Autistic savant
An autistic savant (historically described as an idiot savant) is a person with both autism and savant syndrome. Savant syndrome describes a person having a developmental or mental handicap of some sort with extraordinary mental abilities not found in most people. This usually means (but not in all cases) a lower than average general intelligence (IQ) but very high narrow intelligence in one or more fields. Savant syndrome skills involve striking feats of memory and arithmetic calculation and sometimes include unusual abilities in art or music. Savant syndrome is sometimes abbreviated as "savantism", and individuals with the syndrome are often nicknamed savants. This can be a source of confusion since a savant can also mean a person of learning, especially one of great knowledge in a particular subject.
Abilities
Savant syndrome is usually recognized during early childhood as coincident with other developmental abnormalities; the plurality of cases occur in children with autism. Males with savant syndrome outnumber females by roughly 6:1[1]—slightly higher than the disparity for autism spectrum disorders.
Most autistic savants have extensive mental abilities called splinter skills[1]. Why autistic savants are capable of these astonishing feats is not quite clear. Some savants have obvious neurological abnormalities (such as the lack of corpus callosum in Kim Peek's brain). Many savants are known to have abnormalities in the left hemisphere of the brain. [2]
There are only about 100 recognized prodigious savants in the world.[3]
Famous autistic savants
- Alonzo Clemons, American clay sculptor.[4]
- Tony DeBlois, blind American musician.[5]
- Leslie Lemke, blind American musician.[6]
- Jonathan Lerman, American artist.[7]
- Thristan Mendoza, Filipino marimba prodigy.[8]
- Derek Paravicini, blind British musician.[9]
- Kim Peek, basis for the 1988 fictional film Rain Man,[6][10] although diagnosis has changed.[11]
- James Henry Pullen, gifted British carpenter.[12]
- Matt Savage, U.S. autistic jazz prodigy.[13]
- Henriett Seth-F., Hungarian autistic savant, poet, writer and artist. [14]
- Daniel Tammet, British autistic savant.[15]
- Stephen Wiltshire, British architectural artist.[16]
- Richard Wawro, Scottish artist.[6]
See also
References
- ^ Treffert, Darold. Geniuses, Prodigies & Savants (PDF)
- ^ Treffert, D.A. & Christensen, D.D. (2005). "Inside the Mind of a Savant", Scientific American, 293(6).
- ^ Martin, D (September 18, 2006). "Savants: Charting Islands of Genius". CNN Health.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Treffert, Darold. "Alonzo Clemons - Genius Among Us". Wisconsin Medical Society. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
- ^ Treffert, Darold. "Tony DeBlois - A Prodigious Musical Savant". Wisconsin Medical Society. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
- ^ a b c Treffert, Darold A. and Gregory L. Wallace (2003). "Islands of Genius" (PDF). Scientific American, Inc. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
- ^ Jonathan Lerman:
- Treffert, Darold. "Jonathan Lerman - An Extraordinary Artist". Wisconsin Medical Society. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
- Blumenthal, Ralph (2002-01-16). "Success at 14, Despite Autism; His Drawings Go for Up to $1,200 and Win High Praise". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
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- ^ Treffert, Darold. "Thristan "Tum-Tum" Mendoza - A Child Prodigy Marimbist With Autism from the Philippines". Wisconsin Medical Society. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
- ^ Derek Paravicini:
- Treffert, Darold. "Derek Paravicini - A Talent and Love for Music". Wisconsin Medical Society. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
- "Meet Musical Savant Rex: Lesley Stahl Checks In On A Boy With An Extraordinary Musical Talent". CBS, 60 Minutes. October 23, 2005. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
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- ^ "NASA Studying 'Rain Man's' Brain". Space.com. November 8, 2004. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Wulff, Jane (November 2006). "Kim Peek and Fran Peek: 'I am important to know you'" (PDF). Multnomah Education Service District. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
- ^ James Henry Pullen:
- Ward, O. Conor. "The Childhood and the Life of James Henry Pullen, the Victorian Idiot Savant (1832–1916)", Abstract of article cited at adc.bmjjournals.com Retrieved on 14 June, 2006.
- Treffert, Darold. "James Henry Pullen - Genius of Earlswood Asylum". Wisconsin Medical Society. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
- ^ Matt Savage:
- "The Prodigy", People magazine June 17, 2002.
- Treffert, Darold. "Matt Savage - A 14-Year-Old Marvelous Musician". Wisconsin Medical Society. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
- ^ Treffert, Darold. "Henriett Seth F. - Rain Girl". Wisconsin Medical Society. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
- ^ Johnson, Richard (February 12, 2005). "A genius explains". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Unlocking the brain's potential". BBC News. 10 March, 2001. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
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Further reading
- Heaton P, Wallace G (2004). "Annotation: The savant syndrome." Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry 45, 899–911.
- Pring L (2005). "Savant talent." Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 47, 500–503.
- O'Connor N, Cowan R, Samella K (2000). "Calendric Calculation and Intelligence." Intelligence 28, 31–48.
- Pearce JC (1992). Evolution's End: Claiming the Potential of Our Intelligence, HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco.
- Snyder AW, Mulcahy E, Taylor JL, Mitchell DJ, Sachdev P, Gandevia SC (2003). "Savant-like skills exposed in normal people by suppressing the left fronto-temporal lobe". J. Integr. Neurosci. 2 (2): 149–58. PMID 15011267.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Snyder AW (2001) "Paradox of the savant mind." Nature 413, 251–252.
- Snyder AW, Mitchell DJ (1999). "Is integer arithmetic fundamental to mental processing?: the mind's secret arithmetic". Proc. Biol. Sci. 266 (1419): 587–92. doi:10.1098/rspb.1999.0676. PMID 10212449.
- Tammet Daniel (2006). Born On A Blue Day, Hodder & Stoughton, London.
- Treffert DA (2000). Extraordinary People, Bantom Press, London.
- Treffert DA (1988). "The idiot savant: a review of the syndrome". The American journal of psychiatry. 145 (5): 563–72. PMID 3282450.