A new school year is here, and we want to extend a warm welcome back to education staff across Alberta and especially to the FASD Instructional Coaches who continue to bring knowledge, creativity, and an FASD-informed approach into schools and classrooms throughout the province.
The beginning of a school year brings new students, new routines, new relationships and, of course, a few challenges along the way. It is also a great time to think about how we create classroom environments where students feel safe, understood and ready to learn.
For students with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), the classroom environment can make a significant difference. FASD is a lifelong disability that can affect areas such as memory, attention, executive functioning, emotional regulation, communication, sensory processing and the ability to connect cause and effect. When these brain-based differences are understood, we can begin to shift the question from “Why won’t this student?” to “What does this student need in order to be successful?”
FASD-Informed Classrooms Benefit Everyone
One of the strengths of FASD-informed education is that many of the strategies that support students with FASD are simply good teaching practices and they can benefit all students.
Predictable routines, clear and concrete language, visual supports, repetition, reduced sensory overload, extra processing time, relationship-based approaches and breaking larger tasks into manageable steps can make classrooms easier to navigate for everyone.
A student does not need an FASD diagnosis to benefit from an environment that is structured, responsive and flexible.
This is where the idea of universal support becomes so important. When we design classrooms with different learning needs in mind from the beginning, we reduce the need for students to continually adapt themselves to environments that may not work for them. Instead, we create environments that are better able to adapt to students.
And when something isn’t working, an FASD-informed approach encourages us to get curious. Is the expectation clear? Is the environment overwhelming? Does the student need more time, another explanation, a visual cue, fewer steps or a different way to demonstrate what they know?
Sometimes a small change in the environment can make a very big difference.
WRaP 2.0 Is Here to Support Alberta Schools
The WRaP 2.0 FASD Coaching Partnership Project will continue through June 30, 2027, supporting Alberta school authority staff to build their understanding of FASD and strengthen FASD-informed practice within classrooms and school communities.
Support through WRaP 2.0 is practical and responsive to the needs of each school or school authority. FASD Instructional Coaches can work with education staff individually, in small groups or with larger teams to build knowledge, explore classroom strategies, problem-solve around student needs, and strengthen approaches that recognize the connection between the brain, the environment and behaviour.
Embedded throughout WRaP 2.0’s areas of support is the Towards Healthy Outcomes (THO) Framework. Rather than focusing primarily on deficits or trying to change behaviour, THO encourages us to better understand the individual, their strengths and needs, and the environments around them. It asks us to consider not simply “What do I do?” but “What do I know?” and “How can we support this individual toward healthy outcomes?”
Within an education setting, this means looking beyond what we see on the surface. A student who is struggling may need changes to expectations, communication, sensory demands, routines, relationships or the physical environment. THO provides a way of thinking about support that is individualized, strengths-based, FASD-informed and focused on meaningful success and quality of life.
This approach fits naturally within the work of WRaP 2.0. Coaches can help education teams move from simply knowing about FASD to understanding how FASD may influence a student’s experience at school and, most importantly, how that understanding can translate into practical changes that support learning, belonging and success.
Alberta school authority staff interested in connecting with the project can submit a WRaP 2.0 Service Request.