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Savant Syndrome: the paradox of genius |

What is ‘Savant Syndrome’?

Savant syndrome is a rare, but extraordinary, condition in which persons with serious mental disabilities, including autistic disorder, have some ‘island of genius’ which stands in marked, incongruous contrast to overall handicap.

As many as one in 10 persons with autistic disorder have such remarkable abilities in varying degrees, although savant syndrome occurs in other developmental disabilities or in other types of central nervous system injury or disease as well. Whatever the particular savant skill, it is always linked to massive memory.

Without doubt, the best-known autistic savant is a fictional one, Raymond Babbitt, as portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the 1988 movie Rain Man. However, the original inspiration for the savant portrayed in Rain Man was Kim Peek, who had memorized over 6,000 books and had encyclopedic knowledge of geography, music, literature, history, sports and nine other areas of expertise.

Peek could name all the US area codes and major city zip codes. He also memorized the maps in the front of telephone books and could tell you precisely how to get from one US city to another, and then how to get around in that city street by street. He also had calendar-calculating abilities and rather advanced musical talent. Of unique interest was his ability to read extremely rapidly, simultaneously scanning one page with the left eye and the other page with the right eye. Despite his feats of memory and other abilities, such as performing impressive calculations in his head, Peek never learned to carry out many everyday tasks, such as dressing himself.

Males outnumber females by an approximate 6 : 1 ratio in savant syndrome compared with an approximate 4 : 1 ratio in autistic disorder. The condition can be congenital (genetic or inborn), or can be acquired later in childhood, or even in adults. The savant skills co-exist with, or are superimposed upon, various developmental disabilities including autistic disorder, or other conditions such as mental retardation or brain injury or disease that occurs before (prenatal) during (perinatal) or after birth (postnatal), or even later in childhood or adult life (acquired savant).

The term prodigious savant is reserved for those very rare persons in this already uncommon condition where the special skill or ability is so outstanding that it would be spectacular even if it were to occur in a non-handicapped person. In such a non-handicapped person the term “genius” would be applied.

There are probably fewer than 100 prodigious savants living worldwide at the present time who would meet this high threshold of special skill.

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