People who are called the Savants have serious mental or physical disability, but they are remarkable, and have spectacular talents hidden in them. "Rain Man" the movie which won the Academy Award has exposed these talents about the savants, and people are made aware about Savant Syndrome. It is one of the most delightful phenomena in the study of human differences and cognitive psychology.
Dr. J. Langdon Down who also had deficiency termed as Downs's syndrome was the first to recognize Savant syndrome. He invented the term “idiot savant” which meant to say low intelligence, and from the French, savoir to describe the “extraordinary memory but with a great defect in reasoning power.” This term is now being replaced or adopted as savant syndrome or autistic savant.
To understand savant syndrome, it is necessary to learn something about autism as well. Autism is rare condition which results a complex developmental disability that is noticed during the first three years of life. It is a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the developing brain, resulting in sometimes profound communicative, social and cognitive deficits.
It is important to realize that there is some confusion over these estimates of the incidence of the syndrome which stems from the different ways in which it is defined and described.
Savant syndrome is again exceptionally rare. It is a remarkable condition in which people with serious mental handicaps, or major mental illness, have surprising abilities or brilliance which covers up their overall disability. This condition may be congenital or can get hold of by individual following CNS injuries or diseases.
