Spring Break
Center will study effects of alcohol on brain
Hunter Riley
Issue date: 9/19/08 Section: News
UNM was given $2.5 million this semester to start one of the nation's first fetal alcohol research centers.
The program is funded by a five-year grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
The New Mexico Alcohol Research Center will look at the effects of alcohol on the brain. Dr. Daniel Savage, who is leading the program, said he will research fetal alcohol syndrome and a new ailment called fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
He said differentiating between the disorders is important because they can affect patients in different ways and at different times in life.
"We call it fetal alcohol spectrum disorder these days because FAS is just one end of the spectrum of problems that have been associated with maternal drinking during pregnancy," Savage said.
Cathy Salazar is the adoptive mother of 7-year-old Shelly, who has FAS and has also been diagnosed with OCD. Shelly will work with Savage at the NMARC.
Salazar said that as a parent of an FAS child, she had to learn a new set of parenting rules. When Salazar adopted Shelly, she was 13 months old, but she was born at 28 weeks and weighed 1 pound, 8 ounces.
"As foster parents, we didn't know much about FAS," Salazar said. "I read a book about parents of FAS. One of the hardest things is impulse control - as a parent you have to constantly repeat directions."
Shelly cannot communicate with many people outside her family, but she is learning to talk through a computer language program. Salazar said that as Shelly gets older, there will probably be more behavioral complications.
"She will probably always need someone to help her take care of herself," she said.
Savage said close to .03 percent of the population has FAS and 1 percent has FASD, making the disorders more common than autism.
Savage said research of FASD needs to pick up in the next couple years.
He said more than a half million women in the U.S. drink alcohol during pregnancy each year. The NMARC wants to help people understand the consequences of maternal drinking during pregnancy and find ways to help those with FAS and FASD, Savage said.
The program is funded by a five-year grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
The New Mexico Alcohol Research Center will look at the effects of alcohol on the brain. Dr. Daniel Savage, who is leading the program, said he will research fetal alcohol syndrome and a new ailment called fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
He said differentiating between the disorders is important because they can affect patients in different ways and at different times in life.
"We call it fetal alcohol spectrum disorder these days because FAS is just one end of the spectrum of problems that have been associated with maternal drinking during pregnancy," Savage said.
Cathy Salazar is the adoptive mother of 7-year-old Shelly, who has FAS and has also been diagnosed with OCD. Shelly will work with Savage at the NMARC.
Salazar said that as a parent of an FAS child, she had to learn a new set of parenting rules. When Salazar adopted Shelly, she was 13 months old, but she was born at 28 weeks and weighed 1 pound, 8 ounces.
"As foster parents, we didn't know much about FAS," Salazar said. "I read a book about parents of FAS. One of the hardest things is impulse control - as a parent you have to constantly repeat directions."
Shelly cannot communicate with many people outside her family, but she is learning to talk through a computer language program. Salazar said that as Shelly gets older, there will probably be more behavioral complications.
"She will probably always need someone to help her take care of herself," she said.
Savage said close to .03 percent of the population has FAS and 1 percent has FASD, making the disorders more common than autism.
Savage said research of FASD needs to pick up in the next couple years.
He said more than a half million women in the U.S. drink alcohol during pregnancy each year. The NMARC wants to help people understand the consequences of maternal drinking during pregnancy and find ways to help those with FAS and FASD, Savage said.
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