Prodigy or pawn? The troubled saga of Justin Chapman

STORY BY JULIE POPPEN · PHOTOS BY TODD HEISLER
	Justin Chapman, described as the "greatest genius to ever grace the Earth" by a Denver IQ expert, engages in music therapy at the Center for Inner Change in Cherry Creek. In recent months, the 8-year-old has gone from being a symbol of childhood genius to a source of serious concern for mental health professionals. FORUM | SLIDE SHOW

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WHEN JUSTIN CHAPMAN and his mother, Elizabeth, moved to Colorado last summer, Justin's reputation as a child prodigy preceded him, much as lightning precedes thunder.

Drumrolls of media fanfare followed his every brilliant act.

He picked up the violin at age 2; competitive chess at 3.

At 4, he enrolled in a prestigious interactive program through Stanford University.

At 6, Justin became the youngest person ever to take a for-credit course at the University of Rochester. Newspaper pictures show his slight figure slumped in an oversized chair, surrounded by classmates a dozen or more years his elder.

On April 4, 2000, three months before Justin turned 7, Linda Silverman, director of the private Gifted Development Center in Denver, tested Justin's IQ at 298-plus, the highest ever recorded.

A month later, word came that Justin had scored a perfect 800 on the math portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test and achieved a verbal score of 650.

The media seized upon Justin's story, and the commercial world took notice, as well. In one striking advertisement, Justin's remarkable little head was shown safely cocooned in a Bell bicycle helmet.

But the crescendo surrounding Justin has fallen silent.