Asperger-News

Perhaps the first indication Cody Boisclair was not your average 2-year-old was when he climbed into his grandfather's lap with a 50-cent piece in his hand.

"Kennedy," he said, pointing to the president on the half-dollar. He was barely out of diapers when he began reading signs on the wall at his father's office. At age 3, Baby Einstein was writing basic programs on a Commodore computer.

While other kids were thumping their baseball gloves or setting up a lemonade stand at the end of the driveway, Cody was discussing the merits of the Pythagorean theorem.

If Cody's name sounds familiar, maybe it's because eight years ago this month he became somewhat of a local celebrity.

As an eighth-grader at Warner Robins Middle School, he finished fourth in the 1997 National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., the highest any Georgian has finished since the 1950s.

Local businesses hailed him on their marquees. His school held a pep rally in his honor. He rode in the annual Christmas parade.

He was valedictorian for the Class of 2001 at Warner Robins High School, graduating with a 99.96 average while taking mostly advanced placement courses. He was Houston County's Star Student and scored a 1550 (out of a possible 1600) on the SAT.

I mention all this because Cody has reached another milestone. He will graduate summa cum laude from Mercer University on Saturday with a degree in computer science.

I mention it for another reason, too. In the years since Cody cast his spell on spelling bee immortality, he and his parents have made a discovery. They now know why, as his father explains, "Cody has been a bit different all his life."

When Cody was young, Pat and Denise Boisclair noticed he had little interaction with others. His eyes would dart around the room. He had difficulty sitting still and concentrating.

As brilliant as he was academically, he was a social misfit.

At school, he was a loner with few friends. Other kids bullied him, both verbally and physically. Even some of his teachers didn't understand his somewhat erratic behavior. (One teacher locked him in a closet and turned out the light.)

"We went all over the state looking for answers to the issues that seemed to plague him emotionally and socially," said Pat Boisclair. "Cody saw a psychologist, pediatric neurologist, behavioral specialists and all (the) other 'ists.' But no one knew why he was different, so what we ended up with was a lot of guessing."

Although doctors agreed he had "autistic traits," he was eventually diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and prescribed Ritalin.

"That didn't change anything," said Pat. "It just made his eyes glassy, and he was less inquisitive, so we took him off of it."

Cody was a sophomore in high school before the Boisclair family finally began collecting the answers. One Sunday morning, Pat was reading Parade magazine in The Telegraph. There was an article about Asperger's Syndrome, a type of intellectual high-performing autism.

He showed the story to Denise.

It was Cody.

A great mystery had been solved.

(Asperger's did not become a clinical diagnosis of autism until the mid-1990s. It is now believed some of history's geniuses - Einstein, Michelangelo, Socrates and Jane Austen - might have had Asperger's.)

Cody still considers himself "eccentric and weird" but wears the label proudly.

"I'm a geek of all trades," he said, laughing.

He spends countless hours at the computer in the bedroom of his on-campus apartment. He does pursue other interests, such as music (he's a classical pianist), video games and watching TV game shows ("Jeopardy!" remains his favorite, for obvious reasons).

Mercer has been a good fit for Cody. As a National Merit Scholar, he had opportunities to go to other colleges. But Mercer has allowed him to branch out on his own while still being close to his family support system in Warner Robins.

"His first week of school, he got hit by a car," said Pat. "He wasn't seriously hurt. He just didn't look before crossing the street. That's the kind of stuff he still does."

Because of light and depth perception problems, Cody also doesn't have his driver's license. He still has his learner's permit. He takes the city bus to the grocery store.

He has made friends in college.

"I fit in better," he said. "I've found people who have the same interests. They're not just in the computer science department. I have a friend who is an English major who wants to write science fiction. I've got some friends in the music department, too."

His next step is Athens in the fall, where he has been accepted at the University of Georgia to study for his Ph.D. in computer science.

Pat Boisclair is quite proud of his son.

"He is a remarkable young man, who I believe will continue to do remarkable things," he said.

In fact, he calls Cody "one of the most inspiring people I've met in my life."

"A lot of sons make that statement about their fathers," said Pat. "I don't think enough fathers make that statement about their sons."