Gayle D’Angelo* worshipped the dazzling smile of her baby boy, Eli, and was puzzled when a fellow mom at his day care — a pediatrician — tactfully suggested she take him to see a geneticist.
It turned out her 10-month-old son’s exceptionally wide grin was a marker for Williams syndrome, a disorder caused by a genetic mutation that is often described as the opposite of autism because those affected have zero social inhibitions.
Overfriendly and indiscriminately trusting, the frequently elfin-faced people with Williams syndrome are unconditionally loving to everyone they encounter. Unfortunately, it can leave them vulnerable to abuse because they are usually developmentally delayed and seeking sensory input — even if it comes from strangers.
“Eli will greet and hug someone he’s just met like a long-lost friend,” Gayle tells The Post. “It sounds like a cute thing — but now that he’s 18, it’s an issue.”
So much so that, in 2011, the 46-year-old New England single mom invited medical journalist Jennifer Latson to spend three years following Eli’s journey through adolescence. The result is Latson’s new book: “The Boy Who Loved Too Much: A True Story of Pathological Friendliness” (Simon & Schuster, out now).
“I wanted to … document coming-of-age with Williams syndrome,” says Latson. “How do you become an independent adult with this disorder? How do parents stop sheltering a kid with Williams — or do they ever?”
Like many special-needs parents, Gayle prefers to live day-to-day without projecting too much into the future. She is delighted that Eli recently graduated high school — where he was mainstreamed — and will pursue a so-called school-to-work program (to help special-needs children transition from academic to more vocational skills) until he is 21.
“I’m not sure if he’ll be able to live independently, and he’s probably going to need a one-on-one coach, but he is maturing,” she says.
Gayle used to dread eating out because Eli would always zoom in on the waitstaff, giving them hugs and constantly demanding attention. But, with the help of a reward system for less exuberant behavior, he has learned to keep his impulses under control.
Meanwhile, in her book, Latson chronicles Eli’s first experience of summer camp at the age of 13 in Michigan, where all the campers had Wiliams syndrome.
“It was a wonderful place, and there was a kind of understanding between the kids,” says Gayle. “It was a safe place for Eli to break free from the reins and be himself.”
* To protect their privacy, Gayle and Eli D’Angelo are pseudonyms