• Sometimes some things are too difficult to learn and should be left alone.
      • Fine motor skills may be affected by FASD, so handwriting and sometimes keyboarding will be difficult. Provide writing paper with wider spaces than usual. Try relaxation exercises for hand and arm muscles and make written tasks shorter.
    • Use structure and consistency.
      • Create an overall lesson structure that you can use for most lessons. Group similar items together.
      • Use checklists so that learners can refer to a list to keep on track while finishing complex activities.
      • You may have to add more breaks or spend less time on each subject per lesson than you would with a non-FASD learner.
      • Try to keep activities in the same order each time you repeat the activity.
      • Try to use the same wording each time you move the learner from one activity to another.
      • Keep the same tutor as long as possible.
      • Use two of everything (one at home and one at the lesson location), as textbooks and notebooks may be forgotten.
      • Help learners organize their work.
      • Write down homework and next session dates/times every time. Keep sessions at the same time and place as much as possible. Tie the lesson time into another constant activity to help learners remember the time. Even better, get someone else to be responsible for bringing the learner to the lessons and help the learners with scheduling homework. Learners may live very much in the present and be unable to schedule even with phone call reminders.
  2. End by mentioning that some of these general strategies may be useful for other learners.


Structure is the “glue” that makes the world understandable to people with FASD.

Deb Evensen and Jan Lutke in Eight Magic Keys: Developing Successful Intervention for Individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders