Darold A. Treffert (1933–2020)

What do you say when the world's greatest expert about how you think doesn't understand you?

Let's be clear: I am not a savant. I am autistic, but my degree of splinter skills is not so extreme as to earn me the savant designation. I have neither the defects of the people portrayed here nor the extreme skills.

But I come rather close -- I have a musical skill that simply cannot be explained by mere training and environment. Like a musical savant, I clearly have some sort of special musical system in my head. And here's the thing -- it does not work the way described in this book. Can I be certain that my semi-savant skills work the same way that the savants in this book do? Of course not. But who is likely to understand better -- a guy who seems to have only about 15 case studies, or a person who could be one of those case studies except that I have more self-understanding?

Also, the book lists five basic types of savants -- calendar, calculation, artistic, musical, spatial. It points out that most of these are "right brain" abilities. It also mentions that there are a few other sorts of savants, but they're much more rare. Well, I happen to know someone who (like me) is a semi-savant -- but she's a language savant, a savant with a talent not in the standard list. And she's left-handed. In other words, the dominant hemisphere of her brain is the reverse one from all those others -- and she has a savant skill that belongs to the other hemisphere. It's a rare talent -- but then, she has a rare handedness. What is the handedness of Treffert's savants? He doesn't even tell us.

I don't want to criticize too much. We need to study savants. And this book brings out a point not often mentioned in autism literature: that "teach the talent" can be a useful strategy in a lot of cases of autism. There is a great deal that is good here. But it's not the last word. Probably, to fully understand true savants, we need to be talking to the semi-savants. And this book doesn't do that.… (mer)

Islands of Genius is a wonderful window in the world of savants, both congenital and acquired. It gives us a glimpse of extraordinary talent displayed by both neurotypical people and those wHo have been diagnosed with autism or have a disability of some type. It gives us an opportunity to become a witness to something we do not often come across in our daily lives.

Treffert is a psychiatrist who has studied the incidence of savants, beginning in July of 1962, while he was a member of the staff at Winnebago Mental Health Institute near Oshcosh Wisconsin. He continues until this day.

He offers us both scientific and medical data and anecdotal accounts of his journey into this unusual world and those who have been found to be savants.

Treffert also includes a number of websites for those of us who are curious to learn more, and also for educators who can find help when dealing with extraordinarily gifted children.

This is a easy to read adventure into what to some is a completely unknown area. I found each and every chapter to be either helpful, intriguing or both. Some of the stories are so filled with the love and support the families offer, that it warms the heart.

Absolutely recommended.… (mer)