Chapter 6

Chapter six of The Boy Who was Raised as a Dog exposes the actual incidence that is described in the title of the book. When Dr. Perry met Justin he was a six-year-old boy who was in the hospital being treated for pneumonia. This pneumonia, however, seemed to be the least of the issues in regard to Justin. Dr. Perry was called in to analyze and address why Justin would throw food and feces at the staff. By this time, Dr. Perry had started to understand the sequential manner in which the brain develops and began to use this knowledge to treat traumatized and neglected children.

When Perry first saw Justin, he was in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and was in a crib that had a plywood panel wired to the top of the crib to keep him from getting out. The little boy was filthy, rocking back and forth in his crib/cage and shrieking periodically. At this point, Perry realized that he would have to have a different approach to Justin’s treatment than he ever had in the past. Perry first decided to learn as much as he could about Justin.

Justin was born to a fifteen-year old girl who gave him up to her mother when he was two months old. Justin’s mother was a great caregiver and showered Justin with the attention and love that he needed. Unfortunately, when Justin was eleven months old, his grandmother got sick and passed away, leaving Justin with another massive change in his life. At this point, Justin’s grandmother’s boyfriend, Arthur, began caring for him. Not knowing how to raise a child, Arthur called CPS and asked that they find a foster home for Justin to live in. CPS, being entirely overrun, asked that Justin stay with Arthur until a suitable foster home was found.  Arthur was quiet and very patient and because there was seemingly not a crisis with Arthur taking care of Justin, CPS never found a foster home for him.

Arthur had no idea of how to raise a child, but did know how to raise and meet the needs of dogs because he was a breeder. So, Arthur used his knowledge of raising dogs in order to raise Justin. Justin was kept in a dog cage and was treated much like a person would treat their dog. He was given food, water, discipline, and some comfort, but this comfort was nothing compared to the comfort and stimulation that normal children receive. Essentially, Justin lived in a dog cage, with dogs as companions, for five years. Justin had been given a diagnosis of “static encephalopathy” which essentially meant that his brain had stopped growing and atrophied. Doctors thought that Justin had a rare, untreatable birth defect that made him the way that he was. No doctor, until Dr. Perry, considered asking about Justin’s living conditions.

At this point, Dr. Perry wasn’t sure if Justin’s lack of development was because of a lack of care and exposure to the right environments, or if he was in fact limited in his capacity to learn. Dr. Perry created a stable environment for Justin to live in within the PICU. The numbers of people to visit him were limited. Justin also began physical, occupational, and speech/language therapy. The change was dramatic. Within a week, Justin was standing with assistance. In three weeks, Justin was walking. The occupational therapist worked with Justin regarding self-care and appropriate behavior. Speech therapists exposed Justin to all of the words that he had missed growing up.

Within two weeks, Justin was able to leave the hospital and was placed with a foster family and over the next six months Justin made amazing progress. At this point, Justin was moved to a foster family that lived farther away from the hospital and Dr. Perry eventually lost track of him. Luckily, about two years after treating Justin, Dr. Perry received a letter from Justin’s foster family talking about how well he was doing and even included a picture of Justin holding a sign, written by Justin, that said “Thank you, Dr. Perry. Justin.” This seemingly miraculous recovery from neglect gave Dr. Perry and his colleagues hope and motivation about the treatment of severely neglected children.

In this chapter, Perry also presents the case of Conner. Conner was fourteen when he began seeing Dr. Perry to deal with severely maladaptive behavior. Connor was very odd but he was not schizophrenic or autistic. Of course, Dr. Perry discovered the entire history of Connor’s life. He had two attentive parents and came from a nuclear family. Connor’s mother Jane was a very nice woman, though she did not really know how to take care of a child, simply because she never really did it when she was growing up. Jane and her husband Mark lived in New Mexico, away from their extended family, when Conner was born. Jane and Mark ran their own business and both had to work, so they decided to hire a nanny. Jane’s cousin had recently moved to the area and needed a job so she became Connor’s nanny.

What Jane and Mark didn’t know was that Jane’s cousin also took another job to make more money. They didn’t know that she would feed and change Connor in the morning, go to her other job, come back and feed him lunch, then go back to her other job, and finally come back before Jane and Mark came home. She didn’t realize how detrimental her actions were towards Connor’s development. Connor eventually stopped crying when he was upset, because in the past when he had cried, no one came to help him. This lack of crying made Conner’s slightly ignorant parents think that he was fine. Over time, Conner’s parents noticed that he was not meeting developmental milestones and took him to the doctor. The doctor did not have much knowledge about diagnosing mental and emotional difficulties and really did not ask about that type of development. Jane and Mark were simply told that babies develop at different rates.

When Connor was about eighteen months old, Jane came home early and found Connor by himself. She fired the cousin and quit her job to stay home with him. She thought that she was lucky that nothing terrible happened. Unfortunately, Jane never connected Connor’s maladaptive behaviors with the neglect that he experienced for a year. Connor missed the stimulation and comforting that babies need during the first few months of their lives. Dr. Perry realized that this neglect at the beginning of his life is really what is responsible for his behavior as a fourteen-year old boy.

Dr. Perry had to take a developmentally sequential approach to treating Conner, much like he had with Justin. Unfortunately, because Conner had experienced neglect at such an early age, many of the sensory pathways that make people want to touch each other hadn’t really developed. Connor hated to be touched. Dr. Perry then began with massage therapy to gradually acclimate Connor to the physical touch that he had missed early in his life. Over the course of about a year, Connor’s parents and teachers began to see the real Conner, instead of only seeing his odd behavior. Dr. Perry then had to teach Connor many things about interacting with others. These lessons included: learning how to carry on a conversation, the appropriate amount of eye contact to maintain during a conversation, even to how to dress as a normal fourteen-year old boy should dress. Connor went on to graduate high school and college without any further outbursts. He would probably always be considered a little bit socially awkward simply because his abuse happened so early in his life.

This chapter provides striking examples of what can happen when children are neglected. I know that there are systems put in place like CPS to try to stop neglect and abuse. I also know that there are far more cases than CPS can handle. I think that this is the point where the Christian church can step in. The Bible has many passages about taking care of the widows and orphans in society. I think that these charitable acts should extend to all children, especially those who are neglected and abused. Unfortunately, the government cannot do it alone; there are simply too many cases. I think that the church and the Christian community can step in and help educate people about raising children without irreparably damaging them.

I know that there are many different opinions about how to raise children and that each family should be able to decide how to raise their children. Many also think that it isn’t their place to step in and help people who don’t really want any help. Let them raise their children the way they see fit. Children are supposed to obey their parents. I, however, think that parents also need to honor their children and educate themselves about raising children. Unfortunately, you do not have to pass a test in order to become a parent. Many issues would be solved if that were the case. I think it is the Christian communities’ responsibility to educate parents and to protect children when neglect and abuse occur. Our society today, especially our Christian society, needs to spend more time and effort towards our children. They are the future.