1. Refer to the above headings as you talk about examples related to tutoring. Use your own experience or use the following notes. Caution tutors that FASD has a wide range of effects so these ideas may not be needed for some learners. Encourage tutors to take notes if you are going to go into a lot of details. Bring out the following points:
    • Keep it simple.
      • Do one step at a time.
      • Don’t give long, involved instructions or explanations.
      • Use plain language and concrete terms.
      • Say exactly what you mean.
      • Slow down.
      • A phonics reading approach, such as working with vowels, may be too complicated.
      • Model tasks.
    • Repeat.
      • In order to get items into long-term memory, use a lot of repetition. Even items remembered for six weeks can be forgotten.
      • Use reviews over a long period of time.
      • Be patient.
    • Minimize distractions.
      • It doesn’t take much to overload the senses of people with FASD.
      • Distractions can be so disruptive that the learners will have to start a task from the beginning again.
      • Find a quiet comfortable place with very little on the walls.
      • Clear the workspace so only the item you are working with is present. If your learners need to move in order to calm down and learn, allow them to use a squeeze ball or another object to move with.
      • Allow more time to finish activities.
      • Don’t forget to turn off the phone.
      • Don’t leave them unsupervised for a long period of time as they may get distracted and stop work.
    • Work around broken connections.
      • The damage to the brain involves broken connections, so sometimes cause doesn’t connect with effect.
      • Help explain the connection between a cause and its effect when that will help with reading comprehension.
      • Avoid “why” questions because this often involves cause and effect thinking.
      • Often items learned in one context will not be used in another similar context until the connection between the two contexts can be made several times in real situations. Provide learning in ways that make these connections for the learners. Practise skills in a variety of situations; for example, fill out specific information on a variety of forms.
      • Make more connections by using activities that involve a variety of senses.
      • Don’t think that if learners can repeat the instructions, that means they understand them.