Summary Of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog By Dr. Bruce Perry

Dr. Bruce Perry began his book The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook – What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing with a statement about children and their resilience. Much like what we discussed in class, Dr. Perry touched on how children were thought to be naturally resilient and that they seemed to bounce back quickly. However, he continued with the statement that even the slightest bit of stress can impact an infant's development. Likewise, we discussed numerous things that can impact the welfare of children, such as attachment, education, and poverty. Throughout his book, Dr. Perry explained case by case, child by child how much nurture and healthy relationships can affect the brain and physical growth of children.

Perry's first child patient, was a seven year old girl who was repeatedly molested by her babysitter (Perry, 2006). She was referred to Dr. Perry because of her inappropriate sexual behavior at school. In my opinion, this was one of the hardest cases to read because it could have been avoided. Tina had a good mother. She did her best to provide for her family by working a minimum wage job. Sadly, they were still too poor to afford formal child care and too wealthy to receive public assistance. Her mother had arrangements with a neighbor, which in turn led to Tina's traumatization. Tina was not neglected or mistreated by her mother, she was victimized because she lived in poverty and had no access to better resources. Unfortunately, this is the perfect example of why poverty is a risk factor for child