Emily Doyle Iland

Our family came slowly to the world of autism and arrived late. We went through years of doubt and denial before Tom was finally diagnosed at the age of 13. From that point on we jumped in with both feet and got to work doing whatever we could to help him grow and progress.

Tom has benefited tremendously from a lot of hard work, excellent teaching, ground-breaking collaboration, the patience of family members, and support from the autism community. He has overcome many obstacles to accomplish some pretty remarkable things, such as graduating from college and becoming a certified public accountant, working for numerous corporations, driving, living on his own and having a girlfriend.

People often ask us what we did to contribute to Tom’s success and what they can do to help themselves, their children or their students. This gave us the idea to write a book together. Come to Life! is written by a self-advocate for self-advocates. It is written by a parent-professional to help other parents and professionals.

Many young people, especially youth the autism spectrum, are uncertain about their futures. They may not know what to do with their lives or have clear goals mind. Others may know what they want, but don’t know how to get it. When they come to the table to plan, the answer to most (if not all) of the questions they are asked is, “I don’t know.” They are stuck in “neutral,” unable to move forward on the road of life.

In his very first days of college, Tom had a life-changing realization. As he puts it, “Life no longer came to me…It was up to ME to come to life!” In that moment of inspiration Tom saw that he needed to take control of his own life and future. In Come to Life! Tom speaks directly his peers to explore the process of self-discovery. He shares his story, the lessons he learned, and insights from experience. The book offer practical strategies, tools and activities to help in the journey.

Tom and I hope that Come to Life! will be a useful tool, a step-by-step guide for anyone helping young adults with ASD and other special needs transition more successfully to life and realize their true potential.

We are delighted that Come to Life was an Amazon #1 bestseller in our category, and are honored have Come to Life! selected for a Mom's Choice Gold Award, A Foreward Indies Winner, the NAPPA Award. In addition, Ven A la Vida has been honored with FIVE International Latino Book Awards:

Most Inspirational Young Adult Book

Nonfiction Best Self-help Book – Spanish

Best Young Adult eBook

Best eBook – Nonfiction

Best Chapter/Young Adult Book Translation - English to Spanish

A bit more about Emily...

BE SAFE The Movie is another of my passion projects, a video modeling program that teaches youth how to interact safely with the police (Learn more at www.BeSafeTheMovie.com).

My other amazon.com books include Drawing A Blank: Improving Comprehension for Readers on the Autism Spectrum, and two books co-authored with my sister Barbara Doyle: Autism Spectrum Disorders from A to Z and the Spanish version, Los Trastornos del Espectro de Autismo de la A a la Z.

Check out my blog and more info at www.EmilyIland.com