Adia is a delight, although her blunt honesty and gleeful disregard of the cat's feelings are sometimes a trial. Warm, giggly, and wonderfully cuddly, she's the last sort of person you would expect to be autistic. But she is, and her daily struggles are immense and heartbreaking. More social than her male peers, Adia is a classic class clown, and her friendships are marked by bouts of physical assault as well as physical affection. She took three years to speak intelligibly, but she is now learning to read at eight, and takes great joy in showing off her hard-won ability. Astute with numbers, she dislikes subtraction - rather than solving the problems straightforwardly, she makes the minus sign into a plus sign and does what she likes! An incredible verbal mimic with an immense memory, she clearly remembers events from before her third birthday and takes great pleasure in telling perfect strangers she was breastfed. She has lately begun to sing, and her growly voice !