A Mind That Sees What Others Can’t’: Exploring Savant Syndrome in Autism
Savant Syndrome describes unusual skills, most often in memory, music, art, or calculation, in the presence of disability in other areas.
Savant skills are strongly linked to Autism. It is estimated that 10 – 30% of children with autism may demonstrate savant abilities but are not limited to Autism. GodsOwnChild attempts to explain this rare phenomenon.
“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” Dr. Suess
“In my mind, numbers and words are more than just squiggles of ink. They have color, form and texture.”
“I can see a city landscape just once (from an airplane) and draw it perfectly from memory, including the number of floors and windows.”
In his mind, each number has a unique shape, color and feel. He describes the number 289 as being rather ugly whereas he finds the number 333 quite attractive!
She is visually impaired but she has exceptional musical talents. She can hear a piece of music just once and replay it perfectly!
These are a few testimonials of individuals who talk about how they perceive and see the world around them.
Some can play up to 22 musical instruments, learn languages in a few days, or even memorize huge volumes of information. So who are these people who have these exceptional abilities?
Decoding Savant Syndrome
Savant Syndrome describes unusual skills, most often in memory, music, art or calculation, in the presence of disability in other areas. (F. Happe, 2012).
Savant skills are strongly linked to Autism. It is estimated that 10% to 30% of people with autism may demonstrate savant abilities but are not limited to autism.
It is believed that individuals with savant syndrome can recall stimuli in a camera – like or tape – recorder like fashion (Mary Howes, 2014). For example, a book can be read once and repeated verbatim. However, the individual may not necessarily understand the content of those words. At times, abstract thinking may be barely present.
Causes of Savant syndrome
One cannot say what really causes savant syndrome. As mentioned earlier, people with autism may display savant abilities but even those with developmental disabilities and/or those with brain injuries or injuries to the central nervous system could acquire some level of savant abilities.
Thus, not all people with autism have Savant Syndrome and not all people with Savant Syndrome have Autism.
It has also been observed that males with savant syndrome outnumber females by an approximate 6:1 ratio (Treffert, 2009).
Some people may demonstrate such abilities in their early childhood; however, some may acquire them later in life as well.
Training the talent
What is the best approach towards working with a savant and his/her special skills?
Does one focus on the shortcomings or the talent? The answer always is to focus on the talent!
Using their unique and individual talent as a form of expression can help channelize their abilities more productively.
With a combination of a specialized curriculum, behavior and social skills training, people with savant syndrome can be helped to become more independent and self – sufficient.
While this condition seems rather rare and mysterious, the popular 1988 movie, Rain Man, may shed some light into the life of a person with savant syndrome.
Played by actor Dustin Hoffman, this fictional movie was originally inspired from the real life story of a man who memorized over 6,000 books and had encyclopedic knowledge of geography, music, literature, history, sports and several other areas.
Progress is being made to better understand and explain Savant Syndrome.
As we attempt to unravel the mystery of these extraordinary people, we can perhaps take a step back to learn more about ourselves and maybe discover, the little Rain Man, within us as well!
References
F. Happe, G. W. (2012). ScienceDirect. Savant Syndrome .
Mary Howes, G. O. (2014). ScienceDirect . Human Memory .
Tammet, D. (2009, January). Inside the Savant Mind: Tips for Thinking from an Extraordinary Thinker. (J. Lehrer, Interviewer)
Treffert, D. A. (2009, May). The savant syndrome:an extraordinary condition. A synopsis:past, present, future. US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health .
