EDUCATION OF A CHILD WITH FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME (FAS) - A CHALLENGE FOR A TEACHER

Problematic of the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) has been present in Polish literature for over a dozen years, but research on the topic itself is done sporadically. Relatively low knowledge of the risks associated with prenatal exposure to alcohol causes that primary school teachers are not able to properly select the appropriate methods of educating a child with FAS. They have problems understanding the functioning of children with FAS at the personal and social level, which often leads to aggravation of the disorders. In our article, we want to show the specifics of the functioning of child with FAS at school, present the knowledge of teachers on the described problem, indicate available strategies and methods of working with such children. The study describes the results of our research on FAS carried out in the environment of early education teachers. The research was carried out using a diagnostic survey, questionnaire technique and a semantic differential questionnaire, containing 13 questions regarding the basic knowledge about FAS. The research was carried out from October 2018 to February 2019 in a group of several dozens of teachers from Krakow and Malopolska. The basic research problem was a question about FAS knowledge level among primary schools teachers. It has been hypothesized that teachers' knowledge in this area is small, which prevents to effectively work with the child at school. Based on the conducted research, we draw conclusions and postulates for educational practice. They are intended to enable teachers to understand the problem of alcohol-related disorders of children whose mothers consumed alcohol during pregnancy. We hope that our text will contribute to understanding the need to acquire new knowledge and skills by teachers. They meet various challenges emerging in schools more often these days. This research is addressed to answer questions about working with a child that causes educational difficulties and hopefully will allow to better understand the child's problems. We hope that our study will result in greater effectiveness of teachers’ educational activities.