The goal of this project is to learn about the executive functioning skills of children and youth who were exposed to alcohol before birth. Executive functioning is the ability to plan, problem solve, manage one’s behaviour and feelings, and pay attention. We hope to learn about whether caregivers’ reports of executive functioning are similar to children’s and youth’s performance on tests of executive functioning. Research from the United States and the United Kingdom have found that caregiver reports of executive functioning are not related to how well a child performs on tests of executive functioning. Currently, there is no Canadian research on this topic. For this study, we will use the answers from a questionnaire on executive functioning that caregivers filled out when their child was seen at the Manitoba FASD Centre. We will also use the test results of executive functioning tasks that were completed with the psychologist at the Centre. We will then compare the two sets of information to see whether they are related (i.e., the answers on the questionnaire are similar to the test results) or if they are different. The results of this study will be used to help us better understand the executive functioning skills of children and youth who were exposed to alcohol before birth in Manitoba. We can also use this information to help improve the services we provide at the Manitoba FASD Centre.
