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The children in our sample showed age-appropriate levels of executive functions before attending PIH. Some aspects of executive skills difficulties were reduced after PIH. Using BRIEF-P contributed to the differentiation of cognitive strengths and weaknesses among the children.

This paper presents a new initiative in the South-Eastern Health Region of Norway to establish a regional resource center focusing on services for children and adolescents aged 2–18 years with prenatal exposure to alcohol or other drugs. In Norway, the prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum (FAS) is not known but has been estimated to be between 1 and 2 children per 1000 births, while the prevalence of prenatal exposure to illicit drugs is unknown. The resource center is the first of its kind in Scandinavia and will have three main objectives: (1) provide hospital staff, community health and child welfare personnel, and special educators with information, educational courses, and seminars focused on the identification, diagnosis, and treatment of children with a history of prenatal alcohol/drug exposure; (2) provide specialized health services, such as diagnostic services and intervention planning, for children referred from hospitals in the South-Eastern Health Region of Norway; and (3) initiate multicenter studies focusing on the diagnostic process and evaluation of interventions.

Objective: To evaluate the effect on parents of participating in an intensified multimodal programme of habilitation for preschool children with cerebral palsy (CP). Methods: Thirteen preschool children with CP, and their parents attended four in-patient sessions during the programme period of one-and-a-half years. During each group session, the parents were given lessons in coping strategies and positive adaptation. A group of six CP children receiving traditional follow-up habilitation services and their parents were used as controls. Parental effects were evaluated with Parental Stress Index (PSI) and Life Orientation Test (LOT). Results: Mothers in the intervention group had reduced scores below clinical level on both domains of PSI and an increase in LOT score after the intervention period. No changes in scores were seen for fathers or parents in the control group. Conclusions: The intervention programme seemed to reduce stress and increase optimism among mothers of participating CP children.

Abstract:Background: To describe optimism and sense of coherence in mothers and fathers of