This has been proposed to be the origin of the folklore of elves, fairies, and other forms of the good people or wee folk present in English folklore.In a review of the symptoms and features of the syndrome, Laskari, Smith, and Graham emphasized that many family members of individuals with WS reject use of terminology such as "elfin", as well as descriptions of social symptoms as "cocktail party syndrome". Physicians, family members of individuals with WS syndrome, and WS associations alike have called for the curtailment of such terms.One notable person with the syndrome is Gabrielle Marion-Rivard, a Canadian actress and singer who won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress in 2014 for her performance in the film Gabrielle. Another is Jeremy Vest, member of the Hows Your News? team, featured in the TV series and film of the same name. Further reading
Articles
Fung, Lawrence K.; Quintin, Eve-Marie; Haas, Brian W.; Reiss, Allan L. (2012). "Conceptualizing neurodevelopmental disorders through a mechanistic understanding of fragile X syndrome and Williams syndrome". Current Opinion in Neurology (Review). 25 (2): 112–24. doi:10.1097/WCO.0b013e328351823c. PMC 3680360. PMID 22395002. Karmiloff-Smith, A.; dSouza, D.; Dekker, T. M.; Van Herwegen, J.; Xu, F.; Rodic, M.; Ansari, D. (2012). "Genetic and environmental vulnerabilities in children with neurodevelopmental disorders". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Review). 109: 17261–5. Bibcode:2012PNAS..109S7261K. doi:10.1073/pnas.1121087109. JSTOR 41763522. PMC 3477396. PMID 23045661. Kitagawa, Hirochika; Fujiki, Ryoji; Yoshimura, Kimihiro; Oya, Hiroyuki; Kato, Shigeaki (2011). "Williams syndrome is an epigenome-regulator disease". Endocrine Journal (Review). 58 (2): 77–85. doi:10.1507/endocrj.k10e-393. PMID 21242649.
In particular, people with Williams syndrome experience challenges in visual-motor skills and visuospatial construction. Most affected people are unable to spatially orient themselves and many experience difficulty when given a task that requires even the most basic visual problem-solving. Many adults with Williams syndrome cannot complete a simple six-piece puzzle designed for young children, for example. These visuospatial deficits may be related to damage to the dorsal cortical pathway for visual processing.Despite their physical and cognitive deficits, people with Williams syndrome exhibit impressive social and verbal abilities. Williams patients can be highly verbal relative to their IQ. When children with Williams syndrome are asked to name an array of animals, they may well list a wild assortment of creatures such as a koala, saber-toothed cat, vulture, unicorn, sea lion, yak, ibex and Brontosaurus, a far greater verbal array than would be expected of children with IQs in the 60s. Some other strengths that have been associated with Williams syndrome are auditory short-term memory and facial recognition skills. The language used by people with Williams syndrome differs notably from unaffected populations, including people matched for IQ. People with Williams syndrome tend to use speech that is rich in emotional descriptors, high in prosody (exaggerated rhythm and emotional intensity), and features unusual terms and strange idioms.Among the hallmark traits of people with Williams syndrome is an apparent lack of social inhibition.