Background: Angelman syndrome (AS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder usually caused by an anomaly in the maternally inherited chromosome 15. The main features are severe intellectual disability, speech impairment, ataxia, epilepsy, sleep disorder and a behavioural phenotype that reportedly includes happy disposition, attraction to/fascination with water and hypermotoric behaviour. Method: We studied the level of adaptive behaviour and the adaptive behavioural profile in the areas of "motor skills", "language and communication", "personal life skills" and "community life skills" in a group of 25 individuals with genetically confirmed AS, to determine whether there is a specific adaptive behaviour profile. Results and conclusions: None of the individuals, whatever their chronological age, had reached a developmental age of 3 years. A specific adaptive behaviour profile was found, with "personal life skills" emerging as relative strengths and "social and communication skills" as weaknesses.