What Is Savant Syndrome?

Savant syndrome is a rare condition in which a person has a developmental disorder or other developmental disorder of the central nervous system and at the same time individual areas of talent associated with it that differ from his or her other mental performance. About half of savant talents are autistic, and about ten percent of all autistic individuals have savant properties.

What is Savant Syndrome?

Savantism was described by the British physician John Langdon Down in 1887. Initially, the syndrome was called idiot savant , as the term idiot is originally intended in science in a neutral sense to mean a person with a very low IQ. Later, however, the initial part was omitted from the name of the syndrome, as not all savannas have a low IQ. For the most part, the IQ is 40-70, but for some it can be as high as 140, which is very high.

In Savantism, developmental disability or other developmental disorders of the central nervous system are associated with isolated areas of talent that differ from other mental performances. Abilities are often narrow and can range from mild to suggestive of genius. All savant features are characterized by emphasis on procedural memory and extensive memory performance. The person may not understand the actual content of the topic.

Savantism is often associated with the spectrum of autism. About half of savannas belong to the autism spectrum and about 10 percent of autistics have some kind of savant properties. Every other savant does not have autism, but some other brain disease, injury, or disorder. About 85% of the savannas are men and 15% women.

What are the abnormal abilities typical of savant syndrome?

Savant abilities usually occur individually, but some individuals have more than one special ability at the same time. All savant abilities involve a deep but narrow memory. The most typical savant abilities are calendaring, music, art, math and numbers, and mechanical or spatial abilities.

• Musical abilities. A Savant gifted can be adept at composing and playing music. He may be particularly good at playing one instrument, such as a guitar or piano, or mastering several instruments. He may be able to produce music simply by listening to it, without any actual learning or playing notes.
• Artistic abilities. For example, a person can know how to draw, paint or shape sculptures very skillfully. He may be able to describe real things in an artistic form with great precision and detail.

• Mathematical abilities. A person can be especially good at math and dealing with numbers. He may be quick to calculate headers, square roots, or multiplications. Likewise, he may be able to count dates very quickly. For example, he can tell you immediately which day of the week a particular date is.
• Mechanical and spatial abilities. The Savant gifted can differ from others, for example, in perceiving maps and distances. He may be able to estimate the distance or dimension very accurately without measuring instruments or other tools. He may also have exceptionally good skills in doing various modeling and building mechanical structures.
• Linguistic abilities. Although savant talents often face social and expressive challenges, some of them easily learn several foreign languages.