Students who have William's Syndrome can be confusing to teach because they present as having high level verbal and communication abilities, but these tend to mask significant difficulties with;

• comprehension
• attention
• hyperactivity
• visuo- spatial / perceptual skills
• delayed motor skills
• hypersensitive to loud noises

Students with William's Syndrome

• are often very friendly (at times over friendly) to adults, and will often seek out adult company.
• can find making and keeping peers friends difficult
• can at times antagonise their peers
• can have a tendency to worry excessively about others

• Heart conditions /blood vessel narrowing – monitoring of blood pressure / heart surgery if required
• Physiotherapy to help with joint stiffness
• Motor programme e.g. Healthy Hands / Smart moves – contact Newbridge Outreach
• Speech therapy when child is very young.

Students with WS can have

• distinctive facial appearance- puffiness around the eyes
• short nose with broad nasal tip
• wide mouth, full lips and small chin.
• short stature
• limited mobility in their joints
• curvature of the spine.
• inability to bend little finger.
• partially missing teeth
• skin that covers the inner corner of the eye.
• a tendency to be over friendly and high levels of empathy with anxiety.

• verbal short term memory and language
• concrete and practical language
• older children with WS can usually speak fluently and use good grammar
• interested in music

• visuospatial construction (the skills used to copy patterns, draw, or write).
• abstract language
• easily distracted - more than 50 % of children with WS have ADD or ADHD
• 50 % have specific phobias e.g. loud noises
• very trusting
• some pupils with WS worry excessively

William's syndrome;

• affects 1 in 25,000 births.
• occurs in roughly 75 new cases in UK each year.
• children have mild-> moderate learning difficulties