Prince George, B.C. – Today is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Day and UNBC is marking the occasion by going public with a pilot project its running in conjunction with Northern Health.

Learning Together, a program created by UNBC Psychology Professor Dr. Cindy Hardy and graduate student Rebecca Collins, is designed to teach social skills to kids suspected of having FASD.

She says the participating children, aged 5-8, are on the wait list for assessment at Northern Health.

“So we felt this program we’re developing could be a way to get them some services while they’re waiting for an assessment and help them.”

Hardy says the social skills they teach vary.

“How to start playing with other kids, how to greet them, how to say goodbye,” she says. “A child with FASD with cognitive limitations might not pick up those up the way a typical child does.”

Hardy adds the Learning Together Program consists of about eight kids over a seven week period and hopes to share what they’ve learned with other groups around northern, B.C.

“Because there are undiagnosed children all over the place who need this kind of support and this is the kind of group that a community agency could run and offer to children in communities around the North.”

Just how many kids are affected by FASD?

“That’s a good question for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Day – what is the rate, we don’t actually know. We think it’s 1 in a 1,000 but exposure is probably higher than that because more woman that that are drinking during pregnancy.”