Fantastic Antone Grows Up: Adolescents and Adults with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

by Judith Kleinfeld

Overview

Fantastic Antone Grows Up is a field guide to life with an adolescent or young adult with fetal alcohol syndrome/effects.  Under the best of circumstances, adolescence is a trying time for young people and their families.  The budding adult seeks independence and autonomy while the resistant child within longs for protection and structure; questions about sexuality and work, social commitments, and solitary accomplishments loom large and can create a family battlefield.  For the challenged and challenging young people with FAS/E, the circumstances as they begin maturing are never the best.
 
In this sequel to Fantastic Antone Succeeds, young people with FAS/E and their caregivers report on their experiences coping with the problems of adolescence and young adulthood.  Again the editors and authors have concentrated on the wisdom of practice, as they candidly convey which techniques worked and which did not during the difficult passages of the teenage years and beyond.
 
The twenty-one chapters are grouped according to theme.  Section one discusses the meaning of success for adolescents and adults with FAS/E — the need to define success in new ways.  Cindy Gere found her path to success, for example, through creative expression.  She graduated from college with a degree in fine arts and successfully completed a program in art.  Many of her paintings, including the one illustrating the cover of this book, provide a poignant and candid expression of what FAS/E means to her. 
 
Section two discusses strategies that work in areas such as counseling, education, sexuality, trouble with the law, and independent living.  Section three covers what families need from the community, including innovative programs that help individuals with FAS/E, and how to get a diagnosis at adolescence.  The book also contains important resources, organizations to contact, and internet addresses.
 
More has been learned about how alcohol poisoning in the womb alters brain function and physical development since the release of Fantastic Antone Succeeds, but science is far from providing the answers that affected young people and their caregivers need.  Until such answers are forthcoming, nothing can replace the voices of experience with their practical messages of coping, caring, loving, weeping, laughing, and — more often than might be expected — succeeding.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781889963112
Publisher:	University of Alaska Press
Publication date:	01/01/2000
Edition description:	1
Pages:	425
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Judith Kleinfeld founded and directed the Northern Studies Program at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, which examines psychological, social, cultural, and environmental issues across the circumpolar North. During her more than forty years in Alaska, she has published widely on northern issues.

Table of Contents

Foreword/Fantastic Antone is Growing Up
     Sally Caldwell
 
Acknowledgments
     Judith Kleinfeld
 
Introduction
The Roller Coaster Ride of Life with FAS/E
     Judith Kleinfeld
 
Part One
What is Success for Adolescents and Adults with FAS?
 
Chapter 1
Works in Progress: The Meaning of Success for Individuals with FAS/E
     Jan Lutke
 
Chapter 2
Ryland's Gift: How My Son Taught Me To Be a Good Mother
     Mary Lou Cannery
 
Chapter 3
The Graduate: College for Students with FAS/E
     Anne Ruggles Gere and Cindy Gere
 
Chapter 4
Living Independently: A Mother's Tale
     Marceil Ten Eyck
 
Chapter 5
Why I Chose to Live Alone
     Sidney Guimont
 
Chapter 6
How I Grew Up with FAE
     Stef Pummell
 
Chapter 7
Creating an "External Brain": Supporting a Mother and Child with FAS
     Susan Doctor
 
Chapter 8
Finding Hope in a Troubled Life
     Janeen Bohmann
 
Part Two
Strategies taht Work: Education, Counseling, Sexuality, Trouble with
the Law, Living Skills
 
Chapter 9
Working with Adolescents in High School:
Techniques that Help
     Debra Evensen
 
Chapter 10
Finding the Right School for Devorah
     Diane Malbin
 
Chapter 11
Adapting Talk Therapy for Individuals with FAS/E
     Susan L. Baxter
 
Chapter 12
Trouble with the Law
     Marie Jones
 
Chapter 13
Sexuality and Young Adults with FAS/E
     Sara Miranda and Karen Levine
 
Chapter 14
Growing Up with FAS/E
     Pamela Groupe Groves
 
Chapter 15
Reaching Independence Day: Managing the Behavior of Teenagers
     Jim Slinn
 
Chapter 16
Adolescents with Disabilities: Insights for Individuals with FAS/E
Claire D. Coles and Mary Ellen Lynch
 
Part Three
What Families Need from the Community
 
Chapter 17
Using Community Mentors to Help Teenagers Develop Social Skills
     Janet Adams
 
Chapter 18
Community Involvement: Lessons from Native Americans
     Rodger Hornby
 
Chapter 19
Relinquishing Our Christmas Child So We Could Reclaim Him
     Ann Michael
 
Chapter 20
Caring for the Caregivers: Family Support and Empowerment
     Georgiana Wilton, Raymond Kessel, and
     Moira Chamberlain Clark
 
Chapter 21
Diagnosis and Thereafter: What We Know Now and
Where We are Going
     Barabara A. Morse
 
Conclusion
What the Wisdom of Practice Teaches Us About FAS/E at
Adolescence and Young Adulthood
     Judith Kleinfeld
 
Afterword
Broken Beaks and Wobbly Wings
     Teresa Kellerman
 
Appendix One
The Case of Ida
     The Honorable Judge C. Cunliffe Barnett
 
Appendix Two
Annotated Bibliography of Resources
     David A. and Gail S. Hales
 
Works Cited
Index

Editorial Reviews

The sequel to Fantastic Antone Succeeds!: Experiences in Educating Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, also edited by psychologist Kleinfeld, this work provides a glimpse into what it means to struggle through adolescence and adulthood with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Told through the accounts of FAS sufferers, their parents, educators, and the professionals who work with them, this book shares practical lessons learned through experience and demonstrates why the methods used on young FAS children don't necessarily work when they're older. Kleinfeld also employs her own experiences to illustrate how she learned that techniques used successfully with other special-needs children often fail with FAS children. While the individual accounts point out the struggles and the failures, most highlight and celebrate the successes. The extensive bibliography and resource lists are extremely helpful. A welcome addition to consumer health, psychology, and education collections.--KellyJo Houtz Griffin, Eatonville, WA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Library Journal

In this sequel to , young people with fetal alcohol syndrome/effects (FAS/E) and their caregivers report on their experiences coping with the problems of adolescence and young adulthood. Emphasis is placed on techniques which do and do not work in the process of navigating the teenage years successfully. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews