Williams Syndrome Interview

Introduction Children with disabilities experience a lot of different environments that help them develop appropriately. In some cases, some children with disabilities have been clinically diagnosed with their disability; however, there are some that are in the beginning process of discovering what disability they have. I had the opportunity to interview two family members of a disabled child named Tanea Pittman. I learned and discussed their involvement with her at home and school. As well as attending and observing an IEP meeting with the family. As I learned about several aspects of how the family felt and was involved, this enabled me to apply professional perspectives to my findings based on the families’ personal experiences with …show more content…
Williams Syndrome (WS) is a rare genetic disorder that affects approximately 20,000 people in the United States. This condition is present at birth. The causes of Williams syndrome is due to the deletion of 26 plus genes on one of an individual’s chromosome #7. Individuals born with Williams syndrome share a number of common neurological, medical, and behavioral characteristics as well as common facial features. Some of the individuals experience mild cardiovascular disorders that may require surgery. Even along with these concerns they can also suffer from bladder, kidney and gastrointestinal issues and difficulties. Some additional concerns is that at infancy they can experience feeding problems, then later have hyper sensitive hearing, develop poor motor skills, experience mild to severe learning disabilities, and developmental delays. The older the individual gets they struggle with numbers, abstract reasoning, and spatial relations in which can make daily task difficult and challenging. Individuals with Williams syndrome express unique challenges and extraordinary gifts. They are very friendly, talkative, sociable, and lovable. They also have a special passion for music. Individuals with Williams syndrome tend to brighten and make a special impact on those around them (Williamssyndrome Association, …show more content…
When and how did you find out about your child’s disability? When she was right a year old and she is 3 and a half now. She was a whole lot smaller in weight and height the other kids her age. Then when I went to the Cardiologist he kind of had her tested and that’s how we found out. Tell me what you thought or felt when your child was diagnosed with a disability. Scared. Just basically scared into how everything was going to work out. Then after I kind found out a little more about it I was a little more at ease. And learning more to deal with it. What would you say are your child’s strengths? She is very independent. She thinks she can do everything by herself and get whatever by herself. And just in general everything on her age level, she a year behind on everything so, for her to be 3 ½ but she’s on a 2 ½ year age level. So she is 2 ½ years old thinking she can do whatever they are doing at 2 ½ years old. She just basically her I can do it leave me alone and grown. My child is very independent and so she tries things. And I do not let her try things, so if she does it and goes to school and she can teach someone else with a disability or they can teach her something I fine for that. What are some challenges you feel as a parent in dealing with professionals, specifically educators? There is a lot of work they have to do and we have to do at home. Regarding what Tanea has and what everybody in general just deals with. Because what my child has it is