The Ottawa Sun reported Oct. 24 that child-welfare officials in states like Iowa are encountering thousands of children each year with drugs in their systems.

Rizwan Shah, M.D., a pediatrician at Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines, said he sees up to six meth-exposed children daily. Shah said methamphetamine use during pregnancy will have the same effects on the fetus as on the mother -- including diminished ability to learn new skills and interact with the outside world.

"The brain has to be able to develop appropriate responses and not get overwhelmed and stressed out," Shah said. "And methamphetamine babies do show deficiencies in their ability to accommodate those changes that arise as a part of their social interaction and their body functions, like sleeping and eating."

But these impairments need not be permanent. "Alcohol is the only drug that can cause mental retardation in a child," Shah said. "Fetal alcohol syndrome babies, 80 percent of them are mentally retarded. Neither crack cocaine nor methamphetamine cause mental retardation."

"These kids are not a lost cause," Shah added. "These are children who have a potential to grow up to be somebody. We need to remember that a lot of brain development happens before birth, but a lot more happens after birth."

COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

Posted by Joan on 22 Sep 08 08:36 PM EDT

We are 90% sure our 5 year old granddaughter was exposed to meth while her mom was pregnant. She has real social problems, has been diagnosed with RAD, ODD, and she sometimes appears to be BIPOLAR. Her parents have her in therapy, but we worry that they are not giving the whole story to the therapist. We hope to meet with the therapist to give him/her our input. It is hard to see her improving without the therapist being fully informed.

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