When many people think of the word ‘savant’, they think of the

fictional character Raymond Babbitt from the movie ‘Rain Man’.

But what exactly is savant syndrome? And does the movie have
any truth to it?

Is savant syndrome real?

There was quite a spin put on the story of ‘Rain Man’ by
Hollywood, however, savant syndrome is very real. While it’s rare,
some people with a disability do have exceptional abilities, far in
excess of the general population.
We don’t actually know what causes savant syndrome. There are
many theories, but no one theory is able to cover all people.
They estimate that 10% of people with autism have some level of
savant abilities, but people with developmental disabilities,
acquired brain injuries, or injuries to the central nervous system
also can.
While some people start demonstrating their abilities in early
childhood, such as those with autism, others suddenly acquire
them later in life due to an accident or illness such as a stroke.
The abilities of people with savant syndrome are very varied.
Some people can multiply and divide large numbers in their head.
Others can answer the question, ‘What day of the week was
March 22nd 1932?’, with ‘Tuesday’ instantaneously.
Some can play up to 22 instruments, measure distance without
using any instruments, learn languages in a few days, or
memorise huge volumes of information.
Here are just 5 people with savant syndrome who have amazing
abilities.

1. Kim Peek
While Raymond from ‘Rain Man’ was fictional, the character was
actually inspired by the true story of Kim Peek.
In the movie, Raymond is portrayed as having autism, however,
Kim actually had a condition where the bundle of nerves that
connect the two hemispheres of the brain was missing.
Kim memory abilities were astounding. During his life, he
memorised over 12,000 books including the Bible, and was an
expert on 15 subject areas including geography, music, literature,
history, and sports.
Amazingly, Kim could actually read two pages at once, his left eye
read the left page, and his right eye read the right page. It only
took him 8 seconds to read and memorise the two pages.
Find out more about Kim Peek in our blog.

2. Leslie Lemke
When Leslie was born prematurely, he had brain damage,
cerebral palsy, and had to have his eyes surgically removed due
to glaucoma. When Leslie was put up for adoption at 6 months
old, May, a local nurse who was 52 with 5 children of her own,
welcomed him into her family.
When Leslie was 16, in the middle of the night May woke to music
playing. Thinking she had left the TV on, she went into the lounge
room to turn it off, but found Leslie playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano
Concerto No. 1 flawlessly on their piano – he had heard it on TV
earlier that day.
Despite Leslie having no musical training, he began to play all
styles of music from ragtime to classical. All it took for Leslie to
play a song perfectly, was for him to hear the music once (watch
Leslie on YouTube).
For many years before Leslie’s health declined, he gave regular
concerts in the US, Japan and Scandinavia, and also appeared on
many US TV shows.