Understanding Savant Syndrome in Autism: Signs, Symptoms & Abilities

Savant autism is a developmental disorder characterized by the use of remarkable feats of memory or mathematical skills that are not enjoyed by most people. Although rare, savant abilities occur in about 10 percent of the autistic population.

Calendar Calculating

• Ask a savant with calendar calculating ability what day of the week August 15,1872 fell on, and he can correctly tell you in one or two seconds that it was a Thursday.

Mathematics

• Savants perform amazing calculations more quickly than a calculator. The savant Daniel Tammet is able to recite pi to over 20,000 decimal places and holds the world record.

Art

• Beautiful paintings can come from savant autism. Once compared to Rembrandt, a girl named Nadia loved drawing horses. She unfortunately lost the ability when she began to speak.

Music

• Many musical savants can play a variety of instruments. One of the hallmarks of musical savants is that they have perfect pitch and can play back complicated pieces of music on first hearing.

Facts and Figures

• Savants have the uncanny ability to remember facts and figures that most of us would have to look up. Some savants have a great facility for learning foreign languages.