A Worthy Prize for a Williams Syndrome Adult?

For most of her life, Linda has never handled money. As an adult with Williams Syndrome she was, typically, very poor with any numerical concepts. Counting up in ones was about the limit of her skills. When it came to money, every item in the world could be bought with a one pound coin or … Read more

The Lizard Whisperer

People with Williams Syndrome are often drawn to subjects, almost obsessively. Sometimes the subjects are inanimate, often mechanical – fans, planes, radios. Other times they are very animate, people (of course), animals and young/babies are often a particular source of fascination. Linda loves animals and has books and books and books about them. She’s usually … Read more

Un, deux, trois!

I’ve written before about the love of language shown by Linda, typical of so many people with Williams Syndrome. Not only does Linda have a wide vocabulary, she loves using unusual words. So how will she fare in a different country with a new language? We’re on holiday in France. For the most part our … Read more

With An Eye to the Future

Linda looks forwards to things… Meeting people, birthdays, pocket money day or her next meal. All seem to be anticipated with equal, sometimes intense excitement. One of the things that I have grown accustomed to is sitting down to a long anticipated meal, sometimes something that in it’s own right was celebrated as a special … Read more

Sunglasses galore!

Linda is going on holiday. For a few days she is going to visit her brother and she is so looking forward to this. Adults with Williams Syndrome are known for being very friendly and this seems to be even more exaggerated when the focus is family. As this is a holiday where we hope … Read more

Where Did I Go To?

I celebrated a birthday recently, not decimal nor particularly significant, it just marked the passing of another year. As it approached I received an email from a friend I’d not heard from for some time and she asked me all the usual “How are you? What’s been happening?” type of questions that you do when … Read more

Systems that Work for a Williams Syndrome Adult

Have you ever read the book ‘The One Minute Millionaire’ by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen? It’s filled with great ideas and ‘Aha’ moments. If you haven’t read it yet, I can heartily recommend it, whether you actually want to make “a million” or not. It really is a book about abundance and the … Read more

Musical Easter

We’ve just celebrated Easter and Linda has, once more demonstrated the musical gifts that accompany Williams Syndrome. As part of the many church services there’s an abundance of new music – and Linda will not be left out. She can’t read music but can recall a tune pretty much after a single hearing. When it … Read more

Mine’s the… biggest!

Easter’s close and there’s only one thing on Linda’s mind. Easter eggs! For weeks now she has collected every magazine or leaflet with pictures of Easter-related goodies on it… and yes, that’s in addition to the usual leaflets about bargains, food, holidays, entertainment, football or TV programmes. We must have one of the largest recycling … Read more

Incontinence Assessment

We’ve been aware that Linda seems to be thirsty, drinking plenty of liquids and also goes to the toilet frequently… so much so that we asked the GP to check her out for diabetes. That’s a quick dipstick test in a sample of urine – tricky to get the urine, simple to do the test! … Read more