Delinda's Gardens books and advocacy
  • Home About Delinda
  • Lies That Bind
  • M'TK Sewer Rat: End of an Empire
  • M'TK Sewer Rat: Birth of a Nation
  • Power and Circumstance
  • Something About Maudy
  • Summer Chaos
  • Janette
  • Blog
  • Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Advocacy
  • Contact Delinda
  • Enchanted Forest Florals/Calico Gardens
  • Road Trips
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Advocacy

Chameleon Behavior in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

3/18/2014

3 Comments

 
Picture

By Delinda McCann

I am the guardian/parent of a special needs child.  Jamie came to live with us when she was five--just before starting kindergarten.  When she came to live with us, I got a report from her previous preschool that listed, among her other skills, the ability to count to one hundred and to recognize all the letters of the alphabet and their sounds. 

At our house, she found the children’s alphabet book among the other books I gave her and obsessively named all the letters with their sounds--endlessly, day and night, and in the wee hours of the morning.  She definitely had OCD and knew her alphabet.

I enrolled Jamie in public school and handed the staff her evaluations from the early education preschool.  I then proceeded to ignore the school for two whole weeks until the school principal called and told me to come get her and to not bring her back until they set up a special class for her.

Since this child wasn’t in school, I set about teaching her the things she should learn in kindergarten.  She seemed eager to learn to read so I taught her to read.  Eventually, she went back to school in the special classroom, and I went about my business of napping while this high maintenance child was at school. 

In the spring of that school year, my hubby and I went to a parent/teacher conference where the teacher proudly announced that Jamie had learned to recognize fourteen letters of the alphabet.  (This conference my have been the beginning of my PTSD.)  I tried to politely explain that Jamie knew how to read.

Folks, this battle over whether or not Jamie could read raged for the rest of the school year and three quarters of the way through the next.  At home she was reading A. A. Milne’s Now We Are Six.  At school, she was up to recognizing twenty letters of the alphabet and could sound out simple words.  Talk about meeting others expectations!  Of course the staff at the school thought I was a crazy liar and called Child Protective Services.  Fortunately by this time, I’d found someone at the University of Washington to do an independent evaluation and had a report that confirmed my observations. 

I later learned that our experience with Jamie and the school is classic Fetal Alcohol Syndrome behavior.  She behaved as she needed to in order to fit in with the expectations of those around her.  We call this chameleon behavior.

Jamie was smart enough to do age appropriate lessons, and in the case of reading, performed above grade level, but she didn't live up to her abilities in the classroom.  Her story may sound like an extreme case of the chameleon characteristics of FAS, but I’ve heard thousands of similar stories.  Like others with her disability, she would conform to the expectations of the group she was in even to the point of appearing far less intelligent than she is.

Chameleon behavior is one of the core characteristics of the cognitive disabilities caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol.  Jamie’s behavior is classic for the full syndrome.  Chameleon behaviors can be less pronounced in individuals with less brain damage. 

I think this is a very important lesson about judging others.  In the case of my daughter, she will behave as you, the person judging her, may expect her to behave.  It is not uncommon for people with FAS or Autism to be much more intelligent than they appear.  Rather than making judgments and dismissing these individuals as something less than fully human, you need to consider the possibility that you may be a negative influence on this person’s behavior.


3 Comments
Christina
3/20/2014 01:55:50 am

Delinda, Very interesting how your daughter 'dumbed' herself down to fit in. I think in many cases kids with FASD are desperate not to show the difficulties they are experiencing and try to behave as 'normal' kids.This term may fit my youngest daughter who may have put up a great front as to how 'normal' she was. I have seen this term before but did not quite understand moral chameleon. Any good articles on this you can point me to?

Reply
Robin McGregor
3/22/2014 11:31:57 am

Our adopted son with FASD is 12yrs old and he has "regressed" to acting younger and more immature since several new younger students have joined his special ed classroom. I didn't realize this was something other families have dealt with, too. I just thought it was something he was doing to just be doing it. We have also seen him try to act like the older, more mature kids at church lately. Thank you for sharing this! There is ALWAYS something new every day with our kids!!!

Reply
history of alcohol benefits link
12/17/2016 11:36:09 pm

All the contents you mentioned in post is too good and can be very useful. I will keep it in mind, thanks for sharing the information keep updating, looking forward for more posts.Thanks

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Delinda McCann is a social psychologist, author, avid organic gardener and amateur musician.

    Archives

    November 2021
    October 2021
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012

    Categories

    All
    Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
    Gardening
    Politics
    Social Justice
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly