Customer Reviews

Soon Will Come the Light: A View from Inside the Autism Puzzle

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Thomas McKean gives great advice and valuable insight for parents of autistic children. He understands how parents try so hard to be helpful for their children, and sometimes fall short for lack of understanding. Thomas gives an insider's view of what autism feels like as a child and as an adult.

Thomas was a student of "The Child Whisperer" author Matt Pasquinilli. Mr. Pasquinilli has worked with children and adults challenged by austism and aspergers syndrome, and speaks about it in his book. Get "The Child Whisperer" for some great advice that compliments Thomas McKean's "Soon will come the Light."

"You can't know a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins," is the best quote I can come up with to sum up the impact of "Soon Will Come the Light".

Thomas McKean has presented in this book the one thing that I always wished for, but few books could offer---the ability to walk in my children with autism's shoes for a while and perhaps gain a deeper understanding of what their world looks and feels like.

McKean's writing reveals loving, gentle, brilliant man with autism, and his book is a stereotype buster. He shows us that people with autism have worth and wisdom to share with the world. He teaches us both through his inspiring gifts as a poet, and with his "no holds barred" personal thoughts on many of the current intervention trends in autism, such as auditory integration.

Even better, Thomas' book shows us who he is, a precious human being who walked away from life in an institution and bravely learned to coexist and compensate for the often harrowing sensory issues that come with a diagnosis of autism.

This book is a must read. It is a story of survival, courage, and the strong realization that people with autism have much to contribute to this world.

Mr. McKean is to be applauded for this timeless contribution to literature on autism. I will hold this book dear for a very long time to come.

Liane Gentry Skye
author
Turn Around, Bright Eyes-Snapshots from a Voyage out of Autism's Silence

I have had the pleasure of speaking with the author on AOL and after hearing about his book, I purchased it. His personal account of his life and dealing with the realization he had autism was extremely moving. I only hope that I can remember the things he went thru, the things he felt growing up, the sensory issues he continues to deal with....and be able to apply that knowledge to understanding my son <age 3> who has autism. I want to help my son make his journey thru life in such a way that their is no pain, limited frustration and in such a way that he is confident and happy in his world. Reading this book has helped me see a glimpse of my own son's thinking. Thanks Thomas for putting such a personal glimpse of your life in words!

Thomas McKean gives great advice and valuable insight for parents of autistic children. He understands how parents try so hard to be helpful for their children, and sometimes fall short for lack of understanding. Thomas gives an insider's view of what autism feels like as a child and as an adult.

Thomas was a student of "The Child Whisperer" author Matt Pasquinilli. Mr. Pasquinilli has worked with children and adults challenged by austism and aspergers syndrome, and speaks about it in his book. Get "The Child Whisperer" for some great advice that compliments Thomas McKean's "Soon will come the Light."

With his book Soon Will Come the Light, Thomas McKean has given readers a point of view that they didn't have before-- that of a person living on the autistic spectrum.

In this book, Mr. McKean uses his gift for writing to help others on the spectrum. Because of this book, fewer children will have to grow up without the benefit of diagnosis. And, perhaps, just as importantly, this book calls attention to an important issue: autism is not just for children. There are countless number of adults on the spectrum. Mr. McKean reminds them that they are not alone.

His eloquent words and honest account of his life has paved the way for something desparately needed-- more first hand accounts of autistic spectrum condition.

Kudos to you, Thomas. You are truly a groundbreaker!

As a teacher of students with Autism, I found this book to be very insightful. To be able to view Autism through the eyes of a person living with Autism was very helpful to me. I found his sections on sensory issues to be very informative. I loved his works of poetry at the end.

Thomas A. McKean presents us with a beautifully written account of his experiences as an adult with Autism. As the mother of an autistic child I am very aware that my son will one day become and autistic adult. Mr. McKean generously shares his personal story with the reader giving insight to what it is like for him on the spectrum.

A great book!

I am a mother of a four year old child boy who has Autism. I believe SOON WILL COME THE LIGHT is a must read for any parent who has a child with Autism and for anyone that works with or cares about a person with Autism. Though I have read many books by doctors and professionals that I've found helpful, I've found the very best way to learn about what my son is feeling is to hear from an adult with Autism. Thomas McKean writes candidly about his life and the challenges that he faces. He is articulate, funny and poetic. His book helped my husband and I understand why my son behaves in ways that had baffled us in the past. Mr. McKean's perspective has truly changed that way we parent our son!

Soon Will Come The Light is an intriguing book given that its written by a person with autism. It covers the life of Thomas as he becomes institutionalised and finds friendship, romance and acceptance of himself. What's striking about this book is Thomas' outgoing and sociable nature set back to back with a lonely man who loves people and strives to be liked and wanted. Thomas' social simplicity is endearing. As we are taken through the importance of his songwriting and poetry, we are reminded that, in the broad range of people on the Autistic Spectrum, the lonely fumbling romantic is in there too.

First an apology: When I last reviewed this book, I was under the impression that several events in the book were similar to unpleasant events in my own life, and I could not get over my discomfort. Someone directed me to the author's response to my review and it turns out it wasn't true. I am sorry for projecting my own experiences onto parts of this book. (I have since deleted all reviews from that account because this was not the only review I changed my mind on.) I have decided to write a review that more accurately reflects what I have been telling people all this time.

My favorite part of this book is the originality characteristic of the older books by autistic people. For some reason, over the years autistic people's writing about our lives tends to fit in a pretty narrow mold with few exceptions. This mold mostly fits with current theories of autism. And this is despite the fact that large numbers of autistic people do not fit the theories.

I know that the author of this book has suffered for the things he has written in it that don't fit the narrow and uncomplicated view that people usually have these days. I am extremely and unequivocally glad that the book includes these things though. If I ever gave the impression it was a bad thing, I didn't mean to. It is absolutely a good thing.

That is one of the biggest things that makes me recommend it alongside Temple Grandin's "Emergence" and Donna Williams's "Nobody Nowhere", the other two widely read early books by autistic people. There was a time when one of the points of autistic people writing books was to challenge the status quo rather than submit to it. This book is from that time, and is one of the important classics of autistic autobiography.

The book is made up into several parts: One part tells part of the story of the author's life, another part contains the description of various unusual traits the author has (both related to autism and not, which is again, in case I'm misunderstood, an entirely good thing because it shows we are in fact whole people and not just walking textbooks), and another part is poetry. I will not try to summarize it further from memory because last time I tried that I got parts wrong. Anyone interested in autistic people's writing about ourselves should read this book.