Student-led initiative Cocoon Corner bridges gap in local neurodiversity education

By Staff Writers Renushree Mandala & Valentina Tsui

In May 2025, Senior Gautham Ramkumar arrived at Aqua Adventure prepared to teach swimming lessons to neurodivergent children. There, he noticed that the neurodivergent students weren’t being properly accommodated. As a result, Ramkumar and Castilleja High School Junior Tallulah Turner founded Cocoon Corner in 2025 as a student-led initiative aimed to foster neurodivergence understanding among students across the Bay Area. 

 Though Cocoon Corner first began as a small-scaled collaboration supported by the Stanford Neurodiversity Project, it has since grown into a larger mission. Ramkumar and Turner believe that Cocoon Corner is able to bridge the gap in neurodiversity by educating students on neurodiversity accommodation early on in their lives. “Especially in the K-5, you’re not going to see … perspectives from autistic [children and] ADHDers,” Ramkumar said. “No one knows their challenges. No one knows their strengths.” Initially, Cocoon Corner focused on building sensory spaces where overstimulated children could decompress, but the material costs made these projects difficult to sustain in the long run.

As a more budget-friendly alternative, Cocoon Corner now creates and illustrates original storybooks that celebrate neuroinclusion. Clover the Caterpillar is one of their soon-to-be published books. The story follows a caterpillar, named Clover, who discovers she is neurodivergent. As she meets other neurodivergent butterflies, Clover learns to embrace her uniqueness. The team currently has two other ongoing works, both aimed to promote neurodiversity awareness as well. 

Cocoon Corner is also partnering with FUSD to implement neuroinclusive curricula in elementary schools. Each curriculum is a five-day unit, specifically designed for different grade levels. “[The curricula teaches] neurodiversity through things like empathy, through peer-to-peer interaction, through very fun activities, through storytelling, and videos that we’ve provided,” Ramkumar said.

A caterpillar has to go through multiple stages in its life before it transforms into a butterfly. Likewise, from struggling to find neurodivergent voices to be part of the team, to enduring the slow process of rolling out their lesson plans, Cocoon Corner has gone through numerous stages and challenges. However, these efforts were not in vain. “I am always just so surprised when [schools let] a bunch of high schoolers come in and implement these lesson plans that we’ve created [on] our own,” Turner said. “We get … to play such a huge role in this neurodiversity advocacy realm for the Bay Area.”

Cocoon Corner’s goal is not just to teach students about neurodiversity all at once, but to help them truly understand and be mindful of its effects on neurodivergent individuals’ daily lives. “What we created, the learning plans and … safe spaces for them … that helps them,” Cocoon Corner Community Coordinator Sophomore Dylan Huang said. Looking ahead, Cocoon Corner hopes to expand its partnership with FUSD, refine lessons, and publish more storybooks.