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Post by Admin on Jan 19, 2016 11:16:28 GMT -4
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Post by Camilo Alcomendras on Jan 19, 2016 13:32:56 GMT -4
This article presents a subset of Autism, I'm not aware of the exact percentage but would venture to guess would be a minority - I've seen a few autistic children who went to special ed schools for years without exhibiting extraordinary "islands of geniuses," whose parents have devoted much time and resources just to take care of them (Philippine setting). It is refreshing to read about Idiot Savants similar to the subjects mentioned in the article. I guess the whole point of the article is for some of those autistic kids whose neurologic dynamics happen to fit the right hemispheric blossoming path in its development, were and are developing super sharp, stereo-grade natural specializations in the arts. It also provides a clear example how IQ Scores are not definite success factors for people - and exams to categorize kids and adults by Intelligent Quotients are only theoretically correct at the experimental level - in actual life function - as this article proves, there's an added factor like an X+2 or an X2 - here depicted by the 40% edge of the savants in actual problem solving scenario. For all the great good these studies show, it makes me feel thrilled that science and medicine doesn't stop to innovate and push the envelope further and further still - to eventually help the diversity of populations and generations that are naturally equal in opportunities both to better their lives and contribute anything and everything they want to share for the greater good of humanity. As doctors we stand at the threshold of infinite possibilities to affect a society towards reaching that pursuit for life and liberty and indiscriminately include everyone in the rising of all ships with the tide of advanced research and ceaseless innovation.
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Post by Tuong Nguyen on Jan 20, 2016 15:50:50 GMT -4
Autistic savants such as Lewis-Clack demonstrate with great abilities such as music or mathematics. My nephew who was diagnosed with “mild autism” also demonstrate great mathematics skills. He can do long divisions and multiplications within seconds. We were just amazed at his abilities. But he lack any social functioning. He does not showed any interests in any social interactions or speak to anyone. Another example of autistic savant is in the movie “Rain Man” where Raymond was able to memorize all the baseball player statistics. He even memorize most of the phone book. He can also do card counting. The reason of autistic individual with autistic savant is still unknown. However, the article stated that some researchers have evidence that the left hemisphere is damage and is compensating with the right hemisphere. I don’t believe with that assortment. The reason is that majority of the right hemisphere is for attention, memory, perception, social communication. If the right hemisphere is compensating, then these savants should not have any problems with social interactions and communications like my nephew and Lewis-Clack. I hope that one day researchers can come up with answers to why savants have these special abilities so they can fully understand the human brain and memory. But for now, I just believe in my mother sayings – “God take one thing away from you, but give you something extraordinary back.”
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Post by Ali Rizvi on Jan 20, 2016 18:18:26 GMT -4
This article was a fascinating read. The spectrum of disorders known as Autism is so complex, and while we know about the symptoms and cognitive problems these people are dealing with it, there are other aspects that we are aware of but cannot explain. A prime example are those whom are Autistic yet are known as savants or prodigies. The findings from CT scans demonstrating more active right side of the brain demonstrated higher functioning in visual perceptions, music and artistic skills. This clinically correlates to what we know about the human brain. This also explains why so many have poor cognitive, social and communication skills. Im really interested in learning more about the gene they discovered on Chromosome 1 that might serve as a direct link to a inheritable cause of Autism and possible one step closer to a cure or treatment. What I would like to know more of or have more research be performed is to discuss how and why there is such a drastic range of conditions someone with Autism can have as some patients are severely disabled while others are living independently from outside help.
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Post by Denise Ellis on Jan 20, 2016 18:36:34 GMT -4
Savants have an interesting gift that most normal average intelligent people dream to attain. Autistic persons can accomplish many superb arts. Christopher Duffy is one such person.After being born from drug addicted parents, he suffered from blindness in addition to autism. He like Rex in this story became a good piano player and a talented vocalist. It is interesting to see how the right side of the brain becomes superior to the left so much so that talented abilities are formed that amaze both the patient and caregivers Evidence of these gifted individuals let's me know that we all have gifts no matter what our educational background or life circumstances are. We all are born with strengths and weaknesses that can be appreciated by all people.
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Post by Diana Khaw on Jan 20, 2016 20:03:39 GMT -4
This article on autism and the possibility of savant syndrome not being as rare as we initially believed was a fascinating read. Our brain is so complex and it’s amazing how it works by compensating each side, when one side is no longer functioning. And the compensation of the right side brings out the superior mathematical, musical, artistic abilities or the memories for dates, places, routes and facts. The savant skill that comes naturally to these individuals, where others have to work and train hard to achieve is amazing. I’m interested in learning more about the changes in the brain observed through imaging, and hopeful that it can possibly help with treatments, such as having better social interactions.
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Post by Tangela Derogene on Jan 21, 2016 0:08:33 GMT -4
Lewis-Clack is one of many found to be on the autistic spectrum that also exhibits characteristics that are defined by this article to be savant syndrome. There has been much controversy over the rise of autism in the United States in the last decade which means that if there is a link to savant syndrome then there will be a rise of savants in the coming years as well. I believe more savants will begin to be recognized in their areas of expertise as Lewis-Clack has for his music. Between science and technology becoming more cutting edge than ever, earlier autism diagnosis and greater access to help/therapies for the families affected, these children with immeasurable capabilities will be able to grow and fine tune their specific interest for the years to come.
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Post by Melanie Samples on Jan 21, 2016 0:18:24 GMT -4
This article about the potential relationship between savants and autism is very interesting. Autism has such a stigmatism attached to it that people tend to focus on the negative aspects of autism and forget that there is a whole spectrum of the disorder and that great things have been accomplished by some with autism. I really enjoyed how the article talked about savantism and how they went into detail about the right hemisphere making up for what the left hemisphere lacked. While I knew about both disorders prior to reading this article, I never really took the time to understand what was happening in the brain, that the left hemisphere was giving freedom to the right hemisphere to access those specific talents that had been once unreachable. Savantism is a unique and wonderful gift that has been given to those special enough to achieve such extraordinary accomplishments and hopefully more research will end up connecting autism and savantism further and will allow the medical community to learn even more about the disorders and what causes them and what protects against them. Hopefully more research and better understanding of the disorders will lead to great advances in the treatment of the different aspects of the disorder and will allow for an overall increase in quality of life and a better use of specific talents given to each individual.
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Post by Randy Lindgren on Jan 21, 2016 10:28:20 GMT -4
This article is very interesting. I love learning about these gifted people who lack some cognitive skills but have amazing gifts of talent in another area. The idea that this happens as a compensatory mechanism makes a lot of sense when you think about how much extra stimulation the intact regions of the brain receive after in utero injury of another area of the brain. I hope that we can learn more about these people who have the gift of savants, as this could provide us with better knowledge of this condition and help aid in helping these children in other areas of skill that challenge them.
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Post by Rahim Mangalji on Jan 21, 2016 10:35:37 GMT -4
The article focusing on Autism and extraordinary abilities was an extremely interesting read. Evidence with regards via brain imaging of the compensatory mechanism of the brain in those who have autism would most definitely help further our understanding. Furthermore, it would possibly help us unlock information about compensatory mechanisms such as brain plasticity and regaining of function/ developing of abilities in strokes, dementia, etc. In the future, we would be able to make strides in attempts to help those who are overwhelmed with stimuli due to the neurological deficits of autism. As of now, it seems as though these talents developed by a neurological shift seems to provide significant compensatory mechanisms, which helps to possibly minimize some of these overwhelming stimuli. However, with that being merely speculation, I would be interested in seeing more studies based upon this and further research focused on brain imaging, compensatory practices, and waxing and waning of overstimulation.
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Post by Sonia Varghese on Jan 21, 2016 11:00:11 GMT -4
As the other students mentioned, this article was definitely an interesting read. I've been working with autistic individuals for many years now and have gained an appreciation for the different levels of the autistic spectrum. I think the article was good at highlighting the possibility of a "compensatory" mechanism by the human brain. The article best explained this phenomena by the following example, "In the same way that losing one sensory faculty, such as eyesight, may prompt the brain to compensate by reallocating more neural resources to produce exceptional hearing ability, the brains of people with autism may be better able to reorganize." The compensatory mechanism of the brain has been seen even in stroke patients and those with other types of brain damage. More research in this area might help us understand autism in a more comprehensive manner.
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Post by Alaka Pathak on Jan 21, 2016 11:05:57 GMT -4
I am just wondering since Lewis Clark was so sensitive to sounds and could not even stand the sound of “wrapping paper” being ripped, how he was able to stand the louder noise made by piano keyboard. Was it the different frequency of the sounds that lead him to be sensitive to some noises in comparison, and being able to tolerate other noises such as sounds of the keyboard? It’s interesting to see the relationship between left hemisphere damage and savant skills in people with autism. Also surprising to see even if the damage to the left hemisphere was done later in life in cases of frontotemporal dementia, there is an increases interest in art and creativity.
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Post by gmmassad on Jan 21, 2016 11:18:31 GMT -4
In this article, "The Mysterious Link between Autism and Extraordinary Abilities," the author summarizes what has been hypothesized thus far regarding the link between autism and savantism. She also focuses on a few specific cases, including that of Rex Lew-Clack, a musical prodigy. It seems that the potential of many individuals diagnosed with autism is often underestimated due to the fact that their biggest challenges manifest as functional deficits in communication and social skills. Even Rex's doctors thought the he may never walk or talk. However, the research indicates that many people with left hemisphere deficits due to autism, frontotemporal dementia, or traumatic brain injury, for example, may develop extraordinary functioning of the right hemisphere as a result. If these people are exposed to the right stimulus or opportunities, their "island of genius" as one psychiatrist called it, will shine through. This was the case with Rex when his father bought him a piano keyboard at the age of two. Although these unique individual may struggle to integrate into society in the normal way, they should be encouraged to use and develop their strengths because many can achieve what seems impossible to the average person.
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Post by Peter Wahba on Jan 21, 2016 11:32:43 GMT -4
I think this article highlights the interesting point of autistic savants quite well and celebrates it. Of course, there is a takeaway for autistic people in general as they tend to lack communication skills and social interactions. However, this article doesn't focus on the negative aspect and helps point out a positive aspect of autism. The article also had me wondering what the next stage in evolutionary development of the brain might be headed towards. From the sound of the scientists in the article, these skills tend to show up when there is an injury in the brain that is compensated for by the opposite side of the brain. They also say that it is as if the compensatory side of the brain is no longer kept in check by the affected side and neuronal pathways are free to be recruited elsewhere and assist in other functions such as perception, complex problem solving or mathematical ability. I wonder what this means for those of us who are not autistic and do not have savant skills. I wonder if there is a way that we can tap into this potential, without having to harm ourselves of course.
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Post by Daniel Asher on Jan 21, 2016 13:36:16 GMT -4
The theory that half of the brain compensates for the other if the other is not functioning appropriately is very interesting. It seems, base on this article, that the left hemisphere is the one that is typically found to be dysfunctioning causing the right hemisphere to compensate. I'm interested in understanding why the left hemisphere is more prone to abnormalities than the right. Also I'd like to know how and why these "savants" choose what to excel at. In other words, is the theory saying that all it takes for someone to become a genius at something is to hyper stimulate a specific part of the brain?
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