Fantastic Antone Grows Up: Adolescents and Adults with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (Paperback)

~ Judith Kleinfeld (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The sequel to Fantastic Antone Succeeds!: Experiences in Educating Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, also edited by psychologist Kleinfeld, this work provides a glimpse into what it means to struggle through adolescence and adulthood with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Told through the accounts of FAS sufferers, their parents, educators, and the professionals who work with them, this book shares practical lessons learned through experience and demonstrates why the methods used on young FAS children don't necessarily work when they're older. Kleinfeld also employs her own experiences to illustrate how she learned that techniques used successfully with other special-needs children often fail with FAS children. While the individual accounts point out the struggles and the failures, most highlight and celebrate the successes. The extensive bibliography and resource lists are extremely helpful. A welcome addition to consumer health, psychology, and education collections.DKellyJo Houtz Griffin, Eatonville, WA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Fantastic Antone Grows Up is a field guide to life with an adolescent or young adult with fetal alcohol syndrome/effects.  Under the best of circumstances, adolescence is a trying time for young people and their families.  The budding adult seeks independence and autonomy while the resistant child within longs for protection and structure; questions about sexuality and work, social commitments, and solitary accomplishments loom large and can create a family battlefield.  For the challenged and challenging young people with FAS/E, the circumstances as they begin maturing are never the best. In this sequel to Fantastic Antone Succeeds, young people with FAS/E and their caregivers report on their experiences coping with the problems of adolescence and young adulthood.  Again the editors and authors have concentrated on the wisdom of practice, as they candidly convey which techniques worked and which did not during the difficult passages of the teenage years and beyond. The twenty-one chapters are grouped according to theme.  Section one discusses the meaning of success for adolescents and adults with FAS/E -- the need to define success in new ways.  Cindy Gere found her path to success, for example, through creative expression.  She graduated from college with a degree in fine arts and successfully completed a program in art.  Many of her paintings, including the one illustrating the cover of this book, provide a poignant and candid expression of what FAS/E means to her.   Section two discusses strategies that work in areas such as counseling, education, sexuality, trouble with the law, and independent living.  Section three covers what families need from the community, including innovative programs that help individuals with FAS/E, and how to get a diagnosis at adolescence.  The book also contains important resources, organizations to contact, and internet addresses. More has been learned about how alcohol poisoning in the womb alters brain function and physical development since the release of Fantastic Antone Succeeds, but science is far from providing the answers that affected young people and their caregivers need.  Until such answers are forthcoming, nothing can replace the voices of experience with their practical messages of coping, caring, loving, weeping, laughing, and -- more often than might be expected -- succeeding.

Product Details

• Paperback: 425 pages
• Publisher: University of Alaska Press; 1 edition (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1889963119
• ISBN-13: 978-1889963112
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #592,097 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for parents of fetal alchohol syndrome kids., July 4, 2000

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Educators, caregivers and families will appreciate Fantastic Antone Grows Up, written by affected young people and their families, which provides a focus on adolescents and adults with fetal alcohol syndrome. The sequel to Fantastic Antone Succeeds reports on experiences coping with the problems of coming of age and the special challenges the syndrome presents.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a help!, February 6, 2007

By	B. J. Griggs (Ventura, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As legal guardian for for the past 7 years to a 15 year old FASD girl, this book is a valuable resource and enormously encouraging. I'm only on the 2nd chapter and already I can see a difference in attitude and action on my part and hers. A must-have for any parent, teacher or adult working with teens who are living with FASD. Gives insight from both the adult and child. Wish I'd read it 2 years ago to help prepare for these teen years. Life would have been a bit more peaceful.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For young adults and their families, November 4, 2007

By	K. Kendall (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

[..]
Here is what I needed: a compendium of articles by young adults living with FAS/E and their parents, therapists, doctors, and caregivers. The book has three stated intentions: to provide examples of people living "successful" lives with FAS/E (and explanations of what that success means); to describe "strategies that work"; and to look at FAS/E from a community or holistic point of view. As a result, it errs a bit in the direction of optimism. It does not set out to cover the horror stories and nightmares, though enough sneak in by way of truth-telling that there is no gilding the lily. This form of brain damage is very, very difficult for everyone it touches, and many people with the disorder do end up in prison, on the streets, or dead before they're 25. But some young adults DO become relatively independent (if they have public services such as sheltered workshops, therapists, group homes, and income supplementation); some get married, and if they marry mature and capable people who are able to carry more than half the weight, some succeed in parenting, and/or finding jobs that satisfy them and use their special skills. That's quite a string of IFs, and yet the book opens a window on at least a distant possibility of life beyond the time when mom takes on the labor of supporting two households. I needed the view through that window. This is a really wonderful book. There's a little sappiness in it, because when you get parents talking about kids with disabilities, a certain amount of sentiment is naturally going to flow over the top; but for the most part, it's good science, good sense, and good human feeling.