Rain Man: Summary of Savant Syndrome and Its Portrayal in Film
Corey Morgan
Central Community College
Authors Note
Corey A. Morgan, Department of Psychology, Central Community College - Hastings.
Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Corey Morgan, Central Community College-Hastings Campus, East Highway 6, Hastings, NE 68901. Email: Corey75231@cccneb.edu
Rain Man: Summary of Savant Syndrome and Its Portrayal in Film
Rain Man is an extraordinary movie based on a true story about Kim Peek, who has autism and savant syndrome. In the movie Kim Peek is renamed to Raymond Babbit who is played by Dustin Hoffman. Charlie Babbit played by Tom Cruise who is Raymond’s younger brother. The movie starts out with the two brother’s father who had died. Charlie at the time of his father’s death did not know he had this older brother. Charlie going over his father’s will, wanted to know why he did not get his father three million dollars that he had left someone else. After Charlie discovers who has all of this money he finds the person in a mental institution. As Charlie discovered that this person in the mental institution is his brother. While Charlie is visiting his newly found brother Charlie is going through Raymond’s baseball cards and Raymond gets angered by how he misplaces them and then Raymond puts them back in the exact same order he has had them. After all of this Charlie decides to kidnap him so that he can get all the money that Raymond is worth. As Charlie is taking his brother back to Los Angles Charlie discovers how smart Raymond is with numbers by watching him count every single toothpick that was dropped on the ground in a matter of seconds. As this movie goes on you discover how Raymond isn’t...
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...ome is diagnosed when the savants IQ is low compared to what they can actually, do just like when Raymond could calculate things extremely fast but could not count money. Savant syndrome is actually an observable behavioral characteristic; therefor it is hard to diagnose this. Savant is more of an intellectual disability such as autism and mental retardation.
TREATMENT
Savant syndrome isn’t bad or harmful at all to the autistic person it is actually highly beneficial to the person and other people so there is no need for treatment for this. There have been no previous records of anyone trying to treat savant. A big benefit that Charlie had from Raymond was being able to count playing cards. Charlie taught his brother how to play black jack. After Charlie took Raymond to the casinos in Las Vegas Raymond help Charlie when a bunch of money.
SAVANT SYNDROME STUDIED
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Sally Dibbs, Dibbs Sally. 461-0192 ."(Rain Man). This quote shows the remarable talent of a savant being able to remember a person from reading the phone book the night before .. This happens in literature as well as in life for those who live with savant syndrome. Forrest Gump, Raymond Babbit, and real-life savant Kim Peek all deal with the fact they are not the same as everyone else. Though dealt certain mental deficiencies, savants, whether fictional or real, all excel in there own ways. Savants are people who despite serious mental or physical disability have quite remarkable, and sometimes spectacular, talents (Hiles, 2002). Dr. J. London first described the syndrome in 1887, who also had discovered Down Syndrome in years earlier. He found that savants have a highly developed ability to play music or to solve complex math equations at great speeds. Savants usually have an IQ in the moderate mental retardation range. the mental state of a savant can be classified as being autism or mental retarded. These skills exist within a very narrow range of human abilities. ( Hiles, 2002). One in every two -thousand savants occurs in an institutionalized mentally retarded person. One in ten are found in autistic people. Savants usually live with someone else, in some cases they are able to live on the re own. Savants have been divided into two main categories in the ...
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Therefore, there were no causal factors suggested in the film for the character’s disorder but it is generally accepted that it is caused by abnormalities in brain structure or function. Brain scans show differences in the shape and structure of the brain in children with autism compared to in neurotypical children. Researchers do not know the exact cause of autism but are investigating a number of theories, including the links between heredity, genetics, and medical problems (Autism Society)”. The movie was released in 1988 so during this time period there really wasn’t a lot known about this disorder. Towards the end of the movie, Charlie takes Raymond to a doctor in order to learn more about his condition and the doctor simply states that Raymond has autism and that, “there is really not much you can do for him other than to deal with it”. Raymond does not take any medication throughout the movie; so, the only treatment that he received, if any, is staying at the Walbrook mental Institute. If fact, members of the Walbrook Institute wanted to keep Raymond in order to learn more about him. The understanding of autism has come a long way since the release of this movie Rain Man. Some of the treatments today include medication, behavioral training and specialized therapy that includes speech, occupational, and physical therapy. “Early diagnosis and treatment help young children with autism develop to their full
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