Teratogens on the Developing Fetus Research Paper

The child might lack fine motor skills and they even have difficulties in making and keeping friends. The children may also luck imaginative skills or curiosity and poor memory. They lack the ability to solve problems and the skill to comprehend language is also not there.

Child development stages

According to theorists Piaget, Vygotsky and Erikson, there are three broad stages of childhood development these are the early childhood which is a stage between birth and eight years and the middle childhood which is between eight years and twelve years and adolescence. Alcohol as a teratogen has effects on these stages of development in different ways. In the early childhood stage the child is going through tremendous growth across all areas of development; however FAS children will lag behind in this stage. They have poor skill development when it comes to things like walking, sitting, coordination. They also have poor development in fine and gross motor skills and also the language and cognitive development.

In the middle childhood the cognitive development is slow and steady, the FAS child is still poor in their learning skills .it is at this stage that a child is expected to develop interpersonal and social relationship FAS children however will find it hard to build this relationships and they will learn little or nothing from their family and peers which is the great source of learning at this stage. Since this is the stage where school going begins the children will have a problem of attention in class, they will have a difficulty in focusing and sustaining attention over time. The children are also associated with a problem of reaction times as they have a slower and less efficient information processing system.

Finally the adolescent stage is the period that records an accelerated growth. This stage marks the beginning of adulthood and hence individuals are expected to be more responsible and be able to be good in executing functions.FAS children have deficits in executing functions, this are activities that require abstract thinking like planning and organizing.These children may also become alcoholics since that had prior exposure to alcohol (State university.com, 2011)

Prognosis

These effects can be attributed to the fact that within a fetus, the embryonic cells that are destined to become the brain neurons are growing in many numbers, they then move to their ultimate locations and mature into a wide variety of distinct neurons cells that will connect to the brain in a particular pattern. When alcohol is consumed and metabolized there is an increased susceptibility to damage of the cells that is caused by the free radicals that kill the sensitive population of the brain cells at a very critical time of the development of the brain. Alcohol can also alter the production of natural regulatory substances that help promote the orderly growth and differentiation of neurons (National institute of health, 2012)

Significance of the issue

It is very important for the general public to be educated on the effects of teratogens in the fetus and also the child that is born, as it has been seen there are many effects of alcohol for both the fetus and child and this effects affect the fetus and the effects may be seen long after the child is born, this can be lasting effects that women can avoid for their children if only they are constantly reminded of the effects and the importance of staying away from alcohol when they are pregnant.

References

State university.com (2011). Stages of Growth Child Development - Early Childhood (Birth to Eight Years), Middle Childhood (Eight to Twelve Years). Retrieved November 5, 2012 from http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1826/Child-Development-Stages-Growth.html

National institute of health. (2012).Alcohol Alert. Retrieved November 5, 2012 from http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa50.htm

Buddy, T. (2012).How Drinking Alcohol During Pregnancy Causes FAS.Retrieved November 5,

2012 from http://alcoholism.about.com/od/fas/a/How-Drinking-Alcohol-Causes-Fas.htm

Gilbert, S. (2009).Teratogens. Retrieved November 5, 2012 from http://toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Teratogens

Measom, C,(2010).The Effects of Alcohol on Infants. Retrieved November 5,2012 from http://www.ehow.com/info_7966346_effects-alcohol-infants.html.....