Sometimes people with FASD may make up things that turn out to be untrue. But don't jump to conclusions and decide they are lying and should be punished!
A lie is when someone deliberately says something they know is not true.. Confabulation is a specific behaviour based on a neurological condition. A person with FASD sometimes has trouble basing what they say in reality, and checking it against the evidence. Even confronted with witness evidence they may still maintain their version of events.
But why?
It's often about issues with memory which is very common in people with FASD. When they can't access their memory 'filing cabinet', they may feel they need to make something up to fill in those memory blanks. This can happen when they are in a heightened emotional state where they cannot access the 'thinking and regulating' parts of the brain.
A person with FASD might do confabulate:
• because they don't know the answer but don't want to seem stupid
• because they think that is the answer someone wants from them
• or because they believe that is what they would have done or said in the circumstances.
Confabulation is when people with FASD believe at the time that what they are saying is true.
For this reason it can be very convincing! But in fact they have created a 'memory' to make sense of a situation. Sometimes, days or weeks later, they may accurately remember what happened – or sometimes not at all.
People with FASD have often confessed to crimes they have not committed so as to get out of stressful situations and they may become confused by complex language or leading questions.
They are not devious or sophisticated. They will take things at face value and do not realise the possible intentions of others – for example when others may be blaming them for something they have not done.
When a young person says things that turn out not to be true, it's best not to make a big deal of it, but just do some quiet investigation and verification.
