The Boy Who Was

Raised As a Dog
Katie Hernandez, Adrienne Ducato, Michaela Callahan,
Marie Chrisman, Dana Dacus, & Miriam Pazos
Summary
● Written by: Bruce Perry & Maia Szalavitz
● The book follows the many different children that
Perry consulted during his time as a Psychiatrist.
● The question that is trying to be answered
throughout this book, is: what happens to the
minds of traumatized children, and can it recover?
● Uses the individual stories of different children
to try and answer that question.
● He also tells what he learns about care and
nurturing of children, and what it can do for them
even after the traumatic experiences that they
have gone through.
● (Sandy and Leon)
what are the take-away lessons
● Be there for students
○ Helping them with homework
○ Helping them by just being there
● Have check-in
○ In the morning to check what the goals
○ Middle of the day if having a hard day
○ End of the day to see how the day ended
what are the take-away lessons
● Mentors
○ A sense of direction
○ Training
○ A support system
○ Motivation to keep going
○ Setting goals
○ Having success
● Find help
○ Therapy
○ Teachers
● Offer workshops
○ My program experience
 What should other teachers know about this book?
● Resilient children are made, not ● Children are more vulnerable to
born. trauma than adults
● Timing is everything. ● An environment of intermittent
● The key to healthy development is care punctuated by total
getting the right experiences in abandonment may be the worst of
the right amounts at the right all worlds for a child.
time.
● The earlier trauma starts, the
more difficult it is to treat and
the greater the damage is likely
to be.
● There can never be too much
emphasis on the importance of
understanding a child’s history
from as many perspectives as
possible.
 What should other teachers learn from this book club?
● The brain evolves from the inside
out, and it develops in much the
same order.
● The brain needs patterned,
repetitive stimuli to develop
properly.
● Foundation of neurosequential
approach: Children need patterned,
repetitive experiences appropriate
to their developmental needs,
needs that reflect the age at
which they’d missed important
stimuli or had been traumatized,
not their current chronological
age.
Continued . . . What should other teachers learn from this book club?
● Our brains adapt to our
environments.
● Since much of the brain develops
early in life, the way we are
parented has a dramatic influence on
brain development.
● As a child grows, many systems of
the brain require stimulation if
they are to develop. If this
“sensitive period” is missed, some
systems may never be able to reach
their full potential.
● The brain is a reflection of our
personal histories. Genetic gifts
will only manifest if we get the
proper developmental experience,
appropriately timed.
What should other teachers consider for their own teaching?
● Create consistency, routine, ● Coercive elements are dangerous
and familiarity because they repeat a key
● Relationships matter: the element of trauma--the person
currency for systematic change involved has no choice and no
is trust, and trust comes way out. Children should never
through forming healthy working be forced to discuss traumatic
relationships. People, not experience.
programs, change people.
● The number and quality of
children’s relationships is a
critical component to their
ability to be resilient.
Continued . . . What should other teachers consider for their own teaching?
● The most important thing to ● Schools and communities that do
understand about helping these not tolerate bullying and that
children is that stress is the model inclusion see reductions
most likely trigger for in not only child behavior
regression. problems, but also in teen drug
● It’s important to recognize how use, crime, and adult mental
our mood and anxiety level can health issues.
affect the children’s.
● The more we can be calm and
compassionate, the better we
will be at helping children
reflect this back at us and the
better we will be at helping
them ultimately learn to
self-regulate.
What preconceived notions or perceptions were confronted
through this book?
● By age 18, 40% of humans have
experienced a traumatizing event
● MYTH: children are resilient
● “Without love, children literally
don’t grow.” p. 99
● Surround children
with normal peers
What preconceived notions or perceptions were confronted
through this book? ●
●
Neglect alone greatly damages the brain
How are we treating people?
● Mistakes in treatment need to be
rapidly and continually forgiven
● Need experiences based on the age they
suffered trauma NOT chronological age
● “Over time, one’s sense of how certain
kinds of youth are likely to behave in
certain circumstances becomes intuitive
and when something doesn’t ‘seem
right,’ it’s a signal one should give
close attention.” p. 232
How did this book inform and/or change your original
thinking?
● The book changed the way I look
at students with trauma
● I use to see them as kids that
are too hard to deal with
● Now I know you just have to be
patient with them
● It may take time for the kids
to open up to you
● I never realized that how much
can go on in a child brain as
they developed that can impact
the way they behave and it will
take time for those habits they
develop to change and adjust.
 What was most moving to you/impactful about this book?
The impact of this book, in terms As teachers, the most moving and
of our learning as teachers, and profound message in this book is
how we can incorporate the about how we can help and support
information we gained from reading our students who suffer from
The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog, is trauma:
illustrated by:
● What We Can Do As Teachers,
● Early Life Experiences and The Parents, Professionals who work
Effects of Brain Function with children, and as a
● Brain Development and the Society, to Help Children Who
Neurosequential Approach Suffer From Trauma?
● Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
in Children (PTSD)