Developmental and Psychological Aspects of the Savant Syndrome

A savant is a person with intellectual disability who demonstrates one or more skills above the level expected of someone without intellectual disability. These skills take the form of exceptional musical, artistic or mechanical abilities, prodigious memorization or mathematical talents, and most commonly, the ability to calculate with rapidity the day of the week upon which any given date, past or future, falls. Reported throughout much of this century as objects of amazement, and familiar through the popular press to the general public, there has been a recent surge in experimental studies attempting to describe components of the development of savant abilities, and to determine mental processes used to accomplish these tasks. This survey examines the psychological aspects of the savant syndrome, focusing on the means by which certain abilities, particularly calendar calculation, are accomplished, and highlighting variables postulated as important for development of the syndrome. Implications for the education of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities are discussed, including the relevance of this literature to theories of general intelligence.