Mother of 'boy genius' lied

Now separated from son, she admits she faked tests to make him look like prodigy

Julie Poppen, News Staff Writer

Published March 2, 2002 at midnight

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The mother of Justin Chapman, 8, whose troubled life was profiled in "Boy Genius," a Rocky Mountain News special report, has admitted she falsified records used to document claims about her son's intellectual gifts.

Elizabeth Chapman, 29, said Friday she decided to tell the truth because her deceptions were hurting Justin and that she very much wants to be reunited with her son.

After Justin was hospitalized Nov. 18 for an apparent suicide attempt, Broomfield County removed the boy from his mother's care and charged her with neglect. A trial is set for March 18.

Chapman, who moved with Justin from New York last summer, said she faked some documents because they "opened a lot of doors for Justin."

"I just got caught up in it," she said Friday night, sitting in the living room of her Broomfield home. "I wanted to be a good mom and give him opportunities I didn't have. I don't do anything halfway. It was wrong. I made some poor choices."

In an eight-page report published Feb. 13, the News examined a long list of Justin's purported accomplishments, including a perfect 800 on the math section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test, a genius score at age 3 on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale test and at age 6 an IQ score of 298-plus on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (Form L-M).

The latter test, administered by Linda Silverman of the private Gifted Development Center in Denver, produced the highest IQ score ever recorded. Afterward, Silverman described Justin "as the greatest genius to ever grace the earth."

Justin's intellectual feats had attracted widespread media attention. But the News reported in "Boy Genius" that it could not independently verify many of the claims about Justin's ability and potential, including the test scores.

Friday night, Chapman said she had checked out a copy of the Stanford-Binet IQ test booklet from the University of Rochester library and researched the material with her son before Silverman administered the test.

She said she had apologized to Silverman, who had helped her move to Colorado from New York and had been one of Justin's staunch

est advocates. She said she had apologized to a number of other friends and professionals as well.

Silverman, who has been called to testify in the neglect trial, has declined recent requests to talk about Justin.

Chapman also acknowledged that she made a computer copy of a neighbor's son's SAT scores. She said she altered the score so it appeared the perfect scores of 800 in math and 650 in verbal were achieved by Justin.

She said Justin never finished the Wechsler test at age 3 and that the score was faked.

Chapman insisted that she did not make everything up about her son, and that he was truly a gifted child harmed by her actions to aggrandize him.

She said Justin did take courses at the University of Rochester and did the course work necessary to receive a high school diploma from Cambridge Academy, a Florida-based online school, where he was credited with a 3.75 grade average.

After Justin's hospitalization in November, his troubled mental state was documented in reports from Children's Hospital and Devereux Cleo Wallace in Denver, a treatment center for emotionally troubled children.

A psychological evaluation from Children's said, "His recent suicidal gesture . . . exemplifies his inability to continue the existence that has been assigned by his mother, the gifted community and most likely by himself."

"I don't mind paying for the consequences of what I did," Chapman said Friday night, "but I don't want to be penalized for the rest of my life. A lot of the healing I need to do and Justin needs to do needs to be done together."

Chapman said she visited Justin two weeks ago and apologized for lying and cheating. She said he told her he understood. And he gave her a hug.

Contact Julie Poppen at (303) 892-5176 or poppenj@RockyMountainNews.com.

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