Islands of Genius: The Bountiful Mind of the Autistic, Acquired, and Sudden Savant PDF
Preview Islands of Genius: The Bountiful Mind of the Autistic, Acquired, and Sudden Savant
Islands of GENIUS of related interest Diff erent Minds Gifted Children with AD/HD, Asperger Syndrome, and Other Learning Defi cits Deirdre V. Lovecky ISBN 978 1 85302 964 6 The Myriad Gifts of Asperger Syndrome John M. Ortiz ISBN 978 1 84310 883 2 The Girl Who Spoke With Pictures Autism Through Art Eileen Miller Foreword by Robert Nickel MD Illustrated by Kim Miller ISBN 978 1 84310 889 4 Islands of GENIUS Th e Bountiful Mind of the Autistic, Acquired, and Sudden Savant Darold A. Treff ert Foreword by Daniel Tammet Jessica Kingsley Publishers London and Philadelphia “Kim and Fran Peek” (p.v) and “Kim Peek” (p.120) © Richard Green 2004, reproduced with permission from Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System, with thanks to Susan Marscellas and Janet Marcroft; “Alonzo Clemons” (p.110) by Morey Stinson, reproduced with permission from Gifted Hands, Inc.; “Daniel Tammet” (p.161) © Jerome Tabet, reproduced with permission; “Stephen Wiltshire” (p.165), reproduced with permission from The Stephen Wiltshire Gallery; “Gregory Blackstock” (p.173) and “The Great World Trogons” (color section) reproduced with permission from the Garde Rail Gallery; Brain scan (p.227) reproduced with permission from Elsevier, originally published in Lionel Feuillet, Henry Dufour and Jean Pelletier (2007) ‘Brain of a White Collar Worker’ The Lancet 370, 9583, 262; “Feeding Time” and “Bison Calf” (color section) by Jeff Wells, reproduced with permission from Gifted Hands, Inc.; “Megalopolis” (color section) © George Widener 2007, reproduced with his permission, courtesy of Henry Boxer Gallery; all other artwork and photographs have been reproduced by kind permission of the copyright holder. First published in 2010 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers 116 Pentonville Road London N1 9JB, UK and 400 Market Street, Suite 400 Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA www.jkp.com Copyright © Darold Treff ert 2010 Foreword © Daniel Tammet 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saff ron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher. Warning: The doing of an unauthorized act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 84905 810 0 ISBN pdf eBook 978 0 85700 318 8 Printed and bound in the United States by Thomson-Shore, 7300 W. Joy Road, Dexter, MI 48130 Dedicated to Kim and Fran Peek, who share the same shadow, and from whom I have learned as much about matters of the heart as I have about workings of the mind In Memoriam Kim Peek 1951–2009 Contents Foreword by Daniel Tammet xi Preface xiii Introduction: Sightseeing on an Incredible Journey 1 Part 1 The Mind of the Savant 1 What We Do Know: A Rare but Remarkable Condition 17 2 How Do They Do It? Some Earlier Theories from Heredity to Quantum Theory 35 3 How Do They Do It? More Recent Findings: The Three “R’s”—Rewiring, Recruitment, Release 48 4 Genetic Memory: How Do We Know Things We Never Learned? 55 5 More Medical Mysteries: Calendars, Cantors, Foreign Accents and Hypermnesia 62 Part 2 The World of the Savant 6 The Genius of Earlswood Asylum and Blind Tom: Some Early Savants 81 7 Leslie and May: “Two Memorable People” with a contribution by Shirlee Monty, author of May’s Boys 93 8 Alonzo: “God Gives the Gift” 110 9 George: “It’s Fantastic I Can Do That!” 116 10 Kim: “The Real Rain Man” 120 11 Ellen: “With a Song In Her Heart” 130 12 Tony: “Against All Odds”—Magna Cum Laude from Berklee 138 13 Temple: “An Emergence Extraordinaire” 144 14 Matt: “The Key of Genius” 149 15 Flo and Kay: An Unforgettable “Two of a Kind” 156 16 Daniel: “Numbers Are my Friends” 161 17 Stephen: “A Rocket of Young Talent” 165 18 Ping Lian, Gregory, Richard, George, Jonathan and Some Others: Artwork of the Prodigious Savant 170 19 Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man: The World’s Best Known Savant 183 Part 3 Signifi cant New Dimensions to Savant Syndrome 20 “Accidental Genius”: The Acquired Savant 193 21 “Sudden Genius”: An Epiphany of Talent 204 22 “Normal Genius”: Dormant Skills Within Us All? 212 23 Accessing the “Inner Savant” Within Us All 217 24 The Bountiful Brain: Half a Brain (or Less) May Be Enough 227 Part 4 Training the Talent: “I’ve Got a Son or Daughter Who…” 25 Teaching Music to the Special Needs Client: A Music Therapist’s Approach 231 Susan Rancer, registered music therapist 26 “Training the Talent” in Art and Other Skills: An Educator’s Approach 240 Rosa C. Martinez, board certifi ed behavior analyst 27 Teaching Autistic Numerical Savants: A Specifi c Approach that Worked 250 Peter Lewis, professional engineer Part 5 Our Journey Has Just Begun 28 New Tools and New Optimism: The Trail Ahead for the Mind of the Savant 261 29 Oval Souls on a Round Planet: The Trail Ahead for the World of the Savant 275 References 289 Appendix: Books About Savant Syndrome and Books By or About Specifi c Savants 295 Subject Index 297 Author Index 301
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