Eighteen-year-old Burnie Rollinson has Asperger syndrome，an autism spectrum disorder.  People with Asperger’s have difficulty with communication，eye contact and relationship. Burnie’s mother．Anita Rollinson，wanted to write a book to help people better understand the  feelings of children with autism．She has now published，“If You Were Me．’’Burnie drew the pictures for the book．

“If You were Me”is a children’s book．Burnie’s mother wrote it in her son's voice.“I just wanted it written in a way so that other children could possibly read it or have someone read it to them．”

She says she also wanted to send a message to other parents of autistic children.“I just    wanted them to feel that they weren’t alone．”

This is how the mother and son worked together on their book：Ms．Rollinson would write a sentence or two and read them to Burnie．Then，he would draw a picture to help explain the    meaning of her words．

“I’d 1eave it to him．I didn’t necessarily want to tell him how to draw because I wanted it to be exactly what he did and it to come from his thoughts and his creativity.”

“If You Were Me”tells Burnie’s story．It says he was born to“loving but inexperienced  parents．”It tells he was diagnosed with Asperger’s at age three．It also explains why he has few friends．

“He's a loner most of the time．And then if he is approached，by kids，he doesn’t always know what to say．”

Burnie wants people to know that he has a full life．He attends school，and after class，goes to a part-time job at the library．He says he enjoys the work．

His teacher Anya Plana-Hutt is proud of him.

“The fact that Burnie was able to illustrate his mother’s book and share it with so many people，I think it's a very good message．It allows people to understand how it is to be on Burnie’s side of the road．”

And this book just might help a lot more people to understand，encourage and support Burnie and others with autism．