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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Lighting the Blue Touchpaper
How do they do it??? How do they always seem to know just how to get under your skin, to find the spot, to light the blue touchpaper and set off the fireworks? Oh I know it’s not personal and it’s not that bad really but just sometimes it feels like it! Today we had […]