Idiot savant





Being an idiot savant is a rare phenomenon which occurs in some people with
autism and/or certain developmental disorders. Savants can express
extraordinary mental abilities, often in the fields of mathematics, art, or music.

This condition can afflict people from birth, later in childhood, or even
adulthood. Some people have acquired savant-like abilities after suffering
from head injuries.

Most savants have very extensive mental abilities, called splinter skills.
They can memorize facts, numbers, license plates, maps, and extensive lists
of sports and weather statistics. Some savants can mentally note and then
recall back perfectly a very long series of music, numbers, or speech.

Some other savant skills include:

   * instantly computing prime numbers composed of several digits
   * precisely estimate distances by sight
   * calculating the day of the week for any given date over the span of
     tens of thousands of years
   * perfect perception of passing time without a clock

The character played by Dustin Hoffman in the movie Rain Man is an idiot savant.