The sobering fact of family law is that to be in the business of orchestrating

PHYSIOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES
AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
When early developmental differences or trauma are known or sus-
pected, the investigating family law professional may need to receive
and review prenatal, birth, and pediatric records. Documentation of
early illness, injury, or delay can help to explain present-day functioning
and may bear on court-related questions of maturity and competence.
Alternately, collecting a comprehensive developmental history can be
critically important to formulating legal remedies best suited to a child’s
specific needs and abilities.
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Physiological differences due to prenatal trauma, toxic exposure,
peri- and postnatal injury, can impair sensory development, behavior,
and temperament and thereby dramatically limit the child’s early-lan-
guage experience. These differences can remain undetected for months
and even years. The result can be very much like the result of early
neglect, that is, without adequate early-language experience, develop-
ment may be delayed, idiosyncratic, or completely arrested. Some com-
mon physiological impacts on language development are discussed
below.
Fetal alcohol syndrome
(FAS) is caused by in utero exposure to
maternal alcohol consumption. It is strongly associated with cognitive
delays, difficulties with vision and audition, shortened stature, learning
disabilities, impulsivity, and organ failure. Prominent within this broad

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