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Fran Peek's son, Kim, was 9 months old when a doctor told him and his wife that their baby was mentally retarded and that they should put him in an institution and get on with their lives.

Instead, they took him home and treated him like he was normal. They spent endless hours reading to him and tracing his little fingers under the words.

Then something unexpected happened.

Before Kim was 2, he had memorized every book ever read to him, and by the time he was 3, he was using a dictionary.

Now 52, Kim has read more than 7,600 books, and has memorized an astonishing amount of information. He is the focus of more than 2,200 articles and the inspiration for an Academy Award winning movie. He has spoken to about 2,275,000 people.

That number goes up on Thursday when Kim Peek will be the keynote speaker at The ARC's annual awards dinner at Four Points Hotel by Sheraton, Hempfield Township.

"I always begin and end a talk with a message," Peek said in a telephone interview from his home in Utah. "That is learning to recognize and respect the differences in others and treating them like you would want them to treat you, and you will make this a better world."

Kim Peek was born Nov. 11, 1951, with an enlarged skull and a bulge on part of his head. He cried a lot, lagged behind in physical development and continues to have impaired motor skills.

"I was so mad at the neurologist who told us that we should institutionalize Kim and forget about him," his father said in the same telephone interview. "I was petrified and I was angry, and I couldn't find any help for him."

Fran Peek had just started a new job with an advertising agency when his boss confided that he had a mentally retarded daughter who was homebound. He said, "It's embarrassing to take her out. Aren't you embarrassed about Kim?"

Peek was not. "We started to talk about it," he said, "and we started getting in touch with other parents."

They organized to advocate for children with mental disabilities at a time when there were few services, no special education and no right to education.

"Kim lasted about five minutes in first grade," Peek said. "He disturbed everybody."

With the help of home tutors, Kim finished the high school curriculum by the time he was 14. On his own, he continues reading and memorizing everything he can find, and he handles the payroll at an education workshop for adults with disabilities.

In 1983, a brain scan revealed that Kim had a single, integrated brain hemisphere, just one solid brain lobe larger than normal. It was later verified that the connective tissue between the hemispheres had not formed, and an MRI revealed that the right half of Kim's cerebellum had seemingly exploded into eight or nine pieces.

"We never did know what had happened to that (bulge) that Kim had, when it suddenly disappeared when he was 3," Peek said. "We found out that it had been pulled back into the cerebellum, and had damaged the part where reasoning takes place. It also affected Kim's coordination."

Peek volunteered to write public service announcements for small cable companies. When he asked for help, someone on the national ARC staff referred to Barry Morrow, who had written a television series, "Bill," that starred Mickey Rooney as a man who had been institutionalized all his life.

Morrow met Kim Peek and was astounded with his knowledge and memory, abilities that categorize him as a megasavant.

Morrow left with the promise that he was going to write a script about a character like Kim. Two years later, in the autumn of 1986, Morrow made a deal with MGM. The movie would be called "Rain Man."

"Then Dustin Hoffman called and said he wanted to try out for the part, and he wanted to meet Kim," Peek said.

When they met, Hoffman suggested that Kim needed to gain some social skills.

"We decided that we could share him with people, and not put on a freak show," said Peek, who arranged for Kim to speak at a junior high school assembly.

"The students asked Kim 81 questions and he answered every one. Then one boy asked, 'How does it feel to be spastic?' Kim shot back, 'Fine. What are you proud of?'"

He received a standing ovation and after the assembly, the boy came forward with the two friends who had dared him to say it, and he apologized. Kim hugged all three and said, "Now that you have been educated, we can be friends."

And that's what he loves to do -- educate people and make friends, and the opportunities to do that increased after "Rain Man" was released in 1989 and won several Academy Awards.

Although the character of Raymond Babbit is based on Kim, the plot is not. But the movie fostered a better understanding of people with mental disabilities, and its success helped Kim to develop a new confidence. He is constantly in demand for public appearances, but he won't go just anywhere.

"No Oprah, no Maurie Povich, no Jennie Jones, no Jerry Springer," he said. "They are too trashy."

Peek wrote an inspirational book, "The Real Rain Man," to shares the trials and triumphs of Kim's life, and the joy that Kim brings with his pure heart and his love for everyone.

"There is a lot of love in a child who can't do things that other children can do," Peek said.

To parents of children with disabilities, he advises, "Don't be embarrassed because they are handicapped. They can't help it and you can't help it. You have to be patient and you have to try to teach them and include them, and you have to love them as much as possible."

Peek travels with his son and is his constant companion and caregiver.

"We share the same shadow," Kim once explained.

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