natalie Vecchione

Circle 31 International Women's Ministry Podcast

Natalie Vecchione is a FASD parent advocate, podcaster, author, and most importantly a wife and homeschool mom of two. Natalie and her husband, John, built their family through domestic adoption. Their son, who is 19, lives with a FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder). He has graduated from homeschool and an aspiring, carpentry apprentice. Their typically developing daughter is 6. Natalie & John have a much different adoption journey with her daughter, as they are very close with their daughter’s birth mom. Natalie turned her family’s unique challenges and journey with FASD from career reinventing into a calling when she and her husband began FASD Hope in 2020. Her brokenness and mess and her journey as a mom became a message to serve the Lord through ministering to other families and those whose lives have been touched by FASD. Natalie has been an FASD podcaster for over a year. In October 2020, Natalie & John cofounded “FASD Hope” FASD Hope is a podcast, website and a place for awareness, information and inspiration for those people whose lives have been touched by an FASD. The FASD Hope podcast series is through the lens of parents advocates with over 19 years of lived experience. FASD Hope Podcast is available anywhere you find your podcasts. Natalie’s new book “Blazing New Homeschool Trails: Educating and Launching Teens with Developmental Disabilities” by Natalie Vecchione and Cindy LaJoy is now on Amazon.

[e-mail]

https://www.fasdhope.com/

https://www.blazingnewhomeschooltrails.com/

Instagram - @fasdhope

Facebook- @fasdhope1

Clubhouse - @natalievecc

Twitter - @fasdhope

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fasd-hope/id1534406836

Blazing New Homeschool Trails: Educating and Launching Teens with Developmental Disabilities https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096LYJCJW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_2FTXDPT5FXFGF767S8VK
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is the leading cause of developmental disability in North America. (Reid, D. et al. "Fighting for a Future: Where We Were and Where We Are Now" 8th International FASD Conference, University of British Columbia Continuing Education. 2019; Canada FASD Research Network; Health Canada, 2017. FASD is a complex, lifelong neurodevelopmental disability caused by Prenatal Alcohol Exposure (PAE) to the developing brain and body of an unborn child. The disabilities caused by this exposure fall under the umbrella of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). FASD is a brain-based, whole body disorder with behavioral symptoms, resulting in a broad range of cognitive, behavioral, social-emotional, health, adaptive functioning and learning deficits. These issues last across the lifespan. There are over 400 comorbid health diagnoses that accompany FASD's (Popova, S. et. al, "Comorbidity of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis" , The Lancet, (2016). FASD is a disability that occurs on a spectrum, like Autism; 90% of individuals affected by an FASD do not have the better known Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), rather they have an INVISIBLE DISABILITY that most often goes misdiagnosed or undiagnosed.In February 2018, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a study, led by University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill researcher, Phillip May, Ph.D. This study estimated the prevalence of FASD among FASD in communities in the US to be up to 1 in 20. For select populations, such as Foster Care, Adoption, International Adoption and Juvenile Justice, the prevalence of FASDs is exponentially higher. No amount of alcohol is safe during pregnancy.