Savant syndrome: causes of development, signs and manifestations, diagnosis, prognosis

Author: Soldatenkov Ilya Vitalievich

, for sindrom.info ©

Savant syndrome is a special type of mental disorder that negatively affects brain function. Most often, the disease occurs in mentally retarded people with impaired perception of the surrounding world or in autistic people. It is difficult for patients to understand what is happening around them, to take care of themselves in everyday life, and to do things familiar to a healthy person. But despite this, each patient has his own “island of genius.” This means that such people have various unique abilities, which are not difficult to discover, the main thing is to find the right approach.

In savants, experts identify amazing mental knowledge or abilities in any field of activity. At the same time, in terms of the level of intellectual development, patients stop at the stage of debility.

The syndrome comes from the French word “savanta,” which translates to “scholar.” Today, according to UN statistics, there are about 67 million people with autistic disorders. Of these, only 50 are sick with “pathology” and absolutely each of these people has unique abilities and talents.

Causes of Savant syndrome

Most often, the anomaly occurs due to genetic disorders and can be inherited. The disease usually affects people with autism or other mental disorders. The syndrome can also occur due to previous traumatic brain injuries or brain diseases. Many scientists believe that savantism is a consequence of perinatal pathology.

All the causes of the anomaly are still unknown, but experts estimate that the disease is five times more likely to affect men than women. This is explained by the fact that the male chromosome contains dozens of genes that contribute to the birth of a child with this disease.

Some doctors suggest that the anomaly develops due to a special virus that causes neurons to mutate. And magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography studies show that in people with Savant syndrome, the right hemisphere is much better developed than the left. That is why they have special abilities.

It has also been confirmed that patients with the syndrome have a special brain structure: it is not divided into two hemispheres.

Savantism cannot appear due to diseases acquired during life.

Reasons for the emergence of savantism

Scientists, studying people with genius, were looking for an answer to the question: what kind of disease is savant syndrome? While studying the biographies of famous people with savant syndrome, scientists were able to compile a list of reasons that provoke the formation of an island of genius in the brain:

1. Genetic predisposition. The results of clinical studies show that the disease is inherited, especially if the parents are over 40 years old. This means that if one of the parents is a savant, then, most likely, the child of this couple will also have this feature of brain function.
2. Premature birth. Statistics show that many famous people with savant syndrome were born prematurely. Their weight was below normal.
3. Brain injuries in the postnatal period. Some people develop language, visual, or mathematical abilities after a traumatic brain injury, such as in a car accident. This reason is responsible for the formation of acquired savant syndrome.
4. Inflammatory process in the brain tissue of the fetus during intrauterine development.
5. Vitamin D deficiency in the fetus during intrauterine development. Lack of vitamins is considered in medicine to be the main cause of genetic mutations. This means that not only savant syndrome, but also other intellectual problems can be acquired by a child whose parents live in an environmentally unfavorable area.
6. The occurrence of savant syndrome against the background of autism, Down syndrome, mental retardation, and mental disorders.

Risk factors

Since in most cases savantism occurs due to a hereditary predisposition, the main risk factors are genetic disorders and mental disorders. These include: Asperger's syndrome, autism and mental retardation.

In addition, the following, no less significant, risk factors are identified:

• Prematurity (birth of a baby before 35 weeks);
• Baby weight not exceeding 2500 g;
• Mature age of at least one of the parents (mother - over 40 years old, father - over 49);
• Congenital malformations;
• Injuries received during childbirth;
• Postpartum resuscitation of the child;
• Recent infections and brain diseases;
• Male gender;
• Gene mutations due to unfavorable environmental conditions;
• Lack of vitamins, especially vitamin D.

Symptoms

Signs of savantism can be easily confused with oligophrenia and Down syndrome. For example, a person cannot take care of himself in everyday life - he cannot dress and eat on his own.

People with Savant syndrome find it difficult to go shopping and talk to a stranger. But despite all these shortcomings, they are real geniuses in any matter: they can accurately reproduce a previously heard musical composition, add combinations of numbers in their minds, and retell an entire book.

The areas of knowledge in such patients are extremely limited. People have phenomenal memories, musical, artistic, mechanical or even mathematical talents, but they may not know their own name or date of birth. In rare cases, a person may have several amazing abilities at once.

Patients with savantism live in their own fantasy world. They are not very communicative, as it is difficult for them to construct a sentence and express their thoughts.

Along with Savant syndrome, patients are most often diagnosed with the following diseases and conditions:

• Autism.
• Serious disturbances in brain function.
• Mental and physical retardations.
• Down syndrome.

• Mental disorders.

If the disease is congenital, then unusual abilities will begin to appear in early childhood. For example, Kim Pik, a patient with savantism, could already accurately remember the text of a book that his parents read to him at the age of 2. At the age of 12, the boy graduated from school, as he was able to master the entire school curriculum without anyone's help.

Pathogenesis

The modern classification of diseases does not consider the syndrome as an independent disease. It is believed that the disease accompanies autistic disorder. The reason for the development of the anomaly still remains unknown.

There is an opinion that the disease occurs due to various pathological processes that can affect the asymmetry of the cerebral hemispheres. Typically, in healthy people, the right hemisphere, which is responsible for creativity, spatial and imaginative thinking, is smaller than the left hemisphere (analytical thinking and verbal information). Studies show that in patients the left hemisphere is damaged, which means the right hemisphere fully compensates for its dysfunction. Therefore, a person develops amazing abilities and talents.

Symptoms of the disease

The symptoms of the disease are difficult to confuse with any other disease, since they are all specific. For example, savants are not able to independently take care of themselves in everyday life - they cannot eat or dress without help, it is difficult for them to go shopping or just talk to strangers. But with all this, such people are real geniuses in any field: they can completely retell a book they read yesterday, add up huge numbers in their heads in a matter of seconds, or accurately reproduce a musical composition they heard for the first time.

Unfortunately, the areas of knowledge of such people are limited. Patients have phenomenal memory, artistic, musical, linguistic, mathematical or mechanical talents, but they often do not know their name or birthday. Sometimes patients have several amazing abilities at once. Patients with the syndrome remember all the small details: they can even describe minute by minute the day that happened several weeks ago.

People with Savant syndrome live in their own fantasy world. Typically, patients are not communicative, it is difficult for them to construct a sentence and express their thoughts, so they cannot fully integrate into society. Patients have speech and movement disorders. They do not look into other people's eyes and are afraid of being touched.

Savantism is also accompanied by:

1. Physical and mental retardation;
2. Mental disorders;
3. Autism;
4. Down syndrome;
5. Brain dysfunctions;
6. “Islands of Genius.”

First signs

If the disease was congenital, then the person’s unusual abilities will begin to manifest themselves in childhood. For example, children who have just learned numbers can immediately add them in their minds without error.

Thus, at the age of 2, Kim Pik, who was suffering from savantism, could completely remember the text of a book that had just been read to him. Already at the age of 12, he graduated from school, as he completely mastered the program without anyone's help.

Stages

Usually the disease is accompanied by various forms of mental retardation - epilepsy, autism, Down syndrome. Each of them has the main similarity - the earlier the correction of the child’s behavior and development was started, the greater the chances of a person’s successful adaptation to society in the future. That is why the early stage of development of the anomaly is most important.

The initial stage accompanies the child from the first days of his birth. In such children, it is not difficult to notice developmental differences already at the age of 1-2 years. At the same time, mental disorders become more obvious. Modern diagnostic technologies make it possible to identify the syndrome in infancy.

Forms

The incredible abilities of patients usually manifest themselves in one type of activity:

• In music. Most often, patients play the piano, have absolute pitch and can accurately repeat all notes.

• In sculpture or painting. Savants don’t even need to be taught how to draw; they themselves know how to do it correctly. Their drawings and sculptures are particularly realistic and colorful.
• In modeling. Patients not only perfectly model simple objects, but are also able to produce complex small parts.
• In mathematics. Mental calculation of huge examples, repetition of a series of multi-digit numbers and other mathematical abilities - all this is also a distinctive feature of savants.
• In mechanics. Patients can determine the exact distance without any measuring instruments.
• In linguistics. This form is much less common than the others, but it also occurs. Some savants are true polyglots and speak several dozen languages ​​perfectly at once.
• In time. People with Savant syndrome can accurately tell time without a chronometer or watch.
• They have a good memory. A representative of this form is Kim Peak, who can read an entire page of a book in 10 seconds. Today it is known that he read more than 10,000 books and can reproduce the text of each of them verbatim.
• Sometimes patients have a more developed sense of smell, vision and touch than the average person.

Famous people with savant syndrome

Savant syndrome has been diagnosed in such famous people as:

• Kim Pik, who was born with this pathology. He had a unique ability: he read 2 pages of a book at the same time. He read one page with his left eye, and the second with his right. At the same time, Kim Pik remembers the contents of all the books he has read. In addition, he amazed his contemporaries with his computing skills and ability to determine the day of the week of a given date. The type of phenomenon of this savant is shown in the film “Rain Man”.
• Stephen Wiltshirk is a man whose savantism was combined with autism. However, this did not stop him from becoming a talented landscape artist and architect. Phenomenal memory allows one to remember the smallest details of a drawing or painting, even if he only glanced at the sheet.
• Derek Paravicini was a famous blind savant musician. He accurately reproduced the melodies he once heard. This patient also had a concomitant pathology – echolalia. This man's intelligence level corresponded to the age of a 4-year-old child, but this did not prevent him from gaining worldwide recognition in jazz.
• Daniel Tammet is a savant who suffers from epilepsy and autism. He became famous for his ability to perform complex mathematical calculations in his head. In addition, Tammet could learn any foreign language in a week.
• Leslie Lemke is a pianist with savant syndrome, who in addition to this illness was diagnosed with blindness and cerebral palsy. He was born with congenital glaucoma, due to which he became blind. Already blind, Lemke mastered playing the piano, learning to select the right notes for famous melodies by ear. Leslie's performances with works of her own composition attract entire concert halls of enthusiastic spectators.
• Ben Underwood is a savant who navigates space using very acute hearing: he snaps his fingers and judges the location of objects in a room by the sound reflected from them. Savantism in this young man developed as a compensatory mechanism as a result of injury to the visual analyzer.

Famous people with the syndrome

Many patients with the syndrome are truly great and brilliant people. The most famous of them are:

1. Stephen Wiltshirk is a talented painter from Britain, famous for his phenomenal memory. Little Steven was diagnosed with Savant syndrome at the age of 3. At the age of 5, his parents first noticed his special talent for painting. Now he can reproduce any landscape he has ever seen on canvas.
2. Kim Peek was born with a cranial herniation, cerebellar injury and an enlarged head. Typically, such disorders lead to either giftedness or mental retardation. In Kim's case, it all happened at once. The child was also diagnosed at 3 years old. Over time, the teenager began to memorize entire books, and later he developed a real talent for music.
3. Tammet Daniel was born with epilepsy and was developmentally delayed, but already at a young age he knew several dozen languages, and he could learn absolutely any dialect, even the most complex. In addition, Tammet also has mathematical abilities.
4. Ben Underwood lost his eyes as a child, but this did not stop him from being excellent at navigating the terrain. To do this, he clicks his fingers to catch the echo.
5. Derek Paravicini also has Savant syndrome, but despite the diagnosis he was able to become a famous jazz band musician.

Video: about the most famous savants

Famous Savants

Below are four of the most prominent examples of people with savant syndrome.

Kim Peek

American with phenomenal memory and reading speed. I read one page in 5 seconds. I remembered up to 98% of the information I read. Over the course of my life, I read more than 12,000 books and kept every one of them in my memory. However, initially the situation was not so rosy.

Kim was born with a cranial hernia, a disproportionately large head and the absence of the corpus callosum, which connects the two hemispheres of the brain. But despite this, he learned to read at 16 months! At the age of 3, he actively read newspapers and learned the meaning of unfamiliar words in explanatory dictionaries. By the age of 7, I had memorized the Bible.

Kim was not accepted into school. His father taught him at home. At the age of 14, he fully mastered the school curriculum, but was not given a diploma due to his disability. By the age of 18, he managed to work as an accountant at a Mormon community center and read all the works of William Shakespeare.

Gradually, Kim compiled a list of topics that interested him, which included American history, sports, space exploration, literature, classical music and geography. He kept a map of the entire country in his memory and could advise on the best way to get from one city to another in any state.

He had low muscle tone and could not walk until he was 4 years old. Experienced problems with meeting everyday needs (couldn't button buttons on a shirt). Was unable to understand the meaning of proverbs and sayings. However, he understood the meaning of the information quite well and was quite witty, despite the savantism.

Kim Peek became the prototype for the main character in the film “Rain Man,” which won an Oscar and a Golden Globe. He died of a heart attack in 2009, having lived 58 years.

Stephen Wiltshire

Stephen was diagnosed with savant syndrome at the age of 3. Until he was 5 years old, he could not speak. At the age of 5 he was enrolled in Queensmill School in London. Despite his health problems, his teachers saw his interest in drawing and began to work hard with him.

His first word was the word “paper”. Since then, he has not stopped creating real works of art. For example, at the age of 13 he drew an accurate sketch of St Pancras Station, although he had only seen it once from an airplane window from an altitude of more than 500 meters.

In 1987, Wiltshire was featured in a BBC program called Foolish Wise about children with savant syndrome, which resulted in a huge number of people from all over the world ordering his paintings.

Derek Paravicini and Daniel Tammet

Derek was born at 25 weeks' gestation along with his twin sister, who did not survive. Excessive oxygen supply to the brain during oxygen therapy made him blind and caused autism. But this did not stop him from becoming a famous musician.

Already at the age of 2 he began to play the piano. At the age of 5 he entered a school for the blind and there demonstrated his absolute ear for music. At the age of 7 he gave his first concert. At the age of 9 he was awarded the Barnardo's Children's Champion Award from the hands of the Princess of Wales herself. He is the nephew of the former husband of the current Duchess of Cornwall.

As for Daniel Tammet, he describes himself as a “high-functioning autistic savant.” He was born in 1979. He was the oldest child in a family of 9 children. At the age of 4 he suffered a severe epileptic seizure, after which he began to easily perform calculations with multi-digit numbers. Could divide 13 by 97 and determine one hundred decimal places without much effort. Knows 11 languages ​​and 22,514 decimal places in Pi.

So what's all this for? And to the fact that no obstacles are scary (even autism and savantism) if a person has willpower, a good environment and a talent for any activity. You don't have to read 10,000 words per minute or handle 100-digit numbers in your head. The main thing is to improve your strengths and never give up, then you will have outstanding life results and satisfaction with life itself. We think the people we talked about are a prime example of this.

We wish you good luck and faith in yourself!

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Keywords: 1Cognitive science, 1Mnemotechnics

Diagnosis of the syndrome

The diagnosis can be made by the presence of brain dysfunction and by collecting the medical history of the patient and his relatives. The doctor must prescribe encephalography, CT and MRI studies, and collection of biomaterials for laboratory tests. It is imperative to conduct an IQ test to identify indicators of empathy. It is also necessary to carry out differential diagnosis to exclude other developmental anomalies. But most often, pathology becomes noticeable due to the combination of genius and talent together with mental disorders.

Treatment of the syndrome

Therapy for this syndrome is possible with a psychiatrist, but it is worth saying that there is no special treatment for the disease. The main thing is to adapt a person to normal life in society and improve his emotional and physical state. Treatment with medications is usually not used.

Each unique ability that was discovered in a child requires special treatment. Sometimes the actions of teachers lead to the loss of all abilities of children. This is why it is important to find a truly qualified specialist.

Corrective measures

First of all, patients should be adapted to life in society with other people, their emotional and psychological state should be improved. For this purpose, physiotherapy, developmental programs and rarely drug treatment are usually prescribed.

Art therapy, fairytale therapy, music classes, physical education and relaxing massage sessions are suitable for the socialization of children. Later, teenagers are introduced to social activities and improve their physical fitness. Classes on speech development are also conducted.

In addition to all this, the patient should lead a healthy lifestyle and give up bad habits. Usually, after such treatment, the symptoms of the disease recede, and the person begins to join a real, fulfilling life.