Epidemiology
- There is no agreement about how many people have savant skills. The estimates range from "exceedingly rare" to one in ten people with autism having savant skills in varying degrees.
- 50% of savants have autism; the other 50% often have psychological disorders or mental illnesses.
- Some prodigious savants have very significant disorder and disability. Examples include Richard Wawro, Henriett Seth F., and Jonathan Lerman.
A 2009 British study of 137 parents of autistic children found that 28% believe their offspring met the criteria for a savant skill, defined as a skill or power "at a level that would be unusual even for normal people".
- As many as 50 cases of Sudden or Acquired Savant Syndrome are currently profiled.
Read more about this topic: Savant Syndrome