Savant Syndrome

Savant syndrome is an exceedingly rare condition in which a person with a significant developmental disability or intellectual impairment in most areas displays an outstanding, sometimes extraordinary, ability or body of knowledge in one narrow domain, such as calendar calculation, music, art, or memory for numbers. The pattern was first described by John Langdon Down in 1887, using the now outdated term idiot savant, and was substantially reframed and studied in depth by psychiatrist Darold Treffert, who argued for the modern term and documented its frequent, though not universal, association with autism spectrum conditions. The gap between a savant's narrow area of brilliance and their broader cognitive limitations is treated as an important clue about how specialized cognitive abilities can develop somewhat independently of general intelligence.