Savant Syndrome Research Paper

A little boy quietly sits in front of a piano, with his fingers poised over the bright white keys. His teacher, seated beside him on the bench, plays a complicated series of chords, filling the air with a beautiful melody. After a single hearing, the boy begins to play, perfectly reproducing the song he had just heard. As the last notes fade away, the boy sits still for a moment and then begins to rock gently back and forth, only stopping once the music begins again… A genius. A prodigy. One might label this child as such after witnessing this type of performance, were it not for the little nuances of the situation: the rocking, the cold, unemotional expression on the boy's face, and his lack of response to the voices around him. Instead,
There are many forms of Savant abilities. The most common forms involve mathematical calculations, memory feats, artistic abilities, and musical abilities. A mathematical ability which many display is calendar memory. They could be asked a question like: "What day of the week was May 22, 1961?" and they can determine the answer within seconds-Monday. Others can multiply and divide large numbers in their head and can also calculate square roots and prime numbers without much hesitation. Examples of memory feats include: remembering everything about presidents (birth/death, term in office, names and birthdates of family members, cabinet members, etc.) memorizing the U.S. highway system, and remembering everyone's birthdate, even after meeting the person once and not seeing him/her for 20 years. Some autistic people with savant abilities are incredible artists. A child named Nadia drew beautiful pictures of horses, and her drawings have been compared to those of Rembrandt. Interestingly, she lost her drawing abilities when she started to learn to speak. Another artist with autism, Richard Wawro, who was described in an issue of Reader's Digest, is legally blind and draws in crayons. His work sells for up to $10,000, even the pope owns one of his paintings. Music is another common Savant ability. Many performers with autism have perfect pitch and also have a great memory for music. In some
Everyone knows about Autism, and Down syndrome, and mental retardation, but why not savant syndrome? Well actually most of you have heard about it. You have all heard of Kim Peek, or at least sort of. Kim is an autistic savant with eidetic memory (the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with great accuracy and in unlimited volume). He was born with macrocephaly (a condition in which the head circumference is larger than average for the age and sex of the infant or child) and agenesis of the corpus callosum, (the absence of the connecting tissue between the brain hemispheres), and damage to the cerebellum. Despite all this, according to Peek's father Fran, Peek was able to memorize things since he was 16-20 months old. He read books, memorized them and then put them upside down, a practice he still uses. Still, he did not walk until the age of four. Peek has memorized an astonishing amount of information from subjects ranging from history and literature, geography and numbers, to sports, music and dates. He can recall some 9600 books from memory. Peek can also do calculations in his head. So how do you know him? He was the inspiration for Raymond Babbitt played by Dustin Hoffman in ‘The Rain Man.' This was the first time that people were introduced to this rare disorder. In the movie Raymond Babbitt is able to remember baseball statistics, the phone book, and has the ability to count