The Wire

Australia lags 20 years behind Canada when it comes to Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

The disorder is caused by alcohol affecting developing neural pathways. And this means that depending on when the alcohol was consumed, different manifestations of the illness will present.

As the disease is invisible 80% of the time and due to the variability of symptoms, diagnosis takes a team of highly qualified professionals including, but not limited to: speech therapists, paediatricians and clinical psychologists.