Julie Williams tries to keep son Beemer focused during a play group for kids with special needs.

But he said he has no doubt of the difficulties children and families face from prenatal alcohol exposure. And for most of them, there is little help.
"There is no question FAE exists, but we don't have a handle on it," Cunniff said.
He is also wary of giving a child a label that may cause the child further difficulties.
"There might be a benefit to a diagnosis, but there might be a downside as well," he said. "While it might get people in services, it causes people to give up on those children."
And he doesn't think it's fair that a child with an FAE label would get services while another child with problems would not.
"It seems to me prejudicial that a child with attention deficit disorder from alcohol would get services when one who didn't have alcohol exposure wouldn't," he said.
Cunniff hopes ongoing research will lead to a test for FAE.
"I'm hoping science in years to come will either find a very specific set of delays for children with FAE, or find a biomarker - something we can test, a piece of tissue."
But until that day, children and adults with alcohol-related birth defects will continue to struggle.