2026 Education and FASD International Conference • Oct 23, 2026

It’s More Than Social Skills: Understanding Relational Cognitive Demands for Students with FASD

10:30AM to 11:10AM PDT / 40min

Students with FASD are often described as having difficulty with “social skills,” but successfully navigating relationships requires far more than knowing what is socially expected. Every interaction places demands on the brain: noticing and interpreting social cues, considering another person’s perspective, shifting when things do not go as expected, managing impulses and emotions, communicating needs effectively, and applying past learning in the moment.

When these relational cognitive skills are lagging or inconsistently accessible, students can appear rude, argumentative, controlling, self-centered, or unwilling to cooperate. Through a brain-based lens, however, these behaviors can be understood differently: as signs that the cognitive demands of the interaction have exceeded the student’s capacity in that moment.

In this session, participants will learn to identify the often-hidden cognitive skills required to successfully navigate relationships at school and explore how FASD can impact a student’s ability to access and apply these skills consistently. Using common school-based examples, participants will practice looking beneath relational challenges to identify the cognitive demands involved and consider practical ways to adjust expectations, provide scaffolding, and support students more effectively.