Carrie McCarter is a speech-language pathologist with a master’s degree who has spent her career working in the birth-to-three world of early intervention. However, when it came to raising her own twins with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), she found that her professional training wasn't enough to navigate the intense dysregulation and sensory challenges at home.

In this episode, Carrie opens up about the "professional paradox" of being an expert in child development while feeling like a failure as a parent. She shares the turning point that occurred when she stopped trying to "fix" behaviors and started understanding the unique architecture of the FASD brain.

Key Takeaways from the Conversation

• The Struggle for Diagnosis: Carrie discusses the two-and-a-half-year journey to secure an FASD diagnosis, which finally came when her twins were 10.5 years old.
• The 10 Brain Domains: Discover how learning about the brain domains was "gut-wrenching yet freeing," allowing Carrie to move from guilt to effective accommodation.
• Professional vs. Parent: Carrie explains why her twins would "shut down" at school while displaying acting-out behaviors at home, and why traditional parenting techniques often fail these children.
• The Power of Yet: A look at how Carrie manages the transition into adulthood and why she remains hopeful about the brain’s ability to grow and learn well into the 20s and beyond.
• Self-Care for the Solo Parent: How Carrie utilizes respite services, online grocery shopping, and "breathing breaks" to stay regulated as a single mother.

Resources and Links

Free FASD Workshop Registration Join our upcoming free workshops this February to learn a new brain-body approach to managing aggression and building stability. Register Here: https://www.fasdsuccess.com/fasd-workshop-2026

Connect with Carrie McCarter Carrie is a passionate educator and speaker available for training and advocacy sessions.

Email: carriemccarterfasd@gmail.com

Watch on YouTube See the full video version of this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7UJh3m9ZAA

The FASD Success Show Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to never miss an episode.

The biggest free training for families is back. We start with a new brain-body approach to aggression that stops the blame. Then, we tackle Advocacy in Action—giving you the tools to talk to professionals and teachers who just don't get this hidden disability. Finally, we build your blueprint for long-term stability and support.

Register: https://www.fasdsuccess.com/fasd-workshop-2026

Support the show

When you’re parenting on high alert for years, your nervous system eventually tries to protect you. Sometimes that protection looks like numbness, irritability, shutdown, or going through the motions. In this episode, Jeff Noble sits down with Michael Harris, known online as FASD Elephant, to break down the science of blocked care and the small, realistic ways caregivers can find their way back to connection.

In this episode you’ll hear
• What blocked care is and why it happens when stress stays too high for too long
• How the stress response can shut down your social engagement system and make you feel emotionally flat
• Why anxiety keeps pulling you into worst case futures and how to come back to the present moment
• The difference between self regulation and auto regulation and why auto regulation is the real level up
• A one minute grounding tool you can practice anywhere even when life is loud
• How to use “the gap and the gain” to track real progress when it feels like nothing is changing
• Why grief and ambiguous loss often hide underneath anger and resentment
• How to avoid toxic positivity and build something steadier and more sustainable

Start here first
Caregiver Kickstart Workshop (free): https://www.fasdsuccess.com/fasdworkshop2026

Watch the full episode on YouTube
https://youtu.be/2jcTNnkMfR0

Listen on Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-fasd-success-show/id1492499195

Listen on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/6ntB51glqYnRPmXCh6lOGq

Resources mentioned
FASD Elephant (Michael Harris): https://www.facebook.com/fasdelephant

Michael’s email: michael@fasdelephant.com

Michael’s writing hub: https://medium.com/@FASDElephant

Praise for Change: https://praiseforchange.com

Find FASD Success
Website: https://www.fasdsuccess.com

Free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FASDforever

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/FASDSuccess

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FASDSuccess

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FASDSUCCESS

The biggest free training for families is back. We start with a new brain-body approach to aggression that stops the blame. Then, we tackle Advocacy in Action—giving you the tools to talk to professionals and teachers who just don't get this hidden disability. Finally, we build your blueprint for long-term stability and support.

Register: fasdsuccess.com/fasdworkshop2026

Support the show

Episode #187 The FASD Brain and Connectivity with Dr. Raja Mukherjee

What if many of the struggles we see in FASD are not about behavior at all but about how the brain sends and receives messages?

In this episode of The FASD Success Show, Jeff Noble sits down with Dr. Raja Mukherjee, one of the world’s leading experts in FASD psychiatry and brain development, to explore what brain connectivity really means for individuals living with FASD across the lifespan.

Dr. Mukherjee explains how prenatal alcohol exposure affects the way different parts of the brain communicate with each other and why this can show up as inconsistency, fatigue, emotional overwhelm, and difficulty with daily life tasks even when someone appears capable on the surface.

Together, Jeff and Dr. Mukherjee unpack why independence is often the wrong goal, how interdependence supports regulation and mental health, and what caregivers can do differently when they understand the brain through a connectivity lens.

In This Episode You’ll Hear

• What brain connectivity is and why it matters more than IQ or motivation
• How miscommunication between brain regions affects regulation, memory, and behavior
• Why skills can look “there one day and gone the next”
• How stress and overload disrupt already fragile brain networks
• Why total independence is not a realistic or healthy end goal for many adults with FASD
• How interdependence supports long term success and wellbeing
• What caregivers and systems get wrong when they focus on compliance instead of connection

Why This Episode Matters

This conversation helps caregivers, professionals, and individuals with FASD move away from blame and toward understanding. When you see challenges as connectivity issues rather than character flaws, everything changes including expectations, support strategies, and outcomes.

Dr. Mukherjee brings decades of clinical experience and research insight to a topic that caregivers have been living for years. This episode offers clarity, validation, and a brain based framework you can actually use at home and in advocacy conversations.

Listen and Watch

Listen on Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-fasd-success-show/id1492499195

Listen on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/6ntB51glqYnRPmXCh6lOGq

Watch on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@FASDSuccess

Resources and Links

Learn more about The FASD Success Show
https://www.fasdsuccess.com/podcast

Join our free parent and caregiver community
https://www.facebook.com/groups/FASDFOREVER

Follow Jeff Noble
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/FASDSuccess

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FASDSuccess

Subscribe to the YouTube Channel
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The biggest free training for families is back. We start with a new brain-body approach to aggression that stops the blame. Then, we tackle Advocacy in Action—giving you the tools to talk to professionals and teachers who just don't get this hidden disability. Finally, we build your blueprint for long-term stability and support.

Register: fasdsuccess.com/fasdworkshop2026

Support the show