Outside Reading Project: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog

Outside Reading Project: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog

Chapter 6 Outline

The chapter comprises of an account of two children, Justin and Conner, who were both victims of early neglect and helped by Dr. Perry to recover in terms of their brain development. The following are some key points from the chapter:

Justin's case:

Dr. Perry met Justin when he was six and saw him being kept in what looked like a dog cage and was told that he threw food.

His early childhood history indicated his 15 year old mother abandoning him to be taken care of by her mother who died when he was two. Her boyfriend Arthur then baby sat for Justin and in the age of late sixties he was incapable of taking care of him and thus was ignorant. He kept the baby in a dog cage and rarely spoke with him and hence for 5 years the child continued to live there.

Over the years he was brought for an analysis of brain development, tests but to no avail since no one followed his development for a long period of time. He lacked in many areas of development which was mainly because Arthur raised Justin the manner he raised his animals and was thus neglected most of the time.

When Perry showed attachment, the child responded well and later with physical, occupational, and speech/language therapy he showed progress with each passing day and was later transferred to foster family.

Patterned, repetitive experience in a safe environment has a great positive impact on the brain along with physical affection and care.

Conner's case

14 year old Conner diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder, psychotic disorder and attention deficit disorder.

Developmental history of Conner suggested that Jane was a mother who had little or no experience of child development. Few weeks after having her baby Jane had to go to office and a cousin was hired to take care of Conner. The cousin took another job meanwhile and came only to feed and change the baby and hence no affection and attention was provided to him.

He stopped crying and his progress was also very slow as compared to other children. When Jane found out that her child is left all alone at home in dark without any toys or music she fired the nanny and left office to take care of the baby.

The early neglect made him friendless, lonely and socially isolated child and a lot of money was spent to treat his disorders before he was brought to Dr. Perry.

Perry realized that the problem lied in the neglect he had faced in the first eighteen months of his life which are crucial for development. Conner thus could not stand touch which is crucial for human development and hence massage therapy was the first to be initiated to which Conner responded well after some time.

His sense of rhythm was then worked on which is another important factor for ...