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From Diagnosis to Daily Life: Intervention, Training, and the Next Generation
UW researchers and clinicians have built tools and interventions that help families, train professionals, and inform policy far beyond Washington.
For many families, diagnosis is not the end of the story. It is the beginning of a new question: what now? Once a child’s needs are better understood, families, schools, clinicians, and service systems need practical strategies that can make daily life more manageable and supportive.
UW’s FASD work has helped answer that question through family-focused intervention, professional training, diagnostic software, data systems, and public policy. This is the next generation of the FAS DPN story: moving from identification to action.
Heather Carmichael Olson, PhD
Heather Carmichael Olson, PhD, UW Clinical Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, has devoted much of her career to intervention and support for families raising children affected by prenatal alcohol exposure. Her main research focus has been the Families Moving Forward Program (FMF), a family-focused FASD intervention she designed to support caregivers and improve outcomes for children and families. FMF, like PCAP and the FASDPN has been replicated worldwide.
The Families Moving Forward Program was developed in the early 2000s in response to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention call to develop, test and implement interventions for children living with FASD. The program focuses on helping caregivers understand FASD, adjust expectations, strengthen parenting strategies, and respond to behavior in ways that fit a child’s brain-based needs.
That shift can be powerful. When adults understand behavior as connected to brain differences rather than willful disobedience, the support plan can change. Families can move away from blame and toward strategies that reduce stress, build skills, and create more supportive environments.
Intervention is one part of the next-generation story. Training is another. The FAS DPN has built a training model that reaches far beyond the UW clinic. The core clinic provides training opportunities including one-day observational training, two-day diagnostic team training, the FASD 4-Digit Diagnostic Code Online Course and customized training for professionals and communities.
Over more than 30 years, more than 10,000 professionals have attended FAS DPN’s one-day observational training. FAS DPN reports that more than 3,000 professionals from 62 countries have completed the FASD 4- Digit Diagnostic Code Online Course, and more than 200 FASD diagnostic clinical teams have been trained worldwide.
That training model has been a major part of the FAS DPN work led by Susan J. (Astley) Hemingway, PhD. As director, she has helped move FASD expertise from a specialized UW clinic into training, tools, data systems, and public health policy that other communities can use.
Workforce development matters because FASD diagnosis and support require interdisciplinary collaboration. Physicians, psychologists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, social workers, educators, public health professionals, advocates, and policymakers all have roles to play. FAS DPN helps create a shared language and a shared diagnostic framework across those disciplines.
FAS DPN has also trained UW students, residents, fellows, and interns from disciplines including medicine, nursing, psychology, rehabilitation medicine, speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, dentistry, social work, and public health. That educational role helps prepare future professionals to recognize FASD and understand the importance of interdisciplinary care.
From Diagnosis to Daily Life: Intervention, Training, and the Next Generation
UW researchers and clinicians have built tools and interventions that help families, train professionals, and inform policy far beyond Washington.
For many families, diagnosis is not the end of the story. It is the beginning of a new question: what now? Once a child’s needs are better understood, families, schools, clinicians, and service systems need practical strategies that can make daily life more manageable and supportive.
UW’s FASD work has helped answer that question through family-focused intervention, professional training, diagnostic software, data systems, and public policy. This is the next generation of the FAS DPN story: moving from identification to action.
Heather Carmichael Olson, PhD
Heather Carmichael Olson, PhD, UW Clinical Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, has devoted much of her career to intervention and support for families raising children affected by prenatal alcohol exposure. Her main research focus has been the Families Moving Forward Program (FMF), a family-focused FASD intervention she designed to support caregivers and improve outcomes for children and families. FMF, like PCAP and the FASDPN has been replicated worldwide.
The Families Moving Forward Program was developed in the early 2000s in response to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention call to develop, test and implement interventions for children living with FASD. The program focuses on helping caregivers understand FASD, adjust expectations, strengthen parenting strategies, and respond to behavior in ways that fit a child’s brain-based needs.
That shift can be powerful. When adults understand behavior as connected to brain differences rather than willful disobedience, the support plan can change. Families can move away from blame and toward strategies that reduce stress, build skills, and create more supportive environments.
Intervention is one part of the next-generation story. Training is another. The FAS DPN has built a training model that reaches far beyond the UW clinic. The core clinic provides training opportunities including one-day observational training, two-day diagnostic team training, the FASD 4-Digit Diagnostic Code Online Course and customized training for professionals and communities.
Over more than 30 years, more than 10,000 professionals have attended FAS DPN’s one-day observational training. FAS DPN reports that more than 3,000 professionals from 62 countries have completed the FASD 4- Digit Diagnostic Code Online Course, and more than 200 FASD diagnostic clinical teams have been trained worldwide.
That training model has been a major part of the FAS DPN work led by Susan J. (Astley) Hemingway, PhD. As director, she has helped move FASD expertise from a specialized UW clinic into training, tools, data systems, and public health policy that other communities can use.
Workforce development matters because FASD diagnosis and support require interdisciplinary collaboration. Physicians, psychologists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, social workers, educators, public health professionals, advocates, and policymakers all have roles to play. FAS DPN helps create a shared language and a shared diagnostic framework across those disciplines.
FAS DPN has also trained UW students, residents, fellows, and interns from disciplines including medicine, nursing, psychology, rehabilitation medicine, speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, dentistry, social work, and public health. That educational role helps prepare future professionals to recognize FASD and understand the importance of interdisciplinary care.
The program’s tools are another form of dissemination. The FASD 4-Digit Diagnostic Code, diagnostic guide, lip- philtrum guides, FAS Facial Photographic Analysis Software, online course, and data dashboards help professionals learn and apply a more consistent diagnostic approach. FAS DPN reports that more than 3,000 facial photographic analysis software licenses have been distributed across 62 countries.
These tools matter because specialized expertise is limited. Families should not have to depend on geography or luck to find professionals who understand FASD. By developing tools and training programs that travel, FAS DPN helps extend UW knowledge into communities in Washington, across the United States and internationally.
FASD work also depends on policy. In 2023 Washington House Bill 1168 expanded attention to children and families impacted by FASD and other prenatal substance exposures by further supporting diagnostic and treatment services. At the federal level, the FASD Respect Act was signed into law as part of the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025, restoring federal support for FASD programs after nearly two decades without dedicated federal authorization.
National advocates helped move that work forward. Jenn Wisdahl, Chief Operating Officer at FASD United and a parent advocate, has been a leading voice in efforts to advance FASD policy, education, and support. Her work reflects the next generation of FASD leadership: families, advocates, clinicians, researchers, and policymakers working together to make systems more responsive. Each year, FASD United hosts the FASD International Conference in Seattle WA bringing together these families, clinicians, researchers, and policymakers. Dating back to the early 1990s, a local family advocate, Julie Gelo, has devoted her life to helping families connect with resources, advocacy groups, and cutting-edge research through establishment of NOFAS Washington and FASD Focus Northwest.
The future of FASD work will require the same combination that built the field: careful science, respectful language, interdisciplinary diagnosis, family-centered intervention, relationship-based prevention, training, and public policy. FAS DPN offers a model for how those pieces can work together over time.
The UW FASD story began with clinical observation. It grew through research, policy, and public health infrastructure. Today, it continues through families, clinicians, advocates, trainees, and policymakers working toward a more informed and responsive future.
