Speaker to Address Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Research, Intervention
Contact: Marie Hayes, 973-4963
George Manlove, 581-3756
BANGOR — A Seattle-based child psychologist and specialist in research and intervention in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) — a condition that is common in Maine — will be in Orono and in Bangor on Nov. 9 to speak on the topic.
Heather Carmichael Olson, Ph.D., a research professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine and psychologist and clinical supervisor at that university’s Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Diagnostic Clinic in the Washington State Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Diagnostic and Prevention Network, will deliver two public lectures.
Her appearance is part of a joint effort supported by the University of Maine’s Psychology Department, the College of Education and Eastern Maine Medical Center. Both lectures are free and open to members of the public with an interest in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, according to Marie Hayes, UMaine professor of psychology and researcher at the Institute of Human Genetics and Health at Eastern Maine Healthcare in Brewer.
At the University of Maine, she will speak Thursday at 3:15 p.m. in Room 107 of the D.P. Corbett Business Building. The title of her talk is “Long Term Developmental Impairment in Cognitive and Adaptive Functioning in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.”
At Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, she will speak Thursday, from 9-10 a.m., in Mason Auditorium, on the second floor of the hospital. The lecture is offered as part of EMMC’s Pediatric Grand Rounds. Her talk is titled “Meeting the Challenge of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Highlights of New Research.”
The lectures will be of interest to pediatricians, in addition to professors, researchers or students in the fields of psychology, developmental neuroscience, human development, early intervention, special education, behavioral toxicology, social work and education.
Hayes says that her research has shown that in some prenatal populations in the northeastern Maine area, as many as 25 percent of women have a history or alcohol abuse, which creates an increased risk for FASD in their newborns.
Olson is an acknowledged authority on the disorder from research and clinical perspectives, and she has had leadership positions in the societies associated with this disorder and has collaborated with other national leaders in this area. The Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Diagnostic and Prevention Network in Seattle has provided longitudinal information on large cohorts of affected children and their families.