Tesis De Romeo Y Julieta

Andreina Hernandez
Wheelock College
Children with special needs
Fall 2012

What do we know about autistic savants?

Autism is a disability that is generally acquired by neurological or genetic causes; sometimes both. But the causes of autism are not completely theoretical because it’s not fully understood, and yet there is no cure for this disability. An autistic person, struggles withsome areas of development, but there are other skills that may develop in a typical way.

The most popular struggling aspects of an autistic kid, generally affect the communication, their social behavior, and a lack of pliability when it comes to think and play. Autistic people, also have a specific area of interest and also a repetitive behavior “routine” where they kind of repeat a pattern withhands, head, etc.

‘Autistic savant’ is an autistic ramification but the savants are outstanding skills that are above the general level that is above the social expectations.

Darold Dreffer, refers to the 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”
This means thatthe Savant syndrome is an extraordinary condition where the affected has an outstanding ability. One of every 10 autistic persons have specific remarkable abilities that makes them be bright in these specific things that may be a way for them to shine and become extraordinary in that specific aspect of their knowledge. The outstanding ability of the savant syndrome is always attached to a massivestorage of selected information.
Savant skills always come in a spectrum, just as any autistic disorder.

The range of savant skills is:

* Splinter skills: it’s the most usual one, it’s when the person commits to a specific hobby and develops a authentic technique.
* Talented skills: The person has an outstanding intellectual ability and also develop a specific area of knowledge.* Prodigious skills: It’s the most uncommon type of savant. It’s an extraordinary ability that allows them to for example, play a whole song in the piano after listening to it just once. It’s a very rare type, in fact, there are around 100 prodigious savants in the entire world

A characteristic of the savant syndrome is that the skill is very specific and limited, most of the times is relatedto memory. Some of the areas of development of a savant patient are:
* Music: the most popular instrument is the piano, and an example of this is to play the piano without ever studying it.
* Art: for example the ability to draw to high standards or maybe to sculpt or paint, There’s a rare case of a known Scottish individual, who is considered a prodigious savant. Although he was diagnosedas retarded around the age of 3, he developed his drawing skills throughout his lifetime.
* Mathematics: it’s an extraordinary ability to work on complicated mathematics operations in their heads.
* Language: in some cases, the person may develop a rare language ability.

The skills developed in an autistic savant cases are unexplained, according to some scientists and researchers, ithas something to do with the right hemisphere of the brain.
If we study the human brain, most of the characteristics listed above, develop in the right hemisphere.
The human brain, has a left and a right hemisphere connected by a net of nerve fibers best known as Corpus callosum. The function of the left hemisphere is to create the sequences, logical explanations and interpretation; and the...