Chapter 7: Student Activities | Course Companion for Children with Disabilities, Fifth Edition

7: Substance Abuse: A Preventable Threat to Development

Student Activities

Spend some time with mothers in a rehabilitation program, and speak with them about their experiences. What caused them to seek treatment? How do they view their relationship with their family, especially their children? What factors do they attribute to leading to their addiction? How do they feel their pregnancy affected their addiction?
Contact a local early intervention program and/or a service coordinator at a local children’s hospital. Discuss what programs and services are available for infants born to a substance-abusing mother. How are these services initiated and coordinated, especially given the coexisting medical, social, and psychological needs of the infant’s mother? What additional challenges exist for infants who must be placed into the foster care environment? What health insurance and health care financing issues are involved?