los2188
North Carolina Tar Heels..your NCCA Champs!!
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Karli Schrider is 43 years old, but she has the developmental age of a first-grader. Her mother drank while pregnant, unaware of the risk of fetal alcohol syndrome. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post)
"Kathy Mitchell wants to share something with you. Shes not proud of it, and its not a behavior she hopes youll emulate. Its just the truth: As a teen, Kathy drank alcohol while pregnant with her daughter, Karli. It was a perilous if unwitting mistake that has defined both of their lives.
Karli is now 43 but is the developmental age of a first-grader. In the home she shares with her mother and stepfather, she collects dolls and purses, and pores over Hello Kitty coloring and sticker books. Karli has fetal alcohol syndrome, the result of alcohol exposure in utero.
In middle age, Karli has none of the awareness, self-determination and independence that most of us take for granted. She cant recognize social cues, is easily led and manipulated, and cant predict dangerous behaviors. She can only follow one rule at a time and doesnt understand sequence. She can cross a street at a lighted crosswalk, but if the light is out, shell step in front of a car. She likes to wear pretty clothes, but she cant remember to brush her teeth."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...ff5238-9a08-11e5-b499-76cbec161973_story.html