My essay is over the chapter called “Islands of Genius” by Darold A.Treffert and
Gregory L. Wallace. This topic is about autism and other developmental disorders
accompanied by artistic brilliance, great memory, and other amazing talents. Most people
with disorders such as this often can paint beautifully or play music without even one
lesson. Some have great memories and can memorize whole books word for word. Some
of the people covered in this chapter are Kim Peek, Leslie Lemke, Richard Wawro, and
Alonzo Clemons. These are remarkable people with extraordinary abilities. For example,
Kim Peek has memorized more than 7,600 books. He can recite the highways that go to
each American city, town or county, along with the area and zip codes, television stations
and telephone networks that serve them. Also, if you tell him when your birthday was
when you were born, he can tell you what day of the week it fell on and what day of the
week it will be when you turn 65. He can identify most classical compositions and knows
the date the music was published or first performed as well as the composer’s birthplace
and dates of birth and death. Peek is developmentally disabled and depends on his father
for many of his basic daily needs. Kim Peek’s abilities inspired the character played by
Dustin Hoffman in Rainman. Leslie Lemke is blind and has never studied piano. He
suffers from cerebral palsy and is also developmentally disabled. Despite this, he
composes music and is able to play thousands of pieces flawlessly, even when he has
heard them only once. Richard Wawro draws with oil crayons. His artwork is collected
by Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II, among others. He is internationally know
and a London art professor was “thunderstruck” by his drawings as a child. He described
Waro’s work as an “incredible phenomenon rendered with the precision of a mechanic
and the vision of a poet.” Richard Wawro is...