From Terri Mauro,
Your Guide to Parenting Special Needs.
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[The following is an excerpt from the book "Some Kind of Genius: The Extraordinary Journey of Musical Savant Tony DeBlois" by Janice DeBlois and Antonia Felix. (Published by Rodale; October 2005;$22.95US/$30.95CAN; 1-59486-273-7. Copyright © 2005 Janice DeBlois.) In this excerpt from Chapter Three, Darold A. Treffert, MD, an expert on savant syndrome, explains some of the research that has been done on autistic savants -- and how parents can make a difference.]

While brain physiology makes up the first aspect of the triad of savant syndrome, the second part involves the skill itself and the savant's obsessive relationship to it. Whether expressed as mathematical calculating, calendar calculating, or artistic or musical skill, the talent takes over the life of the person. Savants are unilateral in their interests, and their day revolves around their particular skill. "The unique nature and almost forcefulness of this obsessiveness makes the savant's talent as much of a force as a gift," said Dr. Treffert. "They have to play; they have to practice; they have to calculate."

The third part of the phenomenon is the family or caregiver who provides a safe, loving, nurturing haven for the savant. Positive reinforcement, praise, and unconditional acceptance are vital to creating an environment in which savants are able to thrive and develop closer relationships to their families and interact with the world. Everyone likes positive feedback, of course, but the emotional needs of savants are as unique as their gifts.

The neurology of the savant, like that of the autistic person, includes more limited access to the emotional centers of the brain. Parents of savants express their love and give reinforcement often without the benefit of the typical feedback that a child gives in response to affection. Praise and encouragement increase the savant's self-esteem and add joy to his or her life. This joy is evident during Tony's performances, for example, when he claps along with the audience after a piece, grins, and asks, "Isn't it good?"

Some people have criticized the practice of putting musical savants onstage as a form of exploitation. But it is difficult for others to put this negative connotation on the experience when it clearly brings so much joy to the performer. Tony, like other musical savants, does not suffer from performance anxiety; he never gets nervous before a performance. "It isn't exploitation because Tony loves applause and a satisfied audience," said Dr. Treffert. "It's tremendously reinforcing. The quality of that sort of reinforcement and the family's investment in it is terribly important."

While savant syndrome encompasses the three elements of brain dysfunction, obsessive behavior with the skill, and nurturing support, another triad comes to light specifically in terms of the musical savant. Throughout the literature, from Blind Tom to the current day, the condition of the musical savant entails the three elements of blindness, cognitive difficulty, and musical genius.

In Tony's case, blindness occurred as a result of oxygen therapy that kept him alive as a premature infant, while Leslie Lemke's blindness was the result of glaucoma in infancy. Cognitive difficulty, in Tony's case, is the result of brain lesions that show up on his CT scan, but the left-hemisphere dysfunctions of musical savants have also been the result of accidental injury and other causes.

The source of musical genius, surprisingly, does not come from an obvious genetic inheritance; the literature does not contain family histories in which the savant was born into a musically gifted family, as is often the case with musical prodigies. Tony's mother played the clarinet in school, and her siblings also played musical instruments in junior high, but they do not consider themselves musically gifted, nor have they played their instruments since that time.

The triad of blindness, cognitive disability, and musical genius shows up with uncanny regularity in musical savants, although the interrelationship of these three elements is not yet clear. Their appearance in the musical savant is one of the ongoing mysteries of the syndrome that physicians such as Dr. Treffert continue to ponder and study.

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