JCNT - May 2025 Release - Full Release - Flipbook - Page 31
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and would make comments about wanting to kill himself.
While his father shared these concerns, Shadow continued to move around the
room, digging through the bins of toys, occasionally stopping to play with an item
briefly or to show his father what he had found. He was so focused on his
exploration of the room that it would have been easy to think he was distracted
by the toys, but Shadow made it apparent that he was taking in every word.
When certain matters were discussed, Shadow responded with protests,
attempting to overrule the discussion by yelling over his father and begging him
to stop speaking. At some point in the session, he discovered a toy accordion and
quickly learned that, if he played it loudly enough, the ruckus this instrument
created made it almost impossible for the discussion to continue. He used this
strategy several times when the topic seemed to become too much.
Shadow9s response suggested to me that he had heard these lists of concerns
many times before, and his embarrassment was such that he didn9t wish for me
to know his father9s concerns. When questions were addressed to him, they were
often met with a simple,
