Can someone have both Williams Syndrome and Autism?

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If so, then they're not really opposites, as one would cancel the other out. If not, however, then they could be opposites. Question is, can they?

I cannot see how one could have both. But the world is full of strange things that don't make sense to me.

Probably not. Williams Syndrome includes some autistic traits, and most likely if someone had more autistic traits than that, they would still fall under the umbrella of Williams Syndrome.

I was actually wondering about this a few days ago. I don't think it's completely impossible but they wouldn't "cancel" eachother out. People with William's have psychical attributes/symptoms as well and a love for music so the William's would still be obvious even if the social aspects weren't there, I suppose anyway.

NOT POSSIBLE! Williams syndrome is a KNOWN condition that can be proved. Though it DOES have symptoms that matc symptoms in a large subgroup of autistic people, it has symptoms that PROVE williams, and several that are AGAINST autism.

I think that they are not opposites, because autism is associated with low social skills and WS with high sociability ("social skills" and "sociability" are different things

You can be a very sociable person and have also very low social skills (of coures, a person with this combination will be very unhappy).

I so am.

And whoa, I just wiki'd Williams and about half applies to me, though the 'cocktail party' thing may have been mums doing. She's crazy sociable. And I don't think I look like an elf, though I DO have an elf ear. Weird...

But yes, they could conceivably coexist. Williams is a chromosome problem, whereas Aut Spectrum is more of a wiring issue. I'm extremely social, though I often fail at doing it right. And it sucks. If I can be like that, who says someone couldn't have AS and Williams? Just cause there is no documented case doesn't mean it doesn't exist, it just means no one has seen it.

Yes they can co-exist. I know someone with williams syndrome and optic nerve hypoplasia with autism related to the hypoplaisa who also has albanism, bipolar and dissociative identy disorder. the combaniation makes her socially outgoing, yet not have very good social skills. actually many people with williams syndrome have autistic symptoms.

Okay, I guess you could have the genetic difference that's the marker for Williams Syndrome and still have autism (by the diagnostic criteria) and thus be diagnosed with both. It'd be an atypical case of Williams Syndrome, though, especially since you're looking at unusually good language skills on someone with developmental delay--i.e., a classic autistic with an Asperger's style language ability and probably VIQ>PIQ gap. I'm gonna bet they'd throw that one in the PDDNOS catch-all, but what else is new... that's the biggest category already.

I have a question that I hope someone can please answer. Is it possible to have mild William's syndrome?

I know that autism is a spectrum disorder, so someone can be a little autisic or a lot. But with WS, it's a genetic thing. Doctors can take a blood sample to the lab and tell you. But, because of it being genetic, can someone have mild WS?

Williams syndrome is a known genetic condition, for which the chromosome defect is known. But not every Williams patient meets all clinical symptoms. So what if a person is genetically Williams, but does not have all symptoms (eg. isn't extremely good with social skills, which is, after all, only one symptom), and also has enough autistic traits for a diagnosis? It is theoretically possible to have the genetic defects associated with both autism and Williams (of course the exact genetic defects in autism are not known yet, but once they are known). Besides, of course Williams and AS are not opposites, since Williams also includes physical problems. They could only be technically called opposites if the neurological or even genetic wiring behind them were indeed opposite (and thereby also mutually exclusive).

I am not mug sure if "good with social skills" is a symptom of WS.

You wouldn't necessarily have good social skills. From what I've read of it, the tendency seems to be towards outgoing people with next to no social anxiety, who trust people very easily. That is very uncommon in autistics, but not completely unknown.

Old but wise post topic

This was one of the first posts I got at WP, a question to any parents with AS, on December 22, 2007, and it concerned Williams Syndrome, so I am posting it here. I do not think this member posts anymore but you could try pm-ing him if you needed clarification.

Shaggydaddy wrote:

Last edited by sartresue on 23 Jul 2009, 5:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

From what I've hear, you can have both. But even if you can't, it's not wise to just go around spouting one thing as anothers opposite, especially if they are supposedly completely different in nature.

There is a middle-aged woman in my neighbourhood with William's Syndrome.

I see her on the bus every day. She'll approach people all of the time, and talk to them like an old friend. She talks the ear off of any bus driver as well.

The main difference between her, and a socially outgoing autistic person is that her topics of conversation are still very much small-talk related, while a person with autism is more likely to talk about their special interests.

People with William's Syndrome tend to be just as disadvantaged socially as autistic people, if not worse. They are highly sociable, but they are even worse with appropriate initiation techniques than the average person with HFA/AS is.

While a person with HFA or AS will typically not approach a complete stranger, people with William's Syndrome do this all the time. People just get weirded out, and assume that this woman is mentally ill (I know I assumed that at first). Because of this, many of their social relationships tend to be superficial (either because they can't really get passed the small-talk phase, or because people simply feel sorry for them once they realize that they are disabled, not mentally ill).