Savant syndrome is a rare, amazing condition in which autistic persons; mentally handicapped persons; or mentally ill persons exhibit specific exceptional abilities or brilliance which outstand their overall disability. Persons with savant syndrome are known as savants. In group of ten autistic persons, one is likely to be a savant. These savants have special skills which vary from one group to another as they will later be classified. This special or exceptional abilities exhibited by savants are always accompanied by massive memory (Treffert D. A., 2009). This paper shows the phenomenology of savant syndrome; implication on savant syndrome education; and implication on research on savant syndrome to be done in future.
Some people are born having this condition (congenital) while some normal people acquire it after suffering a grave injury in Central Nervous System. Those persons who are born savants usually start demonstrating savant skills during childhood. It is believed that Central Nervous System Injury triggers dormant potential of the brain causing the acquired Savant Syndrome (Treffert D. A.).
Studies have been carried out to determine if there is any relationship between skill exhibited by savants and skills presented by their first degree relatives. In two separate studies, one study carried out by Young (1995) involving with 51 savants; and the other study carried out by Duckett (1976) involving 25 savants revealed that only a small portion of savants had relatives with special skills. In another study carried out by LaFontaine (1974) involving 23 relatives of savants who had been carefully followed over time found that only a family member had special skills. Basing my decision on these studies I can claim that Sava...
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...s an ability exercised by savants but not learned. Calendar calculation requires knowledge of certain formulas which one might claim
AUTISTIC SAVANT SYNDROME9 savants miraculously have in their memory (Treffert D. A.). Studies need to be done to determine why calendar calculation is prevalent among savants but very rare among other persons with brain diseases or disorders.
This paper shows that savants are unique beings with unique abilities. We do realize that much has been done to identify the causes of and remedies for savant syndrome; and to identify the process involved in cognition. Many milestones have been completed but more still remain. It is important to we continue researching and studying savant syndrome while we enhance the abilities of existing savant without discrimination as this is the best way to go in unraveling the mystery behind savant syndrome.
A common misconception is intelligence is inherited and does not change, so therefore, gifted children do not need special services. However, this mindset is very dangerous when it comes to the development of gifted children. It is widely believed that gifted students will get by on their own without any assistance from their school. After all,
Geniuses are defined people of "an exceptional natural capacity of intellect, especially as shown in creative and original work in science, art, music, etc." (“dictionary.com”). Unfortunately, I have yet to meet someone with such a gifted privilege and I am sure this society is full with these gifted individuals who I envy. There have been many times that I have wished I had a high IQ because I do have the tendencies to struggle
An autistic savant, historically described as an idiot savant, is a person with both autism and savant syndrome. Savant syndrome describes a person having a developmental or mental handicap of some sort with extraordinary mental abilities not found in most people.
Not all autistic persons are savants. There are a few numbers of people who have the extraordinary skills of Raymond Babbitt. People with savant skills at the level of Raymond Babbitt are exceedingly rare (but they do exist). Finally, not all savants are autistic. While the frequency of savant syndrome is much lower among the mentally retarded than among autistics, mental retardation is a much more common condition. The point is while both are developmental disabilities; mental retardation and autism are separate conditions. There can be some similarities, and some mentally retarded persons can have some autistic features, but in general those two conditions require separate approaches. The savant abilities are grafted onto the basic autism or mental retardation, and savant syndrome exists as a special condition in either of those two disabilities.
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 ...
There are many people that have unique abilities with the savant syndrome. One of the most outstanding ones would be Kim peek within an unique ability of memorizing in excuses of 7700 of books.
genius is next to madness. A person may excel in one subject, yet the growth of
An adult person who is illiterate and tries to read shows profound changes in deep brain. It came from a study where researchers helped illiterate woman from North India to read. In addition, the illiterate woman had scanned their brain before and after learning to read. The researchers found a big change in the brain after the women learned to read. They conclude that the brain of an adult is not flexible. The plasticity still actives in adult age.
In disagreement with portions of this week’s article, as provided by (Macionis, 2010, pp. 266-267), People living prosperously are not necessarily smarter than those who are less fortunate. While it is true that wealthy people have better educational opportunities, as opposed to their counterparts, many gifted individuals have come from meager beginnings. Such examples clearly bring questions to widely asserted...
Many people who are idiot savants are autistic. Approximately ten percent of people with autistic disorder have some savant skills. Only one percent of people with other forms of mental disability have savant skills. However, since other forms of mental disability are more common than autism, it turns out that fifty percent of idiot savants have au...
Lohman, D. F. (1998). Fluid intelligence, inductive reasoning, and working memory: Where the theory of Multiple Intelligences falls short. Talent development IV: Proceedings from the
Cognitive developmental theorists in educational learning, such as Paiget, assist in the understanding of why some gifted students underachieve during adolescence. Such theorists contend that gifted students have faster and more vigorous cognitive movements during this period of growth that involve higher stages of development and are beyond formal operational thought (Cohen L.M, 1993). For example, the gifted student may have the ability to process new learning at faster rates, show deeper emotional sensitivity and understand complex concepts more easily than their peers. Such facto...
...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.
It is important to understand the many different methods of educating gifted and talented students. Most people, whether as teachers, students, or parents, will at some point be faced with the many options of educating the gifted and talented. In the United States today, 3-5 percent of students are considered gifted. Defining whether or not a student is gifted can be quite difficult, but many would agree that gifted students “are able to learn material rapidly and understand concepts deeply” (Lynch, 1999). Within this paper I will discuss the process of identifying gifted and talented students and the different methods of educating them including tracking, grade advancement, and cooperative learning. Of these three methods I believe the most effective method used to teach gifted and talented students is tracking.
The term “gifted” can mean many things. Up until recently it was the word used to describe people with profoundly high intelligence. Now, adding the words “creative” and “talented”, the category of giftedness has been extended to include not only exceptionally intelligent people, but also people with extraordinary ability in other areas, not just with IQ tests (Drew, Egan, & Hardman, 2002).