Savant syndrome is not recognized as a type of health disorder in medical sources. Nevertheless, there is an undisputable fact that savants exist. The unifying feature of savants is the supernatural abilities expressed along with some type of cognitive deficiency. The first savant that was detected was the autistic savant who in spite of his behavioral and cognitive disorder could perform outstanding calculations in his head. Later on, scientists noticed that savant syndrome is present in many of the autistic children or people with other types of cognitive disorders. Savant syndrome is a phenomenon, the combination of impossible and the flourishing of the intellect in the desert of deficiency. So, who are those famous people, who are blessed and deprived at the same time?
Here is the list of the most famous savants throughout the history:
The live Rain Man – Kim Peek.
Kim had inborn brain damage. His father was recommended to leave him to the special institution. He could not walk, could not button his T-shirt and scored below the average at the regular IQ tests. At the same time, Kim has the marvelous gift. He can read the book page in 3 seconds and remember the content by heart. Moreover, he can read the left page with the left eye and the right page with the right eye simultaneously. At the moment, Kim has already read more than 12,000 books. And he remembers all of them.
Temple Grandin – savant-professor!
This woman is the example of an autistic savant, who used her impressive skills to develop more human treatment technologies to livestock. Temple managed to overcome the path from the silent child to the prominent scientist.
Leslie Lemke – blind pianist!
Leslie was born with multiple deficiencies. Doctors had to remove his eyes, and his mother gave the child for adoption. Leslie was adopted by the kind woman May Lemke who took exceptional care of him. He learned how to walk at the age of 15. When he was 16, out of the blue Leslie impressed his relatives with the exceptional talent. May was awoken by Leslie playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The boy had never ever practiced. He heard this concert once, and he could reproduce the melody flawlessly. Lemke became famous and gave many concerts before his health seriously deteriorated.
Derek Paravicini
Derek is physically dysfunctional. He can hardly button his shirt and trousers. However, he is a talented musician that plays the piano. He can perform in any style, and his play is flawless.
Alonzo Clemons – sculptural genius!
At the early childhood, Alonzo was injured. The injury caused the permanent learning disabilities in a boy. The IQ of the boy hardly reached the point of 40, his speech was deficient. But, Alonzo opened the exceptional talent – sculpting. Alonzo grasps the shapes in a moment and reproduces the same shape in a form of sculpture. His favorite theme is animal-sculpting. He creates realistic sculptures of horses, antelopes and bulls, and needs less than half an hour for finishing the artistic artifact.
Tom Wiggins – Mr. Imitator!
Tom was born in a family of Black slaves. Shortly, his White masters have noticed the superficial ability to imitate the sounds of any complexity. The masters used the boy to earn money by giving the tours around the US. Tom was able to play one melody with his right hand, one piece with his left hand and sing simultaneously. He is one of the most famous savants in a history.
Stephen Wiltshire – a Camera Man!
Stephen was born mute and diagnosed ASD. However, he has a savant gift. Stephen can draw in detail the picture he saw only for a few minutes. For example, he drew the 10-meter panorama of Tokyo city after a helicopter trip. He remembers in detail the location of objects and reproduces everything in his pictures.
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