Savantism?

[TwitterMouse]

I'm not sure this is an example of savantism, but whatever the label, it's amazing. There's this guy at my school, he said he is a high functioning austistic. He loves to talk and is a sweet kid.
He's amazing though. He knows French, Latin, Ancient Greek, German, Spanish, Italian and English. He speaks fluently, and if you ask him what is something in one of those languages, he can tell you. He told me he has a photographic memory, he can recite books, encyclopedias... anything he's seen at least once before.
I just found it to be amazing that he can do it, so I thought I'd share.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Wow! He does sound amazing! I was wondering how old he is?

I've encountered a few people who have some really amazing abilities and I just wonder how they are able to do it. We have an adult friend (in his late 30s). He's never had a single piano lesson but can play anything once he's heard it. He doesn't just play the melody, he can pick up every nuance of the music and duplicate it. It's like he has a photographic memory for music and can translate it onto the piano. He doesn't even read music! The guy is very smart - Stanford MBA and owns his own business. But I still wonder how he can play piano by ear when it takes me many hours to learn a piece (and I had 8 years of lessons!).

My own son is another example. He is 13 and has Asperger's. His speciality is his memory. When he was 5, he directed me on a 2 1/2 hour drive to my grandmother's house (I already knew how to get there but I pretended I didn't so he could tell me where to turn, what freeways to use, etc.). We had taken him on that drive several times since he was born but how many 5 year olds could memorize the directions? He also remembers dates and sequences of events that my 43 year old mind has forgotten! The other day, my mom and I were trying to remember when my sister moved into her townhouse. Was it 2 years ago or 3? I asked my son. He said, "Her official moving day was November 12, 2005. Well, that's when the movers put all of her things in but she didn't actually sleep there until November 14." I said, "Oh, why was that?" He said, "Because she said the new paint still smelled funny so she stayed at her condo on the couch that she wasn't moving for 2 more nights and then she started sleeping at the townhouse." Really? I don't remember all that. But at our house we have a saying - If Andy said it, it must be true!

 

[Lavender_Blue]

I think moments like that are SO amazing! My nephew has a good memory for types of animals and their names and where they're from. It makes me so proud and amused.

Stuff like that reminds me of this book I read called, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon.