Teen with Asperger's gets academic accolade

Описание: COVINGTON, Ky. (Sydney Benter) -- A Holmes High School student is exceeding expectations one accolade after another.

David Thompson is a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist. He was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome as a young child.

"We were very very worried at the time that he was not going to be particularly good in school, we were worried he was not going to be particularly social, that he was going to keep to himself," said David's father Steven Thompson. "He has done extremely well in school. I don't think we can take that much credit for it. I think we can take some credit for teaching him to read as early as he did, but he ran with it from there."

David's done more than extremely well. He scored in the 99th percentile on the PSAT. He s also second in his class.

"He can grasp hold of concepts that ordinary kids would take a week and he will grasp it in 15 minutes," said Cas Granz, David's math teacher.

Asperger's Syndrome usually affects language and behavioral development in children. They often struggle with social skills.

"I feel like there are some things that my brain was just wired to grasp more easily and other things that my brain has trouble grasping as much," David said.

His mom Rene said interacting with others feels like a second language to him. Nevertheless the students and staff of the Covington Independent Schools embraced him without question.

"There was never anything made of him being on the spectrum. It was, this is David, and they love him as much we do," Rene said.

"A lot of people who haven't seen him might look at a kid and say, okay, now here's a kid who he talks slowly, his hands flap around but that's not how we think about him here," said Granz.

David has a message for anyone who has been teased or judged for being autistic.

"I know that sometimes you have no choice but to listen to them and weather the mental blow, but I just want you to know in the meantime that they are wrong."

David was nominated for homecoming court this year and his mom Rene says that she's just as proud of that accomplishment as she is by his many academic achievements.

David will find out if he'll advance from a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist to a finalist later this school year. He wants to be a college math teacher and is considering attending Thomas More College next fall.

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