Eye on Autism
By Dan Olmsted
Lately I’ve been trying to make sense of savants. What is the relationship between autism and the extraordinary abilities that, in a small percentage of cases, accompany it? Rain Man put both autism and savant skills on the map and may have created a bias toward believing that they go together a lot more often than they do.
Yet a number of important historical figures have been retrospectively “diagnosed” with both – principally Einstein, who indisputably had speech delay and an incredible visual imagination; and Newton, who shut himself up in his room for two years and emerged with the Principia, a feat of single-minded genius.
Today’s most astonishing autistic savant is Daniel Tammet, the Great Britain native who recited pi to 22,514 digits in just over five hours and taught himself Icelandic – one of the world’s toughest languages – in a week so he could speak it when he appeared on a talk show there. And there are many lesser-known people who nonetheless have amazing abilities – I met a man at an autism conference who was a taxi driver in New York when he went to see Rain Man. There’s a moment when Dustin Hoffman is asked to solve a complicated math problem, and this man astonished the audience by shouting out the answer before Hoffman did! He had no idea he was either autistic or a savant, but when he left the theater he touched the poster of Hoffman and said, “Finally I know – that’s who I am.”
Late 19th century England also seemed to produce plausibly autistic savants – for more on that, and the entire phenomenon of savants, see Dr. Darold Treffert’s fascinating site, http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant_syndrome/ and the earliest cases series of autistic children reported in the United States, by Leo Kanner in 1943, began with Donald T., who could recite the Presbyterian catechism as a toddler and (his brother told me a couple of years ago) has perfect pitch.
I also put Jason “J-Mac” McElwain somewhere in this constellation. He’s the high school basketball team manager in Greece, N.Y., who got his big chance and sank six three-pointers. In his new book, The Game of My Life, he writes: “The big point I want to make in this chapter is it’s all about focus.” No doubt that’s true, but I could focus all I want and I would not sink six three-pointers the first time I got the chance. Whether or not he was “hot as a pistol,” as Jason says, I suspect some aspect of his autism was also at work.
Let’s assume for the moment that all the people I’ve described do fit somewhere on the spectrum, and that their extraordinary abilities are an aspect of that. Does that give us any clues to where this all came from?
I’ve written in Spectrum about my reporting that suggests the early cases of autism in this country can be connected to organic mercury – in fungicides and vaccines. Donald T., for example, lives in the aptly named Forest, Miss., in the middle of a national forest and not far from where mercury was first tested as a lumber preservative. (That may seem like a reach, but consider that Case 2 was the son of a forestry professor in the south, and Case 3 the son of a plant pathologist.)
I can think of possible links to several other cases as well. Daniel Tammet writes in his autobiography, Born on a Blue Day, that his father came home from the sheet metal factory still covered in dust, which had to be mostly heavy metals. Newton was into alchemy as well as calculus – bridging, in effect, the superstition of the Middle Ages and the enlightenment of the Renaissance. And in alchemy, the king of metals was mercury.
Einstein’s mother’s father was a grain merchant. What kind of fungicides and other toxins might she (or Albert) have been exposed to? I don’t know much about J-Mac – he doesn’t say what his parents do – but I was struck by this comment by his mother in an afterward to the book: “In 1985, our family moved to a brand new development in the town of Greece, N.Y. Within three years we had both Josh and Jason.” I can’t tell you the number of families I’ve visited who will point out some sort of construction project or renovation or earth-moving that was going on when they were pregnant with their child. They all believed that exposure to chemicals and toxins in utero played a role.
None of this is to take away from Jason’s accomplishments or the general theory of relativity, obviously. But we need to look for clues to the causes and varieties of autism wherever we can find them. Maybe savants get such a truckload of certain toxins that the source is more evident in those cases.
Recently, a mom named Sonja Lopez posted a comment on my blog at AgeofAutism.com, that really blew me away. Here’s what she said:
“I wanted to let you in on a few interesting facts about Anna and her skills. We started losing her after her 12-month vaccines (although I did not make that connection yet). She was pulling away in terms of eye contact and responsiveness but what developed instead was an incredible interest in the written word. By 15 months she was a fluent reader (could pronounce words she had never seen before perfectly – they called it spontaneous phonetic encoding). By the age of two she could read or spell anything you asked of her but could not put two words together functionally. By age 3 she was a computer wiz able to navigate the internet and complete most children’s software. She also has a gift for music and perfect pitch … she could reproduce tunes on the piano by ear.
“As seemingly wonderful as her gifts appeared, they also hindered and restricted her ability to recover. Her mind was so far ahead of the normal and mundane aspects of everyday living. We could not compete with the amazing things in her head. By the age of 4 we started our bio-medical journey and as her underlying medical issues were addressed and her language, communication, and ability to play improved, her savant skills started to recede.
“She still has an amazing ability to learn languages, an incredible memory, can type 120 words per minute and has flawless grammar, punctuation, and spelling but what we have come to realize is that these skills not only can help her navigate the world but are also a hindrance to her recovery. As she improves, they play a smaller role in her life…it is like watching the brain shift its abilities into areas that were silent in the past. You can see her at www.turnautismaround.com.”
Does any of this mean we shouldn’t celebrate such extraordinary feats? No, not at all. The great Bernie Rimland – who believed vaccines triggered the huge rise in autism diagnoses and pioneered the biomedical approach to treating them – delighted in the artistic ability of his son, Mark, and sometimes had a savant perform amazing calendar and calculation feats at his presentations.
But here’s the point, and I’ll let Sonja Lopez make it. “You would think these amazing skills in kids so obviously disabled would spark the interest of someone in the medical community. What do they have in common? Does the biomedical path to recovery diminish these skills in all of these kids? This is amazing science. Why is it not studied?”
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Autistic savant
Autism is a puzzling disorder characterised by developmental delays. A person with autism often has problems understanding the meaning and purpose of body language and the spoken and written word. They find social interaction difficult, confusing and scary.
'Autistic savant' means a person with autism who has a special skill. 'Savant' comes from the French word for 'knowing' and means 'a learned person'. A person with this condition was once known as an 'idiot savant', since 'idiot' was an acceptable word for mental retardation in the late 19th century, when the phenomenon was first medically investigated. Around 10 per cent of people with autism show special or even remarkable skills. For example, a person with autism, who may be intellectually disabled in most ways, could have an exceptional memory for numbers.
Savant skills are occasionally found in people with other types of intellectual disability and in the non-disabled population, so most researchers use the term 'savant syndrome' instead of autistic savant.
A range of savant abilities
Around 10 per cent of people with autism show special or even remarkable skills. The skills range includes:
* Splinter skills - the most common type. The person, like an obsessive hobbyist, commits certain things to memory, such as sports trivia.
* Talented skills - the person has a more highly developed and specialised skill. For example, they may be artistic and paint beautiful pictures, or have a memory that allows them to work out difficult mathematical calculations in their head.
* Prodigious skills - the rarest type. It is thought that there are only about 25 autistic savants in the world who show prodigious skills. These skills could include, for example, the ability to play an entire concerto on the piano after hearing it only once.
Specialised skill
In all cases of savant syndrome, the skill is specific, limited and most often reliant on memory. Generally, savant skills include:
* Music - the piano is the most popular instrument. For example, the skill may be the ability to play the piano without being taught.
* Art - such as the ability to draw, paint or sculpt to high standards. For example, Richard Wawro is an autistic savant who is also blind, but his crayon drawings command up to $10,000 each.
* Mathematics - for example, the ability to work out complicated sums in their head, or to calendar calculate (for example, work out what day it was on 1 June1732).
* Language - in rare cases, the person may be unusually gifted in languages.
* Other skills - such as knowing the time without seeing a clock, untaught mechanical skills, having an unfailing sense of direction or the ability to commit maps to memory.
The brain's right hemisphere
Autistic savant behaviour is so far unexplained. However, researchers think it might have something to do with the right hemisphere of the brain.
The brain is divided into two hemispheres, left and right, bridged by a thick band of nerve fibres called the corpus callosum. While left hemisphere skills are involved with symbolism and interpretation (such as understanding words and body language), the skills of the right hemisphere are much more concrete and direct (such as memory).
CT and MRI scans of the brains of autistic savants suggest that the right hemisphere is compensating for damage in the left hemisphere. It seems that the right hemisphere of an autistic savant focuses its attention on one of the five senses - for example, if it concentrates on hearing, then the autistic savant may have a special skill in music. Research is ongoing.
Their skills may be reinforced
It is thought that habitual memory centres of the brain take over from higher memory centres, which helps to explain why some autistic savants are like obsessive hobbyists who do the same thing over and over. Apart from habitual memory, other factors that may help an autistic savant to hone their special skill could include:
* The ability to focus and concentrate
* The desire to practise endlessly
* Positive reinforcement by family, friends and caregivers.
Every brain may have untapped savant skills
San Franciscan neurologist Dr Bruce Miller recently discovered new savant skills in some of his patients who were undergoing a certain type of dementia. These patients had a type of dementia that affected the left temporal region of their brains (located over the left ear).
When the patients were given brain function tests, their results were similar to those of a young autistic savant. Researchers from the Flinders University in Adelaide were able to provoke new savant skills in volunteers by using transcranial magnetic stimulation to temporarily 'disable' the frontal temporal lobe. (Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a type of treatment for depression.) During the test, five of the 17 volunteers showed new and remarkable skills like calendar calculation. These studies suggest that amazing savant abilities may be lying dormant in all of us.
Where to get help
* Your doctor
* Austism Infoline Tel. 1300 308 699 or email info@autismvictoria.org.au
* Autism Victoria Tel. (03) 9885 0533
* The Centre for Developmental Disability Health Victoria (CDDHV) Tel. (03) 9564 7511
Things to remember
* Autistic savant means a person with autism who has a special skill.
* Around 10 per cent of people with autism show special or even remarkable skills.
* Savant skills can be occasionally found in people with other types of intellectual disability and in the non-disabled population.
'Autistic savant' means a person with autism who has a special skill. 'Savant' comes from the French word for 'knowing' and means 'a learned person'. A person with this condition was once known as an 'idiot savant', since 'idiot' was an acceptable word for mental retardation in the late 19th century, when the phenomenon was first medically investigated. Around 10 per cent of people with autism show special or even remarkable skills. For example, a person with autism, who may be intellectually disabled in most ways, could have an exceptional memory for numbers.
Savant skills are occasionally found in people with other types of intellectual disability and in the non-disabled population, so most researchers use the term 'savant syndrome' instead of autistic savant.
A range of savant abilities
Around 10 per cent of people with autism show special or even remarkable skills. The skills range includes:
* Splinter skills - the most common type. The person, like an obsessive hobbyist, commits certain things to memory, such as sports trivia.
* Talented skills - the person has a more highly developed and specialised skill. For example, they may be artistic and paint beautiful pictures, or have a memory that allows them to work out difficult mathematical calculations in their head.
* Prodigious skills - the rarest type. It is thought that there are only about 25 autistic savants in the world who show prodigious skills. These skills could include, for example, the ability to play an entire concerto on the piano after hearing it only once.
Specialised skill
In all cases of savant syndrome, the skill is specific, limited and most often reliant on memory. Generally, savant skills include:
* Music - the piano is the most popular instrument. For example, the skill may be the ability to play the piano without being taught.
* Art - such as the ability to draw, paint or sculpt to high standards. For example, Richard Wawro is an autistic savant who is also blind, but his crayon drawings command up to $10,000 each.
* Mathematics - for example, the ability to work out complicated sums in their head, or to calendar calculate (for example, work out what day it was on 1 June1732).
* Language - in rare cases, the person may be unusually gifted in languages.
* Other skills - such as knowing the time without seeing a clock, untaught mechanical skills, having an unfailing sense of direction or the ability to commit maps to memory.
The brain's right hemisphere
Autistic savant behaviour is so far unexplained. However, researchers think it might have something to do with the right hemisphere of the brain.
The brain is divided into two hemispheres, left and right, bridged by a thick band of nerve fibres called the corpus callosum. While left hemisphere skills are involved with symbolism and interpretation (such as understanding words and body language), the skills of the right hemisphere are much more concrete and direct (such as memory).
CT and MRI scans of the brains of autistic savants suggest that the right hemisphere is compensating for damage in the left hemisphere. It seems that the right hemisphere of an autistic savant focuses its attention on one of the five senses - for example, if it concentrates on hearing, then the autistic savant may have a special skill in music. Research is ongoing.
Their skills may be reinforced
It is thought that habitual memory centres of the brain take over from higher memory centres, which helps to explain why some autistic savants are like obsessive hobbyists who do the same thing over and over. Apart from habitual memory, other factors that may help an autistic savant to hone their special skill could include:
* The ability to focus and concentrate
* The desire to practise endlessly
* Positive reinforcement by family, friends and caregivers.
Every brain may have untapped savant skills
San Franciscan neurologist Dr Bruce Miller recently discovered new savant skills in some of his patients who were undergoing a certain type of dementia. These patients had a type of dementia that affected the left temporal region of their brains (located over the left ear).
When the patients were given brain function tests, their results were similar to those of a young autistic savant. Researchers from the Flinders University in Adelaide were able to provoke new savant skills in volunteers by using transcranial magnetic stimulation to temporarily 'disable' the frontal temporal lobe. (Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a type of treatment for depression.) During the test, five of the 17 volunteers showed new and remarkable skills like calendar calculation. These studies suggest that amazing savant abilities may be lying dormant in all of us.
Where to get help
* Your doctor
* Austism Infoline Tel. 1300 308 699 or email info@autismvictoria.org.au
* Autism Victoria Tel. (03) 9885 0533
* The Centre for Developmental Disability Health Victoria (CDDHV) Tel. (03) 9564 7511
Things to remember
* Autistic savant means a person with autism who has a special skill.
* Around 10 per cent of people with autism show special or even remarkable skills.
* Savant skills can be occasionally found in people with other types of intellectual disability and in the non-disabled population.
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