Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

There are real trials and tribulations living with and caring for an adult with Williams Syndrome. Of course, I’d known and loved my sister for over 40 years. We grew up together until I left home to go to university at 18. I knew what Linda was like but until she finally moved in to […]

Musical Streams of Consciousness

I’m sure you are well aware that adults with Williams Syndrome are reknowned for their love of music… goes with the condition, somehow it’s in the genes. Linda is no exception. She loves all types of music in many different formats and she particularly likes singing. Today was one of those moments when the contrasts […]

Black Swan Story

Linda was visiting a local park with a care worker today. Together they strolled through the gardens and around the lake watching the wildlife as they went. Linda’s bookshelves are groaning under then weight of nature books, particularly many different bird identification books, certainly numbering in double figures. This might be an interesting fact and […]

What a Busy Birthday Month!

As you might have noticed, it’s been a while since my last post. The delay was initially down to technical problems – my laptop experienced a power failure so when the battery finally ran down it was dead and not resuscitated ! All data safe thank goodness. By the time I was re-juiced, August had […]

Listening to Music With Linda

Many of the symptoms of Williams Syndrome are well known to parents and carers: distractability, short attention span, ADHD-like symptoms. We also know of their musicality, tendancy to sing, shout or squeal with delight, to jiggle and dance and twitch with life… Well, in the words of the Porgy and Bess song, it ain’t neccesarily […]

What Does Williams Syndrome Mean?

Linda, my sister, is a woman in her 40s. For more than 10 years I have suspected she has Williams Syndrome. Nine months ago a FISH test finally confirmed that Linda has Williams Syndrome. Since then I’ve certainly discussed this with Linda on many occasions. I’ve even tried to explain about a genetic deletion using […]

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 […]

Williams Syndrome Symptoms

If you’re searching for this information the chances are that you know someone who has, or may have Williams Syndrome. My sister was only diagnosed in her 40s. My parents struggled to understand what was happening with their child…  I hope most people are now diagnosed as children and have much better support from various […]

Angry Birds

Linda, loves music, she loves dancing, she loves babies, she loves aeroplanes… These things, although an eclectic collection of passions, are probably familiar to many people who know someone with Williams Syndrome. Never has Linda been particularly interested in computer games, until now. I guess she is used to seeing me come home, sit on […]

Williams syndrome – a description from Wikipedia

Williams syndrome (WS or WMS; also Williams–Beuren syndrome or WBS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder caused by a deletion of about 26 genes from the long arm of chromosome 7. It is characterized by a distinctive, "elfin" facial appearance, along with a low nasal bridge; an unusually cheerful demeanor and ease with strangers;