Christopher was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome at age 2 which made social interaction difficult. His parents disagreed on how to treat him, which led to fights. Christopher found solace in skateboarding alone. A house fire caused by Christopher accidentally left his siblings dead, causing his parents to blame him. Christopher fell into a deep depression until finding relief in playing guitar. He went on to have musical success, touring the country and selling over 2 million albums by age 19.

1. Childhood Maturity Throughout the course of one’s childhood, obstacles are put in front of him or her that challenges their state of mind and how much their emotions can take control of them. Throughout their journey of overcoming these predicaments that life throws at them, they begin to finally find themselves in a time of hopelessness. The journey through these steps is a very trying and dangerous adventure, but the outcome is worth every hardship.

2. When Christofer was born, his parents had high hopes for him as well as his two older siblings, Jake, who was put into Kindergarten a year early, and Kaley, who started Kindergarten at the top of her class. His parents always swore they would never compare children or treat them any differently, were about to get a wake-up call.

3. Two years later, Christofer was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome , which is a form of autism that made him highly unsociable, but he still showed a normal ability to react in time to music that played. His parents however, disagreed about the way they should treat him and many physical fights were shared between them.

4. As Christofer developed into his toddler years, he continued to be unsociable with anyone and started to find himself when he skateboarded alone. Skateboarding was a way for him to keep himself busy, get his mind off of things, and it was an opportunity for him to have a shot at being good at something in life. His parents both thought that there was still a little bit of hope for their autistic boy.

5. Everything was finally going well for Christofer in his life until one day the little smile on his face changed. Late at night one day, he woke up hungry and decided to cook himself something to eat, but when he went back to sleep, he forgot to turn off the stove and he didn’t see the oven mitten a few inches away from the open flame. The house caught on fire and both he and his parents made it out alive but his two older siblings Kaley and Jake, didn’t.

6. Christopher’s parents never looked at him the same again and instead of taking out on each other, all of the blows fell onto him. Christopher then fell into a deep depression still wondering if he would ever amount to anything more than a simple boy with a disability. The only thing that kept him form harming himself any further was his music and it was then when he picked up guitar.

7. From then on out, he practiced day after day, never accepting anything less than the best of his abilities which is something he often had trouble with in the past. His parents got divorced when he was 9, and playing the guitar was something that got him through it. After his parents got a divorce, responsibilities were thrown on his lap when at his age level, he was not ready for, but again, his guitar was there to help him through it.

8. When he was 16, he decided to display his “talents” at Joplin Senior High’s annual talent show. To his luck, a recording artist was in the audience and happened to hear him perform. After the show, the artist approached Christofer asking him if he wanted to try out recording in a studio. Not able to say no, Christopher accepted and was on his way to the beginning of the rest of his life.

9. When Christofer recorded some of his songs in the studio, he immediately put them up on his myspace and they were immediately recognized. In just two weeks, he had over 200,000 plays and was an instant hit. A month later he was on VH1 performing his hit on live television and in the same year, his cd sold over 2 million copies.

10. Now, Christofer is 19 and is touring the country solo performing everywhere. He loves his life and wouldn’t take back anything that happened or what he did because he loves who he is now, and the progress he made to become the man he is today is truly admirable.