Williams syndrome affects the way you interact with your environment. It is a disease characterized by a lack of a critical portion of the genes within chromosome 7. It is sometimes very easy to diagnose as the symptoms of the disease are very prominent, but in some rare cases the mental retardation associated with Williams syndrome doesn’t rear its head until later stages in life. You can generally tell when someone has Williams syndrome as their facial features will be abnormal and are often considered grotesque. The facial features of someone with Williams syndrome are generally described as elf like, which may seem harsh. The syndrome causes it to look like the person’s face is pulled back towards their ears in an uncomfortable fashion.

Other common symptoms of the disease are things like heart defects and mental retardation. Heart defects are normally apparent within the first few weeks of birth. Things like mental retardation can be tough to recognize until the later stages of development. It is also known that most people with Williams syndrome are very social. They often find it difficult to control themselves in social situations with how much they talk and converse. The disease is sometimes jokingly referred to as “cocktail party syndrome” as people that have it are generally very active and chatty. Lastly, Williams syndrome can also cause problems with visual understanding. Depth perception isn’t a problem for people with the disease, but rather they find it tough to process all the information in a spatial scene all at once.