A large national conference, the first of its kind, is being held in Saskatoon Tuesday through Thursday. It’s the sold out National FASD conference with 600 attendees. Executive Director of Canada FASD Research Network, Audrey McFarlane, says they even had to turn away about 200 people.  She says Canada is sitting at four per cent of the population with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.  McFarlane says to give that some context, that is more than those with Autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy – all combined.

The conference brings together those who are researching FASD, those who work with people who have the disorder and those who have FASD and their families. McFarlane says the goal is to connect all of the different sectors with each other, to improve practices and to bring awareness.  Attendees will hear about current research, where things are with diagnosis and support services, interventions in health care and there will be presentations by service providers in justice, corrections, substance use and mental health, and a number of educators will talk about some of their successes with students who have FASD.

There are 169 presenters in total. McFarlane says with the success of this first event, there will be more national conferences every two years, hosted in different cities across Canada.