Adi
Your Atypical Friend
Loosely inspired by a true story
Written By: Jenna Tunes
Illustrated By: Tesla Tunes
Some favorite moments that developed our understanding of the
beautifully complex neurodivergent mind come together to create
your atypical friend, Adi.
Dedicated to listening and working towards a full understanding
of the “Tunes of Life”.
Written By: Jenna Tunes
Illustrated By: Tesla Tunes
This is Adi She pronounces her name, “add – eee”.
Adi isn’t short for anything, it’s just Adi. Not
Addison. Not Adeline…Adi. But as simple as Adi’s
name is, there is really nothing basic about her.
That’s the thing about life.
Not everything is as it seems
on the surface and life is not
always what you expect.
There are so many different places we can start,
but let’s keep things organized and start at the
beginning because that’s what Adi would want
to do.
Page 1
Adi was born into her family that started out with
mom, dad and an older brother. Adi’s mom said that
just three hours before Adi
came into the world, her mom
walked to her favorite local
coffee shop to get a latte then
walked back to the hospital.
Once her mom had that tasty
drink in her hand, she was ready
to meet Adi.
Just two short weeks after being born,
Adi flew on an airplane across country to move to a new
home.
Cute baby version of ADI
here
Page 2
She had fun in her new world for the first year and a half
of her life. She tagged along with her brother to the play
area a the local gym and swim class, and went to a kid’s
museum where there were a ton of hands-on exhibits.
Adi’s favorite was the water exhibit with boats that flowed
and raced throughout channels as the water pressure
changed. She could just stay in that section splashing
around in the water for hours.
Page 3
A year and a half later, the west coast called Adi and her
family back and Adi couldn’t have been more excited to
find out that her house there had a pool in the backyard.
She spent her time the next few years going to parks,
meeting friends, and swimming…
lots of swimming.
Page 6
Adi’s mom remembers going to the blueberry picking farm
with Adi.
When they got home,
Adi would take
handfuls of the freshly
picked, perfectly rip
(and expensive!)
blueberries and shove
them into her mouth.
She loved the way they popped under her teeth and made
her cheeks puff out like a chipmunk.
Page 7
One day, Adi’s mom came out to the kitchen to find that
Adi had dumped flour all over the place. She had
walked through the flour to make footprints on every
single square inch of the wood floor. It looked like
footprints in the snow. Adi was so proud of her
“artwork”.
Page 8
That must have been the start to Adi’s art journey.
She loved working with her hands AND feet when it
came to art. Her mom would set up art days in the
backyard for Adi and her older brother. Instead of
using the brushes and canvas to make paintings, Adi
used her hands and feet to cover her body and the
pavement in bright designs. If there was something to
create, Adi explored every possible way to use the tools
she was given (and some that she found on her own) to
make her creation even better. Leaves, chopsticks,
fingertips, you name it! Adi used them all to design her
art.
She was a natural experimenter and artist.
Page 9
Fast forward a few years and Adi welcomed her younger
brother into the world. She loved his little squishy body
and thought the sounds he made were funny.
Sometimes she even dressed him up in silly hats or bows
and giggled at how ridiculous he looked.
She only got to be at home all day with mom and her
little brother for a few months because soon she would
start Kindergarten.
Page 10
School came pretty easy to Adi in the first few years.
Her Kindergarten teacher reported that Adi’s humor
was so thoughtful and beyond her years. By first grade
she was an advanced reader and had lots of friends.
But recess and swinging on the swings remained her
favorite part of the day.
Page 11
Those were the early years, but when Adi was in
second grade, her family made another big move. Adi
would be going to a new school, with new teachers, a new
playground and new friends.
Change can be hard. For Adi, it stirred something
inside of her that made her feel shaky on the inside.
She didn’t like it at all. Mornings before school became
very difficult. Adi would need everything to be just right
in order to feel like she could go to school for the day.
Some days (okay, most days) things just felt off. Like
the seam of her pants and the way it laid on her calf. Or
the toes of her socks when they slid into her shoes.
Those socks would make her late more times than she
had planned.
Page 12
At school the work was pretty “boring” according to Adi.
But she was good at it. Almost too good. It was like she
knew the answers without even reading the questions.
Focus was difficult because of this and many times, she
found herself daydreaming and not completing the work.
She much preferred spending her energy creating art.
With art there were no boundaries, just freedom to create
whatever came to mind. She enjoyed that freedom to draw
something and let it be whatever it wanted to be when it
landed on the page.
Page 13
Friendships were a little more complicated as Adi got
older. She found that connecting to one person was
easier than having friendships with a lot of different kids.
Sure, she was nice to everyone, but the interactions were
exhausting and they always talked a lot about how they
feel. Adi just wanted to talk about art and play games.
One way Adi
learned to deal with
emotional times was
to change the topic
to humor. She had
a way of feeling a
situation get tense
then doing
something that
would have the
whole room burst
out in laughter. It
would definitely
ease the tension
and it gave Adi
tons of energy.
The laughter
fueled her
excitement and in
those moments, she
loved being the
center of attention.
Page 14
That energy also
came on fairly
consistently in the
evening. Just as
everyone in her family
would be settling
down, Adi would
start to spark up. It
would begin with
movement and
dancing, and
sometimes she would
talk nonstop about all
the things she
learned throughout
the day. After a full
day of near silence, at
times not even
responding when
asked a question
repeatedly, at night
she came alive. This
was hard for Adi’s
mom who was a self
proclaimed “morning
person”, but luckily
Adi’s dad was very
similar. He shared
her night energy.
Page 15
It was in fifth grade when Adi became more aware of
things that gave her that shaky feeling on the inside.
Going into the cafeteria with the loud talking echoing
off the walls and smells from the kitchen bouncing
around the air sometimes made her feel like she couldn’t
catch a breath. On those days it was hard to go back
to class and focus. She would feel so overwhelmed
she would need to go home.
Page 16
When this started to happen more and more often, Adi
and her parents decided to look into the things that
triggered her feelings of anxiousness. For Adi, it was
sound and smells and the pressure of being social with
other kids. Also, if she got too hot or felt like someone
was too close, she would want to jump out of her skin.
All of these sensitivities made it difficult to participate in
typical school programming. The structure of the
school systems seemed to offer the opposite physical
experience than what was comfortable for Adi. So, with
the help of a professional in all things “sensory” Adi and
her parents learned that even though her sensory needs
were uncommon, there were all types of tools and
programs to help them understand how to live in a typical
world.
Adi would use these tools to
build strength and resilience
where she needed it. It was
just the start of her
atypical journey in life.
Page 17