Books : 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
What happens when a young brain is traumatized? How does terror, abuse, or disaster affect a child's mind--and how can that mind recover? Child psychiatrist Bruce Perry has helped children faced with unimaginable horror: genocide survivors, murder witnesses, kidnapped teenagers, and victims of family violence. In The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, he tells their stories of trauma and transformation through the lens of science, revealing the brain's astonishing capacity for healing. Deftly combining unforgettable case histories with his own compassionate, insightful strategies for rehabilitation, Perry explains what exactly happens to the brain when a child is exposed to extreme stress-and reveals the unexpected measures that can be taken to ease a child's pain and help him grow into a healthy adult. Through the stories of children who recover-physically, mentally, and emotionally-from the most devastating circumstances, Perry shows how simple things like surroundings, affection, language, and touch can deeply impact the developing brain, for better or for worse. In this deeply informed and moving book, Bruce Perry dramatically demonstrates that only when we understand the science of the mind can we hope to heal the spirit of even the most wounded child.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Everyone should read this book!!
The book is a compilation of short stories about the most influential children that he has worked with over the years, and once I started it I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone (I personally think this would be a great book for expecting parents to read). You will learn so much about the developing brain and about how early childhood trauma can drastically shape the course of the rest of someone's life.
Rating: - Brilliant and moving
Assisted by a talented science writer, child psychiatrist Bruce Perry presents a series of heartbreaking stories of children severely damaged by trauma. But that's only one side of this remarkable book. The other side is how many of these profoundly damaged children were assisted to heal.
Perry explains his "neurosequential" approach that sequentially targets brain regions left undeveloped by abuse or neglect. He presents compelling cases to illustrate how the child's age at the time ... Read More
Rating: - Easy to read Neurobiology help guide
My Professor, Nina Mogar, is a friend of Dr. Bruce Perry. For her class she suggested we buy the book, because she incorporates it into her curriculum. Everything we know about children, will change when reading this book. This book delves into the neurobiology of children, rather than just studying behaviorism. Dr. Bruce Perry's stories from his own experience, helps us understand children. I also suggest that you visit this link: http://www.visualrecord.com/wishspace/education/childvideos375.html ... Read More
Rating: - Brilliant
This book is a brilliant summary of the essential information for anyone working with children and families. I thank the authors.
Rating: - Food for thought
The book lives up to its fascinating title. Perry has worked for years with traumatized and neglected children and his take on dealing with them is based on research showing how the brain develops and the impact of neglect and abuse on it. In other words, if a child is abused or neglected in the first year of life (approximately), physical changes take place in the brain or rather, neurological connections that should be made, are not. (This is a vast simplification.) So as a child gets older and begins ... Read More
