Re: Savant syndrome and nonlocal mind
Dear Dr. Treffert,
A few weeks ago I attended the Salk Institute's conference on "Extraordinary Variations of the Human Mind", and listened to your streamed-in presentation on the savant syndrome. Thank you for your ground-breaking work.
I've been working with Diane Powell, MD and Deepak Chopra, MD on a project that is part of a long-standing clinical and research program of Dr. Powell's, studying telepathy in autistic children.
Earlier this year we conducted a pilot study of a young boy and his mother and aim to continue this work under improved experimental conditions, pending grant funding. The link below is to a 5min video of some of the testing and we would value your opinion and any advice on moving the project forward.
5_Min_CC_Mix.mp4
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwmpVauF9qLOdm9qYlNzTmFLaTA/view?usp=drive_web
Thank you, Paul Mills
Paul J. Mills, PhD
Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health
Interim Chief, Behavioral Medicine Division
Director, Center of Excellence for Research and Training in Integrative Health
Director, Integrative Health and Mind-Body Biomarker Laboratory
Co-Director, Translational Research Technologies Division, Clinical and Translational Research Institute
University of California, San Diego
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Paul,
Good to hear from you and your interest in telepathy in autistic children. In my recent review of our savant registry, now over 300+ cases, about 1% of parents or other reporters indicated ESP/telepathy abilities in that sample. When Rimland did his review of 350O detailed parent reports he also noted about 1% had paranormal abilities. Even in my most recent acquired savant sample (59 cases) one such case reported paranormal abilities newly present. And I have been working with a girl with severe autism impairment since 2013 who shows clear (to me) telepathy connection with her ABA therapist. Diane knows about that case. And I am familiar with two other such cases in other countries. I am busy the next two days with a filming for NHK japan television with GOMA, Hiroki Morimoto, a rock star Didgeridoo player in Japan http:gomaweb.com http://gomaweb.com who has now acquired savant art abilities. He will be visiting the Treffert Center with the Japanese film crew tomorrow and Friday. Let me review the clip you sent and get back to you sometime next week.
I enjoyed participating in the Salk Conference electronically at least, but it is not a good as being there. Had I been there on Saturday is was my intent to discuss my involvement with paranormal skills in autistic persons with discussion of my nearby case with that closed group. The tapes I have over these past four years are convincing indeed.
Darold A. Treffert, M.D.
No content available.
Paul,
The clip of Leslie at the Salk conference was not telepathy. What you see is that the second pianist starts to play a song leslie has never heard before. He waits about 3 seconds after she begins and then takes in what he hears (input) processes it and then plays (with a slight delay) what he heard (output). By the end of the piece the delay is about one second. That is parallel processing, not consistent with his measured IQ of 58. Leslie is the most impressive present day known musical savant given his blindness, cognitive deficits and spastic diplegia (which disappears when he plays the piano)
You asked for my general impressions of your work and the video clip. While I entered exploring telepathy with great scepticism my work with HS, my knowledge of the case of NU and now this girl in Sweden have convinced me that what is happening in these three cases, and most likely in the 1%of all savants I know about, is telepathy. Not facilitated communication, not clever Hans phenomenon, but rather thought transmission and reception commonly referred to as telepathy or ESP.
I reviewed the clip you sent. It is amazing but, frankly, not as impressive or convincing as my work with HS. The photography is more professional in your clip, but HS responses are longer and more detailed than the your clip. I didn't refer HS to Diane for help, but rather hoped was hoping to collaborate on that case.
Diane did bring a professional photographer with her and I thought we had a verbal agreement at least to share information. I have asked to see the tapes of the session we jointly conducted that one day, but Diane has said those tapes are not available so I am left with my less photographically professonal ones.
I have four years of data and tapes now. HS continues her connection with her primary therapist in impressive fashion. I continue to observe and record.
With respect to HS or any other savant with telepathy I have a great deal of respect, awe even, for that ability. It is worthy of further study. Several problems are attached though. First, often the obsessive-compulsive (OTD) behavior accompanying the ESP makes it difficult to alter the routine, or even site, of study without losing some ESP. With the case of HS merely substituting position or attempting barriers produced a regression to stencils. Beyond that, as soon as there is any publicity around these cases the media, and debunkers, will descend with a vengence. That happened with NU, and more recently with a Chinese Rainman to where both families have essentially disappeared. So preserving privacy would be of paramount importance. The de-bunkers will be out en masse casting doubt on the examiners (I can handle that) but more mercilessly on the family and the individual. When I published some earlier work and even just mentioned that Rimland reported ESP in some of his parent-reported groups, I got a letter to the editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry admonishing me for mere 'reporting' that Rimland "reported".
So the investigations should continue but the barriers above interfere. How to overcome those? That's the dilemma.
Darold A. Treffert, M.D.
Thank you Darold for your detailed response and explanation, and thank you Diane for following-up to clarify.
It's clear, it comes down to funding for next steps, so will very much hope that Templeton comes through to support the needed next steps of this highly valuable research program.
Best, Paul
Thank you Paul,
It all comes down to funding, because this is labor intensive. The good news is that I think we all agree it is worthwhile. Hopefully, the Templeton Foundation will feel the same.
Best,
Diane
I wish you luck with the funding. That would be nice. I will continue my work here. If there is any way I can contribute to your work, let me know. Telepathy does exist among the persons I have seen and known. I am less concerned about convincing the paranormal crowd of its validity than I am of convincing my professional colleagues of its veracity, leading to more research on its origins and mechanisms not just in persons with autism, but in all of us. We have all had some ESP/telepathy experiences but tend to dismiss them as UFO's and all the skepticism that acconpanies them. Time for serious study.
Darold Treffert
Let me know bare minimum for funding an initial study including a collaboration with Prof Ramachandran.
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