SAVANT SYNDROME

     You know that question people always tend to ask? "If you could have any superpower, what would it be?" Some answers given are to be able to hear peoples' thoughts, be invisible, fly next to planes, teleport across countries, and even see into the future. Those are fine, but what about something actually realistic? What if you can read a whole book once and have the ability to recite the whole thing right after? I'm sure that would help a lot of you for a history test or something. Or, how about the ability to memorize the map of the United States and never be lost again? By now, you are probably asking yourself, "WHAT IS THIS?" and "HOW CAN I GET IT?". People with this ability have...Savant Syndrome!

     

     Yup, ya heard me. Savant Syndrome! What is Savant Syndrome you may ask? It is a condition where someone with a mental disability has a special gift in a particular subject. For example, there was a 14-year-old girl who was born blind, but she was able to play Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 perfectly by hearing it just once! And, there's this kid way younger than us that is mute and non-communicative, but he can solve any jigsaw puzzle extremely fast with accuracy. 

     People can either be born with the syndrome or they can acquire it later in life. If a baby has a irregularity to their left hemisphere, they have the possibility of having the syndrome. A head injury leading to brain damage to the left hemisphere or nervous system is an example of what causes someone to acquire this rare gift later in life. Savant Syndrome also has a correlation with Autism because 50% of people with the syndrome have an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but not everyone with Autism has the syndrome. 

     This is how it works. With Savant Syndrome you not only get damage to the left hemisphere, you get damage to high-level memory circuits. The areas that were not damaged and the lower-level memory circuits have to work together to pick up the slack which, in turn, causes rewiring. The rewiring awakens dormant abilities; the abilities that we see as gifts in savants. Dr. Darold Treffert coined the process as "The 3Rs" for Recruitment, Rewiring, and Release.
     We function by being flexible with our reasonings, creativity, etc, but savants don't work like that. They go by a sort of system that is rigid and goes by specific rules. This explains their machine-like actions.

Fun Fact: Almost all savants are male! 👨👨👨👨👨

Don't sweat it ladies, we still rule. 

     The reason that is because there is a theory that most disorders associated with the left hemisphere occur more in boys than they do in girls. To give a little background information, the left hemisphere takes longer than the right to develop so that area has a greater chance of being affected in the womb than the right. When the hormone, testosterone, is roaming around within the male fetus as the left hemisphere is developing, it can slow that hemisphere's growth allowing the right hemisphere to become larger and more controlling.

     I just thought this was a fun little topic to discuss with you guys because I feel like most people don't know about it. If someone sees a person that is extra smart, they probably just think that is the way they are. People associate disorders has a handicap, but this shows it can be otherwise. Someday, maybe someone with Savant Syndrome can solve our most complex problems like global warming because we all know a certain someone ain't about to fix that 😏.

THANKS FOR TUNING IN & I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY LANKERS!

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/feeling-too-much/201408/islands-genius-how-savants-do-what-they-do

https://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/_WMS/savant/pdf/resources/articles/savant_article.pdf