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Savant Syndrome
Most people probably already know that the right-hemisphere of the brainis responsible for our artistic skills such as music and other forms of art,spatial skills, and what we directly perceive. The left-hemisphere of thebrain is responsible for our cognitive skills which is responsible for ourability to learn new skills and knowledge. The logical, analytical, andsequential skills are also influenced by the left brain.In the dictionary, savant means a person with detailed knowledge in aspecialized field or a person of learning. Hence, idiot savant or savantsyndrome was taken from that word. And in this hub, I'll be using savantsto connote people with savant syndrome.
What Is Savant Syndrome
Savant syndrome is a rare condition in which the person has mentaldisabilities but has an extraordinary talent that is connected withimmense memory. It is the presence of unusual intellect or artisticabilities. The skills savants possess tend to use the right-hemisphere of the brain more than the left-hemisphere, though.Savants can focus on a single talent and perfect it. Whether the talent isin mathematical calculation or in any other artistic skill but they don'thave the ability to learn skills that is beyond the periphery of their talents. Their brain pushes them to focus all their energy into a limited skill.It seems to us that savants acquire amazing abilities instantly. It is justthat their brains tend to hyper-focus on a certain skill that normal peopleare unable to do. While they are unable to do what normal people can do.Cognitive skills, logical skills, and analytical skills are absent in savants. The talent takes over the life of the person. They spend their daypracticing that talent. They should practice, and they practice obsessively.
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It's a force within them. They are very interested and motivated in theirskills. Thus they show amazing ability.About 1 in 10 autistic patients and about 1 in 1000 patients with othermental impairments are savants. Mental impairments in this case refer tomental retardation, brain injuries, and brain diseases. This syndromeappears more in males than in females.
How to Deal With Savant Syndrome Patients
It is noted that savant skills persist within the life of the person and withcontinued practice, these skills increase in almost all cases. Experiencehad shown that trying to keep them away from their skills may prove tobe detrimental for them. Savants should not be denied if they want topractice their talents. Educators of savants should assist in the functionaluse of their talents. Actually, when savants are encouraged with theirskills, their defects tend to subside in time. Through continuoussupervised training, they may develop better attention towards dailyliving skills, communication skills and their interaction towards otherpeople.Another important thing to remember about savants is that they must bepraised, encouraged, and be shown acceptance by the people who givescare for them. Everyone likes approval but the emotional needs of savantsare demanding.
How Savants Are Developed
When undamaged, our brain uses higher level memory that is responsiblefor the semantic (language learning) and declarative (understanding)capabilities. Normal people's brain uses both the left-hemisphere and theright-hemisphere. Although we use both, some people come to rely moreon the left-hemisphere of the brain that gives them the capability to uselogical and analytical thinking. Some people, however, may come to rely
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more on their right brain skills that gives them the ability to be moreartistic than others.What happens to savants is that their central nervous system aredamaged from injury or disease factors making them rely on moreprimitive memory that is responsible for the procedural (routine) and habitcapabilities. The combination of right brain skills and procedural memoryproduces the extraordinary skill that is savant syndrome. The theory behind savant syndrome is that an injury in the left brain mayspark right brain compensation meaning the left brain limitation issubstituted by an enhanced right brain capability.
The Discovery of the Disease
 The first description of savant syndrome was by Gnothi Sauton in 1783about Jedediah Buxton who had lightning calculating abilities. But the firstreport was written by Benjamin Rush in 1789 when he described ThomasFuller's ability with calendar calculating. John Langdon Haydon Down (Nov 18, 1828 - Oct 07, 1896) had firsttermed the disease idiot savant in 1887. Savant syndrome, however, isnow widely used. He was also the doctor who coined the term mongolism,a condition which is now called Down syndrome, which was named afterhim.
The Common Misconception
Some people may have misunderstood that savants are autistic. Somemay use the two terms interchangeably. But that is not the case. About 1in 10 autistic patients are savants and about 1 in 1000 savants appear inpatients with mental retardation, brain injury, and adult onset dementia.All in all, they have estimated that savants appear in about 50% of thetime in autistics and about 50% of the time in other forms of mentalimpairments.
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