TASP Online

The Impact of Maternal Substance Abuse on Child Development

The objective of this workshop is to increase participants’ understanding of the scope and epidemiology of maternal substance abuse and the impact on children.

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Describe the effect that maternal substance abuse has on the development of an infant, child and adolescent.
• Explain the findings of long-term developmental effects of prenatal and postnatal exposure to alcohol (FASD), nicotine, methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and prescription drugs/opiates as described in scientific studies.
• Identify the conditions that prenatal and postnatal exposure to alcohol and other drugs may be associated with, including disease, prematurity, sub-optimal caretaking, poverty, exposure to violence, abuse and neglect, and maternal psychopathology.
• Identify interventions and resources for children impacted by maternal substance abuse.

Participants will benefit from this training by acquiring an increased knowledge of and appreciation for the negative effects of substance abuse on fetal development and family function and how these consequences must be addressed.

-Karen Kuehn Howell, Ph.D.

Karen Kuehn Howell, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor for Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Maternal Substance Abuse and Child Development Project. Dr. Howell received her Bachelor’s degree from Emory University, her Master’s and Doctoral degrees from the University of Memphis, was a doctoral intern at the University of Tennessee’s Department of Psychiatry, and a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University’s Department of Psychiatry.

The MSACD Project has been in existence since the early 1980’s. Over the past 30 years, the Maternal Substance Abuse and Child Development Project has become the most comprehensive project addressing maternal substance abuse and its impact on both women and their children.

Dr. Howell’s role on the Maternal Substance Abuse and Child Development Project is a multiple one. She is primarily responsible for psychological assessment of infants, children, and adolescents prenatally exposed to alcohol and other drugs such as cocaine. Dr. Howell also conducts psychological assessments of substance abusing women participating in the MSACD Project as well. Dr. Howell is responsible for coordinating prevention efforts regarding maternal substance abuse, which includes information dissemination, professional and parent education and training, and community based processes. Dr. Howell is also a staff psychologist for the Fetal Alcohol and Drug Exposure Clinic at the Marcus Institute, which is the only specialized diagnostic and treatment facility of its kind in the Southeastern United States. She is a member of the Georgia Alcohol Policy Partnership, the Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia, partner-at-large of the Georgia Prevention Network, is on the Board of the National Organization for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Georgia Chapter, and is an invited member of the statewide Maternal Substance Abuse Advisory Board.

Dr. Howell has authored and co-authored 2 book chapters regarding maternal substance abuse, a dozen journal articles, and has presented at over 200 national and statewide conferences and forums such as this.

Greetings,

We are seeking participation from all school psychology practitioners for exploratory research we are conducting regarding school psychologists’ current practices (or lack thereof) in the provision of counseling services within the school setting.  Our research is aimed at addressing two primary questions: (1) To what extent (e.g., type, frequency of services provided) are school psychology practitioners being called upon to provide counseling services in the school setting? (2) What level of training have the participants in this study received in order to provide such services?  For those practitioners who are not currently providing counseling services in the school setting, we are also interested in determining any factors that preclude them from doing so.

In order to address these questions, we need your input.  Please take a few moments to respond to the online survey we have published at the following address: www.citadel.edu/go/counselingsurvey.html.  In order to obtain an accurate snapshot of school psychologists’ current practices, we are interested in obtaining responses from as many school psychology practitioners across the United States as possible, whether or not you are currently providing counseling services in the school setting.

We do not foresee any risks as a result of participating in this study, and your participation is completely voluntary.  You will not be asked to provide any information that may identify you individually.  This project has been approved by the Institutional Review Board at The Citadel in Charleston, SC as well as the NASP Research Committee.  Should you have any questions regarding your rights as a research participant, you may contact the Chair of the Institutional Review Board at The Citadel (Mike Politano, Ph.D.; 843-953-5320)

If you have any questions regarding our study or are unable to access the survey for any reason, please contact:

Tim Hanchon. Ph.D. ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Lori, Fernald, D.Ed. ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Thank you again.

Timothy A. Hanchon, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology

The Citadel
171 Moultrie St.
Charleston, SC 29409

We have updated the TASP Online users for the 2010-2011 year.  New members have been added as new users (new TASP members) and some users have been deactivated.  If you can no longer access the TASP website with your user name/password, contact the membership chairperson, Rachel Archer ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) to validate your status. 

Oops! Julie, your absent-minded co-rep, sent the wrong article for publication in the most recent TASP newsletter. Sign in with your user name and password, access the "TASP Newsletters" section and access the "West Region Update Winter 2009" for the additional information.  Sorry for the error!

Happy New Year, TASP members! It’s time once again to start thinking about elections for the 2010-2011 fiscal year! If you know someone who would make a remarkable Regional Rep, a positively fabulous President, or a splendid Secretary, it’s time to submit an official nomination. In fact, nominations for spring elections are DUE FEBRUARY 1^st! Please take a minute (or less!) to submit nominations for office on the official Nomination Form, found below. They can be emailed or printed and mailed to Ron Roberts, Chair of the TASP Nominations and Elections Committee. His contact info is found on the form. Looking forward to another amazing assortment of TASP officers.

Nomination Form 2010-2011

Kim Sumara recently suggested adding the site http://www.do2learn.com/ to our technical resources page.  This website provides free educational games and resources.  You can read more about the site here.

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Internet Explorer 7 & 8 allows users to subscribe to RSS feeds and view the content that is updated.  To use this feature with our website, click the Feeds button to discover the feed.  You can click Subscribe to this Feed to add the feature to your list of subscriptions.  Almost all sections of the website will have RSS feeds (including private content).

As new content is added to the subscribed section, you will see updates in your subscribed feeds folder.  To view your feeds, click the Favorites button in Internet Explorer and choose the Feeds option.

More details:

• Windows Vista help for RSS feeds
• Managing Your Information with Feeds
• Microsoft and RSS

Follow the link below to download the TASP Membership Form

2009-2010 TASP Membership Form

The following document contains the changes to the NCSP renewal requirements.  Additional details can be found on the NASP website.

NCSP Renewal Requirements