Our research team at the Johns Hopkins University conducts research on the cognitive capacities of children and adults with Williams syndrome. Individuals with Williams syndrome tend to have great difficulties with certain kinds of spatial tasks, but their language capacities are quite good. The goal of our research is to better understand how Williams syndrome results in such a unique cognitive profile.

Over the past seven years, we have been working with both children and adults with Williams syndrome who live in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia area, to further understand this unusual combination of cognitive capacities. We have also worked with adults on-site at the summer 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006 meetings of the Williams Syndrome Association.

Our studies involve a broad range of tasks, each of which is tailored to the age range we study. Some of our studies examine language-- we ask children and adults to describe pictures, to tell us about locations, and to chat with us about objects and events they see (including some that are specially videotaped or constructed by us).

Other studies examine spatial abilities-- we ask children and adults to do a variety of tasks including moving around space and find objects, matching objects and locations to similar ones, drawing or copying designs, and moving blocks on a computer screen. In all tasks, we are interested in the kinds of activities that people with Williams syndrome do very well, and those they find more difficult. In all cases, we try our best to make the tasks enjoyable regardless of difficulty.