Savant syndrome - Term Paper Example

? Critical analysis of the of the Introduction Savant syndrome, due to its unusual nature, has attracted the attention and efforts of researchers from all over the world. However, the field of psychology has not been able to completely understand the etiology of the condition till now. Savant syndrome can be defined as a “rare condition in which persons with various developmental disabilities have abilities that are remarkable considering their handicap (called ‘talented savants’) to those rarer individuals whose brilliance would be spectacular even in normal person (called ‘prodigious savant’) (Sousa, 2003, p. 225). The definition clarifies that individuals suffering from savant syndrome suffer from different mental disorders. This aspect of savant syndrome, i.e. the mental disorder that is associated with the savant syndrome, is the focus of the article “Annotation: The Savant Syndrome,” written by Pamela Heaton and Gregory Wallace. Through the article, the authors aimed to suggest that the conditions of autism and savant syndrome are inseparable, as individuals suffering from savant syndrome always show some sign of characteristics related to autism. Sadly, the authors have failed to present their point of view in focused manner and have touched many different topics in one article. Moreover, lack of strong evidence weakens the argument and opinion of the authors. Hence, the article “Annotation: The Savant Syndrome,” by Heaton and Wallace, due to its scattered topics, lack of focus, and weak evidence, fails to achieve the aim of proving that autism is ‘inextricably linked to autism,’ and hence, fails to convince the readers that researchers should focus on etiology of autism in order to understand the etiology of savant syndrome. Errors in Reasoning The article “Annotation: The Savant Syndrome” comes forward as a disoriented and incoherent paper with topics unrelated to each other, and referred to in haphazard manner. The most important error in the article is an assumption that autism and savant skills are inextricably linked. The authors, in the abstract of the article, say that “autism and savant skills are inextricably linked” and hence, suggest that to solve the puzzle of savant syndrome, researchers should focus on children and adults suffering from autism (Heaton & Wallace, 2004, p. 899). This is an error as there is no strong evidence to support the reasoning of this assumption in the article. The evidence supported for this reasoning behind the assumption is based on ‘observations’ by Young (1995), which cannot be considered as strong evidence. Moreover, the authors have ‘assumed’ that due to lack of “diagnostic criteria and practice in past 25 years,” regarding autism, researchers might have failed to assess the autistic characteristics in savants and hence, most of the savants might have been autistic but must have remained undiagnosed (Heaton & Wallace, 2004, p. 901). These kinds of assumptions are not strong to prove a point as it is an erroneous reasoning. The authors propose that the IQ scores should be excluded from research when studying savant syndrome in an individual. They reason that that reading comprehension and semantic processing is not measured through IQ tests, which makes the measurement of intra-individual performance across domain difficult (Heaton & Wallace, 2004, p. 899). At the same time, they have mentioned that reading comprehension and intellectual functioning can be understood through academic achievement and standardized IQ tests. Moreover, the supporting evidence they use for this reasoning is the study by Volkmar and Lord (1999). The authors say that in study by Volkmar and Lord (1999), approximately 20% of individuals suffering from autism (who also over-represented savant skills) scored “the average range on measures of non-verbal skills” and hence, the IQ tests are not of use in study of savant syndrome, as ‘savant syndrome’ is a condition which is applicable only to those individuals who are intellectually impaired. However, this is an error of judgment as one cannot discard the importance of measuring tool when only 20% of the individuals, that too ‘approximately,’ in sample population fail to match the criteria for the savant syndrome. Hence, the authors’ reasoning that IQ tests should be excluded from the study of savant syndrome is erroneous. The Aim In the article, “Annotation: The savant syndrome,” the authors have attempted to find a link between savant syndrome and autism. In fact, it won’t be wrong to say that the authors have attempted to suggest that all the cases of savant syndrome are linked to autism in some way or other. Hence, they have not attempted to put forward a particular theoretical view of the world but have attempted at forming a theory based on the review of research literature on savant syndrome and autism. In doing so, the authors have challenged certain methods of studying savant syndrome. For example, they suggest that IQ tests should be discarded as a measuring tool while studying savant syndrome. They propose that their literature review has led them to conclude that autism and savant syndrome are strongly linked to each other and hence, their connection is needed to be studied more deeply. On the basis of their conclusion, they suggest that researchers should make efforts to conduct qualitative as well as quantitative studies to find the relationship between savant syndrome and autism. In fact, after reading the article, the reader gets a feel that the authors are subtly but very strongly, proposing that savant syndrome cannot exist in an individual without showing at least some traces of autism. The authors say that even if strong autistic characteristics are not found in individuals suffering from savant syndrome, some mild characteristics are almost always found. Hence, the authors have not attempted to put forward any theoretical view of the world, but have challenged it. Research Literature as Evidence To support their view that savant syndrome is inseparable part of autism, the authors have used the review of research literature from the past as evidence. However, the researches that are used as support have not proved their point strongly. Moreover, the researches that are included in the review are not conducted on large population and lack the strength of the quantity. For example, the authors refer to Young’s (1995) research on 51 savants in which Young has reported to have ‘observed’ some characteristics of autism in all the participants (Heaton & Wallace, 2004, p. 901). However, it is important to note that they were not diagnosed with autism yet and hence, this research cannot be used as evidence. Another example of weak evidence is reference to numerous empirical studies while discussing the relationship between ‘savant skills and intelligence’ (Heaton & Wallace, 2004, p. 901). The authors say that even though there were no clear findings about the link, they ‘are inclined to believe’ that savant skills are independent of general intelligence. This evidence is not strong as nothing is proved from the studies. However, authors have used these empirical studies to propose that IQ tests should not be used as a measurement tool while studying the savant syndrome. In this way, the evidence used by the authors is weak and shallow. The authors should have used more researches and valid evidence. The words like ‘we believe,’ ‘we speculate,’ etc., weakens the argument. It would have been a strong article if the authors had used some strong, quantitative and qualitative studies to prove their point. Moreover, if the authors had focused only on one topic, i.e. either ‘link between savant syndrome and autism’ or ‘role of IQ tests in study of savant syndrome,’ it would have been a strong article. However, by including both the arguments in one article, the authors have confused the reader and have scattered their attention. Conclusion The discussion above shows that the article ““Annotation: The savant syndrome,” by Heaton and Wallace, even though has a valid theoretical perspective regarding savant syndrome, lacks the strength due to weak evidence and scattered focus. References Heaton, P. & Wallace, G. L. (2004). Annotation: The savant syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(5), 899–911. Sousa, D.A. (2003). How the gifted brain learns. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc. Read More