SAVANT SYNDROME

INTRODUCTION

I

t is a rare, but spectacular, condition in which a person who has developmental

disorders also has astonishing level of ability, brilliance or talent.

C

ondition can be acquired genetically or later in life( from CNS injury, disease,

etc)

U

nclear what the cause is; many savants have abnormalities in the left

hemis

phere of the brain

O

nly about 50-100 recognized prodigious savants in the world currently.

SAVANT SKILLS

S

avants can have outstanding abilities in music, artistic talent, calendar

calculations, multilingual acquisition ability, complex math calculations.

S

plinter skills-preoccupation with, and memorization of, music and sports

trivia, maps, historical facts etc

T

alented savants- possess special musical, artistic, mathematical skills.

P

rodigious savants- Rare persons where their special skills are so

outstanding that it would be spectacular even if it were to occur in non-

handicapped person.

FAMOUS SAVANT: KIM PEEK

KIM PEEK

Has read and memorized over 12,000 books and reads a book in

about 1 hour( 10 sec/page).

He can retain a very high 98% of information he reads.

Also memorized historical facts and can do calculations involving

dates etc.

Has scored well below on IQ tests, but scored high on some subtests

Inspiration for the film ‘Rain Man’, which introduced people to this

rare disorder

However, he has trouble doing simple tasks such as buttoning up his

shirt and other ordinary motor skills

DANIEL TAMMET

DANIEL TAMMET

C

an do complex math calculations instantly. He recited pi to 22,514 places from

memory in 5 hours

H

e has synesthesia, so he sees numbers and letters as shapes. For him every

number up to 10,000 has its own unique shape

H

e speaks 11 languages and is creating a new language called Manti

H

e was challenged to learn Icelandic in one week. Then he was interviewed on

Icelandic television speaking the language fluently

ALONZO CLEMENS

STEPHEN WILTSHIRE

CONCLUSION

U

nknown what the cause of savant syndrome is

T

herefore, there are no treatments or methods of prevention

S

cientists hope studying people with savant syndrome might help us answer these

questions and better understand how our brains function.

A

nd this might one day lead us to have these extraordinary abilities but without any

drawbacks such as lack of social interaction with people and other side effects!