And they report seeing objects or their own body parts shrinking or swelling in front of their eyes, creating the sensation that they are themselves changing size, just as Josh experienced. Their hearing can also be affected – sufferers can hear loved ones speaking oddly slow or unnaturally fast. Other symptoms include seeing people or objects moving in slow motion or moving unnaturally fast or not at all. This symptom is only one of the 40 types of visual distortions characteristic of Alice in Wonderland syndrome. Some patients also describe seeing different body parts added to the people in front of them, such as a shortened arm attached to the face of the person sitting in front of them. Imagine seeing people's faces change into dragon-like faces all your life. These can include distortions in vision as well as time. Josh suffers from a rare disorder known as Alice In Wonderland syndrome, sometimes also called Todd's syndrome.Īlice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS) affects the way people perceive the world around them and can distort how they experience their own bodies and the space it occupies. It took nearly two years for the family to find out what was going on.

She says that, at times, her son would say her voice sounds different and he experiences her speech at a 'lower pitch and a slower rate'. These bizarre episodes were most frightening at night, when 'the edges of his room were changing, the walls becoming wonky and closing down on him', leading to night terrors, according to Sonja. Josh says that on one occasion when playing chess at school, he noticed 'his fingers getting wider and bigger to the point of feeling unable to pick up the chess pieces'. After returning from school one day, Josh, who is from Canberra, Australia, told his mother how 'his teachers' faces became bigger, out of proportion to their bodies and the walls of the schoolroom got elongated and further away from him'. It wasn't the only time this would happen. 'As the car was moving, the buildings on either side suddenly became enlarged and felt as if they were closing down on him,' says Sonja. As far as she was concerned, the buildings looked the same as they always had. When he told his mother, Sonja, she was baffled. Nine-year-old Josh Firth was in the car with his parents when he noticed something strange happening to the buildings on either side – they seemed to be getting bigger.

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