The Idiot Savant Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Idiot Savant An idiot savant is defined as a person who is incredibly adept at one particular aptitude but is completely incapable in other aspects of life such as learning, reading, writing and decision making. The term idiot savant was applied to mountain with this disorder in 1887 by Dr. J. Langdon Down. The term idiot savant is basically an oxymoron. Idiot means someone who is in a class of plenty with an IQ less than 25, and savant comes from French and literally means learned one. People can be born idiot savants, or it can be acquired subsequent in life, even as late as adulthood. The major mystery with idiot savants is that they dont learn the knowledge they have, they just mysteriously have it. Many people who are idiot savants are autistic. Approximately ten pct of people with autistic disorder have some savant skills. Only one percentage of people with other forms of mental disability have savant skills. However, since other forms of mental disabi lity are more common than autism, it turns out that fifty percent of idiot savants have au...