EAST COBB - At the tender age of 10, Alexander Cuthrell may have found his calling in sales. The Cub Scout and Mt. Bethel Elementary School fifth-grader has been one of the Atlanta area's top Scout sellers of popcorn for the past three years - and he's not stopping any time soon.

But selling hasn't always come naturally to Alexander, mainly because he has had to overcome the social barriers of Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism that is characterized by difficulty with language and communications skills as well as repetitive or restrictive patterns of thought and behavior.

According to his father, Brian Cuthrell, Alexander functions at a high level of intellect, but has trouble with certain social and communication skills that sometimes impair him from understanding the underlying meaning of written and spoken language.

Because of his communication issues, the first few years of door-to-door popcorn selling were a bit of a challenge for Alexander.

"The first couple years, mommy would take him out, and you'd knock on a door and they'd answer the door and he'd just stand there and look at you - wouldn't say a word. So we'd have to do the pitch for him," Brian said.

Through time and practice Alexander became more comfortable with the neighbors and his own sales pitch, and by his third year of selling he was inspired by another scout in his pack to break his record by selling more than $1,700.

That's when selling became fun for Alexander.

"What happened was all of a sudden when we added a few extra doors, he started running into kids, so he started playing with the kids," Brian said. "And then we'd run into a few more doors and started running into the dogs. And found out that the more doors we knocked on the more dogs we found and the more kids. And so it became play dates."

In fact, Brian said, at some houses Alexander would spend up to a half hour playing with customers' kids and dogs. And now, the Scout's calling card has become bringing treats for the furry friends.

Alexander says that meeting people and making new friends has become his favorite part of door-to-door sales.

"I get to meet a lot of people, see the animals, and I really love dogs. Sometimes they have games that I like, (Nintendo) Wii games especially. We have lots of fun. It's so fun meeting people and meeting the dogs!" Alexander said.

As he discovered this love for meeting new people, Alexander's sales took off.

In the 2007 season, when Alexander was in third grade, he sold a total of $2,800 during the six-week popcorn sale season which begins in early September and ends mid-October. The following year, Alexander sold more than $6,400 worth of popcorn, more than doubling his previous year's sales record and becoming the second-highest popcorn salesman in the Atlanta area.

After being honored with the other top sales Scouts at an Atlanta Hawks basketball game following the 2008 popcorn season, Alexander decided he wanted to rule the Atlanta area and set his sights on becoming the highest selling Boy Scout in the metro area.

"I was so excited. I was second place. The top two leaders get to be seen on TV and you get an autographed basketball," Alexander said. "And when I saw that Harrison (the Atlanta area's first place selling Boy Scout) was in first place, and I saw that Harrison got all the prizes, I thought, hmm, would I get all the prizes? I actually got into curious mode."

And so his goal was set: Alexander not only wanted to become the highest-selling Boy Scout in Atlanta, he also pledged to break his last four years of sales combined by selling $10,000 worth of popcorn.

While he did become the Atlanta area's bestseller, unfortunately, because of the fall rains, Alexander came up shy on the $10,000 goal, selling $6,800 in 2009.

But that doesn't seem to faze the Cub Scout, who will graduate to become a Boy Scout today. Still, Alexander is poised to hit the $10,000 mark in fall 2010.

Along the way, Brian and Jeanne, Alexander's parents, said they have seen a significant change in how their son communicates with people. Since children and adults with Asperger's syndrome are very literal thinkers and communicators, Brian and Jeanne, who are active in the Autism Support Group of Cobb County, have to work especially hard with their son to get him to understand many typical phrases that people use on a daily basis. They knew they were making progress when Alexander would ask them for clarification on what someone said, as opposed to just ignoring it and not understanding the communication.

"It's almost like therapy," Jeanne says of the interaction with neighbors.

"It really is, we do use it for social skills training," Brian chimes in. "Adults are a lot more tolerant than kids. And the kids he gets to play with, usually, he'll hit it off right away with the kids with the popcorn or they'll have a dog and it just kind of happens."

Jeanne says it's easier for Alexander to approach people when he's selling popcorn because it's his way of breaking the ice.

"He's like the star," Jeanne said. "He really does this well. He shines, and a lot of people notice it, and it's almost if they're looking a bit beyond the Asperger's - that's not the focus of him. The focus is that he's a Cub Scout and he's selling and he is excited."

Overall, the Cuthrells and Alexander say they are most grateful for the support he has received from his family, friends, neighbors and his Cub Scout Pack 795 at Mt. Zion Church.

"It's fun to see him get excited about something," Jeanne said. "So we'll keep it going and we'll support him."