PROTOCOL: Interventions for improving executive functions in children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Systematic review and meta‐analysis

1.1 The problem, condition or issue Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with profound and lifelong disability. The umbrella term fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) describes a spectrum of impairments resulting from the deleterious effects of PAE (Chudley et al., 2005). Historically, the spectrum comprised four disorders: fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), Partial FAS (pFAS), alcohol‐related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND), and alcohol‐related birth defects (ARBD; Lange, Rovet, Rehm, & Popova, 2017). All four disorders shared PAE as their etiological base and all but ARBDs were associated with neurological deficits (ARBD comprizing physical defects). More recently, the Australian Guidelines to the diagnosis of FASD have been published (Bower & Elliot, 2016). While the core aspects of the condition remain unchanged, the Australian guidelines comprise two diagnostic categories for FASD: (a) FASD with three sentinel facial features or (b) FASD with less than three sentinel facial features.