During these days I sought information to help his teachers relate to him better by understanding him. Just like with Mrs. Spaulding example, I had to explain over and over again what Jonny’s unique gifts and challenges were all about. I looked for some sort of book I could just pass on to everyone, but there wasn’t any, so I decided to write my own. This eventually became Little Rainman, autism through the eyes of a child, which bridged relationships between Jonny, his teachers, and his siblings and eventually, helped him understand himself. Some of his idiosyncrasies in the book include spinning in circles, repeating the same thing over and over, watching and memorizing movies repeatedly, and his lack of fear.
Told in the first person from Jonny’s perspective, it starts out, “My name is Jonathan. I have autism (aw-tis-um). My nose looks the same as other people’s and my ears and eyes do too. Except that I can see and hear a lot better than most people. My brain thinks different. Some things I do better, like reading and copying; other things I do worse, like making friends.”
This was the rhyme and rhythm of Jonny’s thinking in those days. I sent it off to one publisher and 6 months later it was published as one of the first real looks into the truth about autism. The truth I came to share with you today.

“Little Rainman” – The full review