Lion and Magic Boy

Eric finally likes to read books instead of crumpling them or ripping them. Oh, not read, exactly, but certainly to look at the pictures or comment on them. Unintelligibly, mostly: he says a LOT of words but no one knows what they are, possibly not even Eric.  But there’s a bookshelf of my books upstairs on the landing that has magnetic attraction for him: he loves those books. Loves taking them from the shelf, loves stacking/spreading them on the floor, loves pushing them off the balcony to fall SPLAT below. (I discourage that, but oh well. Try to tell the boy anything.)

But there’s one book, one particular book, that really seems to call to Eric. It’s not too big, not too small. There’s a pleasing abstract pattern on the cover. He likes to slide it under a closed door sometimes, but most often I simply find him lying on his stomach, gently leafing through its pages, studying them. There are no pictures, just words. Only that book. That one book.

The title of this book? Communication Skills in Children With Down Syndrome.