Watch this clip and tell me what comes to mind.... some of you may recognize it from Sociology.
When we study psychology we study nature and nurture a lot! It is a major theme and concept to understand in our development. A big area of study will be cognition and language. Are we born with language? Do we know how to communicate? If you put kids in isolation and never taught them your language would they develop their own? What happens to kids who are raised with Animals? How does it affect their behavior and mind set? Discuss Chapter 6... focus on the following not a summary of the chapter: What is most interesting to you? What concepts did you learn that really stand out? How does nature and nurture affect the little boy? What interesting points does Dr. Perry present about our development? Finish your blog entry with a question. When discussing to your peers attempt to answer their questions.
This chapter was again full of sadness and neglect. Justin was kept in a dog cage for 5 years and Connor was left for about eight hours a day by a nanny who went to another job during that time. It is so sad. One of the things I found interesting was that timing plays a huge role in what amount of recovery the neglected child can achieve. (pg 154). It's crucial just when the neglect happens and worse and worse when it occurs the younger the child is, and the earlier therapy starts the better the recovery. That's one of the reasons why being a parent is one of the most important jobs in the world. Also, Dr. Perry said how complex and necessary social skills are to a person's life. (pg 148-149). They are learned naturally when exposed to them when you are a baby and through your childhood, but if you miss that, they are one of the most difficult things to teach. Also, in Justin's case, the doctors couldn't find the cause to his symptoms for years! (pg 129). Even though it was a rare case, doctors should have at least gotten a lead a little sooner. That's their job. Also, music was said to be one of the most and primarily important aspect of development. (pg 144). That was interesting and makes me wonder about its necessity in adult lives as well, and what is going to become of future generations due to the less and less supported music programs in school systems, especially in elementary schools, (and beyond). It not only is important in early child development, but helps kids in all grades get better grades and improved intellect. What do you feel about this? Also, the clip just made me appalled at how it happened and the amazing recovery she had. It made me realize, even more, how important nurture and environment is to one's development. It also made me ponder the question they posed, what makes a person human? And I think people are always humans because everyone has a soul, and in this case, when she got help, she proved to be the utmost human because of wanting to meet the parents that neglected her. What do you guys think makes someone human? And what is most important in your opinion, nature or nuture?
ReplyDeleteThat is such a hard question, nature or nurture? Without both you are missing an essential way of growing. But if I had to choose I would go with nurture. Learning how to love and be comforted is hard to learn and nature can be changed and learned more easily is what I think.
DeleteI think truly what makes us human beings is being born into it. As far as the nature vs nurture question, I would have to agree with Sammy. I believe nurture is bigger than nature because its the experiences that we learn from and that help carve our lives.
DeleteI think both are equally important. Nurture is our environment, its what gives us the stimuli to grow and adapt to the situations around us, and mold our personality. Nature gives us the ability to react to that stimuli and how we initially respond to our environments.
DeleteI think what makes us human is the way you are raised as an infant, like Nash said you are born into it. I also believe that nurture is more important than nature. There is a higher demand to be loved and cared for and I think without that it can affect your development more then nature.
DeleteThis chapter is very interesting and incredibly sad. A six year old boy named Justin basically raised by dogs but technically raised by a slightly mentally handicapped elderly man. I couldn't help but wonder how the nurses felt when this child is in cage throwing his own feces at them. I found it interesting that the recovery became very rapid for Justin.When Perry talks about Justin having a sense of humor and how he becomes affectionate towards himself and a few staff it shows to me that human nature is coming into play. Humans need attention and love and that comes out in Justin in a short time. I like what Perry says on page 133, "His brain seemed to be like a sponge, thirsty for the experiences is required, and eagerly soaking them up". Justin missed a lot of crucial learning in his earlier years but at this time he is getting help, he is still young. He seems to want to learn and get better and be with his own kind. He is then discharged from the hospital and placed in a foster home. His recovery was remarkable, learning that a patterned, repetitive experience in a safe environment is key.
ReplyDeleteConnor is a 14 year old boy who is thought to have psychological issues pertaining to social and relational skills.He would sway, like Justin, when he was nervous or scared and would also rhythmically flex his hand and hum monotonously. He is thought to have autism or schizophrenia but he doesn't have the typical "mind-blindness". Perry then hypothesizes that if he did have some sort of trauma, it was during the first year of his life. It is learned that Connors mother was an only child, never exposed to children or infants until she had her own. When Connor was born, his mothers cousin is to nanny him, but also working another job, leaving him alone most of the day, similar to Leon. It is astonishing to me that there are people out in the world that think it is okay to leave a child on its own for hour and hours at a time. It is also crazy how in both cases they go through so many doctors before they finally reach an answer. Really makes you think about how complicated the human body really is. Why don't doctors find out right away? Why don't they keep trying to figure it out before sending them off to the next one and giving up? What makes people forget about children? Nature is something we can't control, but nurture is. Nature can come out as we nurture. If we no one would nurture their children, what would really happen to society?
Some people just do not care about anyone but themselves. That nanny that was taking care of Connor could have easily stayed home with him or at least tell him mom, but she wanted the easy way and left him home.
DeleteMore than likely children will grow up to parent the way they were parented. If a person had a childhood without nurture they just start a never ending cycle of bad parenting and neglect.
DeleteI was also appalled by how the nanny left Connor alone during the day. It is so sad that people can be so selfish, like Sammy said. Also, Doctors probably didn't figure it out right away because there are so many symptoms and possible causes that had to be sifted through. That is a question I had also, however. And you are correct in thinking they shouldn't have sent them off to the next doctor so quickly.
DeleteChapter six was a very sad and eye-opening chapter that nature and nurture are such a huge factor in a young child's development. Justin, a six year old boy was abandoned by his mother, his grandmother than took care of him but she soon passed away leaving Justin with Arthur, his grandmothers boyfriend. Arthur was older and not mentally or physically ready for taking care of a baby. Baby Justin spent five long years in a dog cage living with dogs and not interacting with humans at all besides Arthur feeding him. Dr. Perry started working and helping with Justin and in no time at all he was showing progress. I found it interesting that Justin learned so quickly. Dr. Perry says "His brain seemed to be like a sponge, thirsty for the experiences is required, and eagerly soaking them up" (pg. 133). Justin was still young and was ready to learn and become a new person that no one probably thought he could be. He would crack jokes and was becoming affectionate with staff members. I just can't believe it only took him two weeks to be well enough to go into a foster home. That is just truly amazing to me.
ReplyDeleteConnor was a fourteen year old boy who was awkward around people, had no friends, and was diagnosed with many disorders. We soon later discovered that his mother Jane was an only child and had no clue how to care for a baby, just as Leon's mother in the last chapter. She kept the baby with a nanny, but the nanny took on another job and left the baby home alone. It amazes me that people actually think it is okay to leave a baby home alone and not care for it. Connor had about a year on him that he was with his mother and was nurtured but after that he was on his own. He did not know how to make a relation even to his mother. So as he grew and he was around more kids you could see that he was not nurtured as a child. He was shy and was bullied, and had no friends that he could relate too because he did not know how. Perry worked with him and it was very difficult to help Connor. He had no sense of relationships, rhythm, and social interactions. After a long time he was finally getting better. The environment that he was in really helped him in a long shot. That just shows that nature and nurture are a huge role in how someone turns out as they grow older and it is very hard to change the ways that they are brought up on.
The clip showed that we as humans are very delicate. Having no interactions with humans changed that girl in such a dramatic way. She was raised up by dogs and had no nurturing affection other than cuddling up to the dogs. That clip truly shows how much of an affect the environment and nurture has on someone. In the chapter how come it took so many doctors to figure out what was really happening? In the clip why did it take so long for someone to call the authorities and report was going on to that young girl? What is more important, nature or nurture? And how does someone forget about a child?
To answer your first question, I believe it's because people failed to look into Justin's past and home life. Nobody took the time to see if home conditions were how they were supposed to be. As far as nobody contacting authorities about this neglect I can't in any means justify it. They are however foreign so that may be a little indication of why it took so long. I believe nurture has a greater impact on a child's life, just because that involves all experiences that we have during our lifetime
DeleteMost doctors don't take the time time to fully learn about their patient. They only care about the symptoms present and for the most part, what medications they can give to help treat or prevent the issues. They do not take any time to learn the patient's history to see if there could be any sign of an underlying problem or origin.
DeleteReferring to you question about people contacting the authorities about the girl in the clip, I can only think of a few things. She was possibly seen rarely due to being hidden, people maybe didn't think it was their issue to deal with, or on top of it, maybe no one recognized her and just didn't have the heart to help a girl they didn't know. And for her parents to forget about her, the only things I can come up with are that they had countless children and didn't notice her gone in the mix, or just didn't care enough to look for her...
DeleteI found this chapter and video interesting in many different ways. I was unaware of how many feral children are out there until I looked it up after this video. I find it hard to swallow that parents could be this neglectful to not even care in the slightest about their children. One thing that stood out to me was how much Nurture really takes part in any species life. I understand the whole argument that she wasn’t raised by humans so it wasn’t really nature, but still she was acting exactly like a dog… I feel as though the example of the boy is a great example of how nurture really impacts a child. He was kept in a kennel and was use to seeing and hearing other dogs bark and growl at humans. So he grew accustom to that and it was part of his life. He didn’t know any better!! He was nurtured into that by his poor excuse of a guardian. This isn’t really a point, but I love Dr. Perry approaches the situation. He treats Justin kind of like a dog, and slowly more and more like a human. Each day expanding his contact with humans and giving him more human based activities. My question for everyone would be, do you think if a child were only to observe human behavior and not interact with humans, would the child attain qualities and characteristics of normal human beings? Would the child to be lost from almost all normal human behaviors, or would nature pull the child to a human based lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteI do think that a child would eventually learn the qualities of a human by merely observations because some animals are able to learn human characteristics by watching us. A dog for example can learn to "speak" or walk on 2 legs by human observation.
DeleteTo answer your question from my perspective I would say that more or less the child would act normally and behave in the ways that they see the human do, but I would think that their thoughts would be obscure on how to act. They may not act right in certain situations and may react obscurely. They may not apply the same action as someone who has been taught by a human since birth to act certain ways when put under stress or joyful situations.
DeleteI agree that the child would probably act normal for the most part, but their would definitely be some situations that the child wouldn't really know how to act in. Much of what we learn, we learn by watching others after all, but there are also things that need to be taught.
DeleteChapter 6 brought to light what it means to be raised properly in a proper setting. Justin, however, had not been lucky enough to experience this. When he was an infant he was placed in with the dogs and, over time, began to lose his connection to humans. I found it interesting that young children are so highly influenced by who and what may be around them during their infancy. The fact that even children with similar upbringings can develop mentally in very different ways. Nature affected Justin during his first year of life primarily. He had a loving grandmother who had taken care of him up to her passing. Unfortunately, when his grandfather placed him in a kennel with the dogs, nurture began to take over. He no longer received the physical affection he needed, nor did he get spoken to properly or on a regular basis. As a result, he never learned to communicate with people or learn how to behave and interact with other humans, only dogs. I found it interesting how on page 132, Dr. Perry discusses how " neural systems could be shaped by patterned, repetitive experience in a safe and predictable environment " can greatly affect brain development, especially if started early enough.
ReplyDeleteConnor, a little boy raised in an environment much like Leon's, had very different brain development that Lean had. Connor had been left alone during the day while his nanny went to her second job. He did receive attention from his parents in the evenings and on weekends, but this didn't seem to help Connor. He grew up to be very distanced from his peers due to lack of proper early brain development. he was picked on for the way he associated awkwardly with other people, for how he dressed, and for playing Pokemon in high school. Due to his lack of care as a baby, he did not develop proper ways to engage in conversation or in how to make friends without scaring them off. He could not read any verbal or body language cues. However, Dr. Perry believes that he was able to be treated because the problems had been caught soon enough for him to begin early treatment.
The clip presented saddens me because it is one thing to read about how a child raised by dogs acts, but it is another thing to actually see it. I have seen the episode on t.v. about this young girl and it interested me that a person could be so influenced by their surroundings at such a young age. I think people have to learn language, They may have a slight idea about body language, but if not spoken to, it is very difficult to learn the human language. This particular girl learned the language of dogs. I do not necessarily think a child left alone will develop their own language other than body language. They will try to express themselves in any way they can, or maybe never at all. Children who are raised with animals never learn how to act like a human is supposed to. They actually take on the role of that certain animal, learning to eat with their hands, growl at things they are afraid of or not used to, and interact with the animals just like how they interact with each other. Their mind set will never be like that of a human because they do not know what that is supposed to be. They are too heavily influenced by what is taught to them during the earliest parts of their lives.
Why is it that Connor and Leon were placed in similar situations as infants yet had completely different brain development? Is there hope for a child who had been raised by animals for an extended amount of time, more than 15 years for example, because the brain is nearly fully developed by age 25?
I don't believe any child would survive 15 years on their own with the way humans are built now. I think something many people are overlooking as well is chemical imbalances in the brain that can be a result of genetics as part of an explanation as to why some people in the same situations end up differently.
DeleteThe thing that surprises me the most is how fast the feral children both in the video and in the chapter were able to recover from their animal-like tendencies and ascend to much more human behaviors. It appears we know much more about recovering feral children than ones with sociopathic/psychopathic tendencies. Justin recovered in just 2 weeks after years of being raised with dogs, as compared to Leon, who Dr. Perry was concerned about changing even after years of therapy. Going back to Leon, Connor's childhood was very similar to his, being spent on years of neglect from parents, and in Connor's case, the nanny. However, they both grew up to become very different people. Leon became the bully, and Connor, the target. Leon did terrible in school, and Connor thrived. Both had high IQ's and a lack of social skills, but their general outcomes were vastly different. This is where I feel the aspect of nature comes in. Connor was able to recover and live a relatively normal life, while Leon suffered socially and became a murderer with no moral qualms. Its obviously very important to be able to identify a potential problem when the person is as young as possible, but Dr. Perry was able to "save" Connor even at age 14, when Leon, at 16, seemed almost hopeless.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes people who are sociopaths or psychopaths so difficult to treat compared to people who are practically animals?
I found it very interesting as well at how fast these children bounced into normal behavior. One would think that it would have taken much more time than what it did take. It seems as if the human behavior is more instinct than anything,
DeleteNature or nurture that's the question. It's sad to realize and admit but there are children in the world who's parents have neglected them. They were forced to find comfort and teaching from something new. If any of you know the study of Harry F. Harlow and the monkeys you would have a greater idea of the impact of nurture. In the experiment Dr. Harlow gave monkeys a choice of mother: one that was warm and had cloth but provided no food and one that was cold, made of wire and provided food for the animals. Dr. Harlow created a machine to scare the monkeys to see where they would go and every time they chose the cloth monkey for warmth and protection rather than going for the essential life sustaining substance. This applies to what we read in chapter six about how leaving a child in a cage without warmth and love pushes them to find companionship elsewhere and pick up the traits that they see. With out the nurturing of a mother or a father figure children remain in their infancy developmental stage and cease to move on and make progress. Connor was given food and his diaper was changed though his baby sitter neglected to give him the care that he really needed. He needed to be touched and held in order to grow and move to the next stage developmentally. I think that this chapter has opened my eyes to how without loving parents we would all be stuck in our infancy stages, that the smallest touch can ultimately mean the world to a small growing child. Why do you think we can't grow unless we receive nurturing love?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteNurturing love comes in many forms. For example, it is important for a sick child to have direct skin to skin contact to help them heal. Many parents to be read, sing, or talk to their child in the womb. These to examples alone prove the power of human touch and the sound of the human voice as a way to heal and provide comfort.
DeleteThe story on the monkeys is very interesting. It really shows how humans and animals need to be nurtured to survive. I also did not realize how love and skin contact can impact a child so much.
DeleteI think that the experiment with the monkeys is very interesting. It shows that humans and animals both desire protection and comfort. I makes sense that Justin acted like a dog; he went to the dogs for protection and warmth.
DeleteI think that we can't grow without love because its basically human nature. Humans need love and affection. Our whole lives that is what every person wants and needs, love and attention. Of course it changes from being an infant to and elderly person but we all long for it.
DeleteI believe there's more to learn from feral children than just the neglect and abuse they experienced. Some things I wished that would've been covered in the chapter were more things about the lingual development of the children neglected so early. It's interesting to think that we're only able to talk because of the people around us. We're so entirely dependent upon the nurturing of other humans that it's always very bizarre to hear about a feral child. The girl in the video imitated the dogs but was also able to talk as she was 3 years old by the time she'd be neglected. It's also pretty impressive at how quickly these kids are able to recover from these kinds of things. Only weeks, months at the most do these children need to start making improvements in leaps and bounds. I think that's also very telling of how important the nurturing from other humans is and how powerful it can be. While it's sad to think children are being left to their own devices, I believe there's a lot that can be learned from these cases. People seem to be very resilient and can find companionship in (almost) anything. Do you believe we are completely dependent on each other, or do you think that someone would be able to ultimately survive on their own?
ReplyDeleteI don't think anybody could completely survive on their own. We all need some type of love in our life. As the chapter showed us, without the proper nurturing of young children there is flaws in the development.
DeleteI believe you could survive on your own for sometime but ultimately you would need human interaction to stay sane and to function normally. You need that nurture and affection in life your to function and develop right in life.
DeleteIn this Chapter we meet a boy named Justin who was kept in a cage for the first five years of his life. Justin was wrongly diagnosed to have brain damage just because he wasn't able to speak or walk. Dr. Perry helps Justin recover and begins a new approach for helping children who have been neglected early in life. When Dr. Perry started working with Justin I thought it was very interesting how much Justin learned in such a short amount of time. Dr. Perry once stated within the chapter that Justin's brain was like a sponge and how it was thirsty for all of this new information he was learning. Without a mother figure or a father figure in his life, Justin remained in his infancy state of life and never gained the skills like walking or talking. Justin's recovery was astounding with the help of Dr. Perry and he was later discharged from the hospital to be put in the foster system. We also meet another little boy named Connor who was left alone throughout the day while his nanny took on another job instead of caring for him. When Connor's mother realized what had been going on it was too late for Connor and he needed some much guided help and that is where Dr. Perry came in. Connor ended up making a huge improvement thanks to Dr. Perry. Another thing that was very interesting to me was the timing of Justin and Connor's neglect and the huge impact it had in their life because it occurred in the early stages of life development. In the video this girl at the age of three was neglected by her parents that were too drunk to care about her so she started talking to the familiy dogs and later acquired their characteristics. When this girl was found she began an amazing recovery at a very fast pace just like Justin and Connor. The question is nature or nurture? My personal belief is that without nurture the human brain won't reach its maximum development and therefore won't learn normal age approrpriate human characteristics. For example, Justin's nature ruined him because he was locked in a cage for five years. Dr. Perry also stated in the chapter that infants recognize tone of voice and need to be touched to grow into the next developmental stage of life. The chapter and the video clip verified for me that neglectful or felony parenting affects a child in so many ways. Parenting is a very important job and not every person is worthy of the responsibility. A happy childhood lasts a llifetime and fortunately these stories hint that a bad childhood doesn't have to last forever with professional help and a second chance. Nuture can overcome nature, do you agree?
ReplyDeleteI also agree that nurture can overcome nature. Both cases showed that nurture can be so powerful and overcome nature. The type of parent that a child is raised by will determine the outcome of the mental state of a child.
DeleteI think that this chapter helped to prove nurture can overcome nature. When the Justin wasn't given proper nurturing from humans, he went to acting like a dog to receive the proper love and affection from dogs. Once he was shown nurture from humans he was than able to go back to human ways.
DeleteChapter 6 and the video brought to my attention that nurture and nature had such a major impact on children development. In the book Justin and Connor were both neglected in the early years of development. Justin lived in a dog cage for 5 years and Connor was left alone for 8 hours of the day by the nanny for over a year.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that the time period when you were neglected can have a huge impact on your development. The younger you are when you get neglected the more damage can be done to your development. Also the earlier therapy is introduced the better recovery that child can have. Watching the video made me realize the way you are raised affects the way you behave when you are older. For the girl she was raised by dogs and grew up thinking that was the appropriate way to act. Parenting is not an easy thing. It is a huge responsibility and you have to know what you are doing.
I learned countless things from Dr. Perry in this chapter. One of the basic was touch, in Connors case he found touch unpleasant. Another on being how necessary social skills are in development. I found it interesting that even the littlest of social skills were hard for Dr. Perry to teach Connor. Why is it that we cant fully develop without nurturing? And what if everybody didn't receive nurturing in there life?
I believe that as we've progressed as a species, we've relied more and more on being nurtured for so long. I can't imagine prehistoric humans having enough time and resources to care so intently for their young for as long as we do now. Other animals don't rely so heavily on their mothers for so long, so I can only assume that this is something we've developed over time. A dependence on this nurturing a good most of us receive sort of seems like an inconvenience for us as a whole.
DeleteI believe you could survive on your own for sometime but ultimately you would need human interaction to stay sane and to function normally. You need that nurture and affection in life your to function and develop right in life.
DeleteI think its amazing how fast Justin recovered. Even though he was raised by the dogs at such a young age, Dr. Perry was able to help him and become a normal boy. I think there would maybe be some problems in a child's life if they were not exposed to different voice pitches. It might have something to do with rhythm and if they are not exposed to it until later, I feel like their stress response system could be off balance.
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ReplyDeleteIn chapter six we learn about how much a young child can be affected and influenced by the stimulation around them. In Justin's case it was a lack of stimulation and affection while in Connor's case it involved how he was raised as if he were a dog. In both situations the boys were neglected by their caregivers and lacked appropriate social skills as they grew older. The concept that the timing of the neglect was crucial to the recovery was very interesting to me. I also found it very interesting that different people will respond differently to certain situations. The concept of nature and nurture is a major theme in this chapter. "Nature" is in your genes and your biological makeup. This explains how people react different to particular situations. "Nurture" is how you are raised to respond to the particular situation. Both of the boys were affected by these concepts throughout their childhood. Does nature and nurture have an equal affect, or is one more important than the other?
ReplyDeleteYes, I would think so. I believe that if a child grew up with more one than the other they would act different than a child that grew up with both equally.
DeleteI agree with Leah. The difference between the two is what makes us "human". Anyone could survive just off of nature. However, nurture is what provides the human emotional development. You can take away nurture, but you can not take away nature. Therefore, you can not grow and develop just off of nurture; it's impossible.
DeleteBefore reading this chapter and watching this video, I did not realize how much a person's environment and love can affect the way that they grow up. Justin and other kids that were raised by dogs act just like them by barking and walking the way they do. After watching the video, I thought it was crazy how a human was so much like a dog. I believe that we do grow up to be the people we are by learning from other people around us or, in Justin's case, the dogs around him.
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting that Justin had recovered so quickly and started acting like a human being instead of a dog. I love the way Dr. Perry approaches the people he works with, and tries new strategies with each of his patients. He approached Justin slowly and never made him nervous like nurses would, which would cause him to throw his food and freak out. In Connor's case, he experienced neglect and didn't know how to interact with people the same way that people naturally do. I never thought that massage therapy was something that could be used to help people accept touch from others. It was interesting how it helped Connor open up and finally show affection to others.
I like how Dr. Perry brought up the topic of rhythm. Without rhythm, babies would have an irregular time of when they would want to eat and sleep, so it would make it hard for the parents to know what they wanted. I never thought of rhythm in that way. This chapter opened my eyes to many things that the other chapters had not. I wonder what would've happened to Justin if he would've been raised by the dogs at an even earlier age. Would he have been able to recover as fast as he did or would he not have been able to recover fully at all?
Based on what Dr. Perry believed, I would infer that it would have been a much more difficult recovery if he was raised as a dog from the beginning. Luckily the boy had some experiences in a human environment as an infant. This exposure to the normal society was extremely crucial in the recovery of the boy.
DeleteI also really liked Dr. Perry's approach to the kids and his techniques to help them heal. Some were completely unique while others seemed to be modeled after Mama P's style. I think if Justin was raised with dogs even sooner than he was Dr. Perry wouldn't have seen such a remarkable and fast recovery. The first year spent with his grandmother definitely played a key role in his fast recovery. Without it, he would never come as far as he did or as quickly as he did.
DeleteIt would be my guess that, based on information given, I believe that Justin's recovering process would have been majorly declined in progress if he had not received that critical nurture in his first months as an infant. As stated in the clip, what makes us humans is being brought up as humans. Justin would not have a foundation of correctly developed regions of his brain, had he been solely raised by dogs.
DeleteI was astounded when I watched the video. It is so shocking and horrifying to think that something that seems so unrealistic can actually happen. How is that possible? Why don’t our brains all develop in the same way? I find it very interesting how our brains develop according to our nature and how we are nurtured. It also bewilders me how a person can do such a thing to their child.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 6, it really amazed me how quick, and how much, of an improvement Justin made after being “raised as a dog” for five years of his life. Within a week of therapy, he was sitting on his own and standing with assistance. By three weeks, he was already taking his first steps. For how underdeveloped his brain was, it was appalling to see how much capacity he had to make such remarkable improvements. In Connor’s case, I learned that even though one may appear to be mentally and physically delayed, with the proper therapeutic interventions, sometimes those things can be reversed or improved.
All throughout nature, touch is a very important stimulus for growth and development. For Connor, he had not received nearly enough of this stimuli for the first year and a half of his life due to neglect from his babysitter. As he grew socially isolated, he was not able to stand being touched. When nurturing a child, touch is very important. Infants will quickly connect touch with pleasure in the stress response system. Through massage therapy, Connor was able to learn to accept being touched and associated it with pleasure. He also went through a dramatic change with his social behavior. Some things that I found interesting about our development that Dr. Perry pointed out was that one develops certain learned behaviors (such as associating touch with pleasure) at key points throughout the developmental stage. If these targets are not met at the right time, they may never develop correctly. He implemented this theory to create a strategic plan for Connor, and he created it in the same sequence as one would normally learn them.
What would the course of mankind be without the act of nurturing? How smart would we actually be?
The course of mankind would not function well without nurturing. As we learned in chapter four, Laura was not even able to gain weight do to lack of nurturing and compassion. Human contact is crucial to a functioning society.
DeleteI don't think we would be as advanced as we are either without nurturing. Our ability to think the way we do is something we learn from others around us and through people helping one another.
DeleteThe course of mankind would be going downhill and going down real fast. No one would know how to love or act towards others. We would not be very smart either without the way to think the way we do.
DeleteJustin was a six year old boy who was very neglected as a child. He was abandoned by his mother as a baby. After his mother left, Justin was taken care of by his grandmother. Sadly, his grandmother died, and was left with her boyfriend Arthur. Arthur was not suitable to be a parent and take care of a child. He was mentally and physically unstable. Arthur had put Justin in a dog cage with other dogs and left him there. Justin had no human interaction once-so-ever other than Arthur feeding him. When Dr. Perry started working with Justin and helping him, he was showing a very quick response and was headed down the right track. You could tell that Justin wanted to learn and was eager to become a whole new person. Since Justin was recovering so quickly, Dr. Perry decided that after only two weeks of working with him, Justin was ready to go into a foster home. I find it very unfortunate that Justin was not only abandoned, but that probably his only family (his grandmother) had passed away also. But I find it very interesting that social services would leave Justin with his grandmother's boyfriend when they knew for obvious reasons that he was not able to raise a child.
ReplyDeleteA boy named Connor who was 14 years old was diagnosed with a lot of disorders. He was awkward to be around and didn't have a lot of friends. His mother Jane was a child and didn't have any idea how to raise a child. Jane left Connor with a nanny most of the time. After a while the nanny was offered another job and took it and just left baby Connor home alone. Jane only nurtured and cared for him for about a year. After that he was left by himself and was basically on his own. Not being nurtured had a huge effect on Conner's life. Because of this he was shy and bullied, and didn't know how to make fiends. It was very hard for Dr. Perry to help Connor, considering that he had no feel of social interactions or relationships with people. After a while of Connor working with Dr. Perry, he finally started to get better. I find it very heart breaking that the mother could just let this happen to Connor. How could she basically abandon him and not even care? I know that she was only a child and probably didn't know how to take care of a baby on her own, but children shouldn't even be having babies in the first place!
While I was watching the clip I was feeling very sad and helpless for the girl Oxanna. I just don't quite comprehend and understand how a person could just leave a child in a dog cage for so long that it affects the child mentally, and barely even care.
Chapter 6 showcases two patients who both suffered from severe neglect at a very early age. Justin spent his childhood raised by an old man among dogs. The man didn't know how to raise children, so he raised Justin the same as the dogs. Connor was left alone for most of everyday by a nanny who went to a different job instead of caring for him. The video really shows how messed up a child can get from early neglect. She was acting exactly how a dog would. I think that people will grow up to act like what whatever they are taught is right as an infant by whoever raises them, whether that be another person, an animal, or themselves. It is interesting how quickly both of these patients recovered after working with Dr. Perry and his new techniques. He went very slowly with both of them and treated them based on how developed they were instead of their actual ages. At first it seemed counter-intuitive because everyone wanted them to act their age. However, they would never be able to act their age if they missed out on the attention and nurturing they needed when they were younger. One thing I wouldn't have expected Connor to miss out on was rhythm. I think that is something that many people take for granted, but it seems like Conner didn't have rhythm because nobody ever rocked him as a child, or gave him attention, food, and sleep on a regular schedule. Is there any other basic concepts that, are taken for granted by most, that a neglected child would miss out on?
ReplyDeleteThe rhythmic sequence came of interest to me learning how we develop certain things in our own life that seem like we are just born with it but in reality are taught by our care givers early on in life with out them even knowing they are teaching it to us. As Dr.Perry talks about in other chapters we are taught how to love by the physical contact of our care givers and with a neglected child they might not feel that love the same way children who are shown great love to would.
DeleteOne of the most interesting things to me in chapter six was how crucial timing was when it came to development and a person’s ability to recover from abuse and neglect. We often don't realize how much the very first year of life, something we can't even remember, can affect our ability to socialize, move, speak, and build relationships. Another thing I found interesting was that even though Connor's mother discovered what was happening and then took care of him and sought out help when he wasn't developing properly, that one year was still able to affect Connor for the rest of his entire life. I also became much more aware of how complex the human language is after reading this chapter, it’s amazing to think about how much of our communication is based solely on body language, or unspoken social cues and rules; it just shows again how much we learn from exposure when we’re young, and how lost we would be without that exposure. I had always thought it was mainly just nurture when it comes to nature vs nurture. However, when Dr. Perry talked about some children being born with a better ability to “do more with less” than others, I was given a new prospective that I hadn’t thought of before, so maybe it has more to do with nature than I had ever previously thought. So I’m left with the questions…How big of a part do genetics really play in how a person handles stress or abuse? Why did Connor not make more progress when his mother quit her job to take care of him? Was it her lack of knowledge about caring for infants and children or something else?
ReplyDeleteI think that genetics doesn't have a big role in this situation. It also would've helped if his mother knew how to raise a child.
DeleteI don't think it was Connor's mother's lack of knowledge or ability to take care of infants in which resulted in Connor not making progress. I think that it was that the damage had been done: that critical period contained a void. This void would take more than simple nurture, but rather more extreme versions of what he had missed out on as an infant.
DeleteChapter six was very sad, but interesting. How your child grows up should be one of your biggest priorities as a parent even if you have to give them to someone else to take care of. I find it interesting how the feral children are able to recovered from their animal-like behaviors after growing up with it for five or more years. I would think that after a few years it would be permanent in their brains. The concept that I learned was that early childhood makes a huge difference on your later years. For example, reading to your children or treating them with care or even treating them like a human like in the book and in the video. Justin was nurtured by his grandmother and after she died he was then cared for by dogs. His life consisted of dog kennels. So, when he was exposed to human things he would act out. Dr. Perry stated in the chapter that infants recognize tone of voice and need to be touched to grow into the next developmental stage of life. In other words nature is very important to a child. Being touched and talked to are important. When Dr. Perry first started working with Justin he knew Justin wanted to learn and wanted to be human. And just after two weeks he was ready to go into foster care. Another boy named Connor was left alone while his nanny went to another job instead of caring for him. When his mother found out she got Dr. Perry to help her. In the video the girl had the same issue as Justin and Connor were the parents didn’t care for them. This chapter was my favorite in the way that it showed how a child is raised at infancy can change them. Why is it hard for some doctors to find out what is wrong with some children and why is it easier for others? Is it that they don’t want to find out or is it that they really have no idea?
ReplyDeletei feel like some doctors look for more common diseases instead of looking deeper into the situation and the deeper details in a situation. I think that they might not be putting as much time as they should be into cases.
DeleteI think it is different for all doctors and every situation they are faced with. The truth is every doctor dedicates themselves to treating others. But sometimes they are faced with cases that hit a little closer to home causing them to look that little bit deeper into their answers. Other times its that some cases are just simply easier than others: symptoms are more blatantly exposed than others.
DeleteThis chapter talks about two different people, Justin and Connor. The first person was Justin. Justin's mother got pregnant and left her child with her mother. Unfortunately her mother died and Justin was taken into the care of her mother's boyfriend. The boyfriend, who was a little socially awkward and unaware how to raise a child, took car of dogs usually. So he raised Justin like a dog and Justin started acting like a dog. The other person was Connor. Connor had been diagnosed with a lot of different diseases but none of them were right. Connor's mother left Connor with her cousin most of the time and her cousin would leave Connor in a crib and she would go to her other job. He became to develop slowly and have problems. It's crazy how the way someone is raised can change their lives forever. I don't understand how someone could just leave their child and not care for them like these two mothers did. Do they understand what type of damage they are doing or did to the person that they brought into this world? It's not fair and it's not okay. When i watched the video i thought it was amazing how our brains can change and adapt to the way we live and how we develop so differently. Although I learned a lot from the chapter and the video i thought both were disturbing and sad.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize how much a child's environment can impact the way they grow up and live. I found this chapter and video very interesting. I didn't know a human could actually act so much like an animal. I also don't understand how anyone raising a kid would not realize that them living in a dog cage or leaving a baby at home for eight hours while you go to a different job is not okay. I think it is interesting how the kids can recover after experiencing something like this. I learned that how you are treated and raised early in your childhood has a very large impact on your later life. If you are cared for by dogs and treated like a dog, you are going to act like a dog. I thought it was crazy how fast Justin recovered and was ready to go into foster care. I wonder if the little love and affection that he got from his grandmother while she was still alive played a role in how fast he recovered. If he would have been raised as a dog from the beginning, would it have taken longer and would it have gotten better at all?
ReplyDeleteI think that the brief amount of love and affection Justin got from his grandmother helped him recover as fast as he did. If he hadn't received that love and affection, it would be a totally foreign concept to him when Dr. Perry was trying to make him better and he might not have caught on as fast.
DeleteLuckily at such a young age, kids are actually pretty well able to adapt to new things, so I doubt it'd be a huge problem, if any.
ReplyDeleteWe mimic what our parents, sibling and caretakers say, so being "raised" with or by dogs.. I guess you'd mimic barking and acting just like a canine. We all have imaginations and our brains thrive to learn so we always make up the lack of communication. When i said we mimic our elder influences, we behave like them and learn from them. What stood out the most to me is that the parents/guardians of these children do not realize the affects of their neglect until it's too late. Dr. Perry makes is very clear that our infant years are EXTREMELY critical stages in our brain development. If Justin hadn't received any affection or any of Dr. Perry's help, how extreme would his condition be today?
ReplyDeleteYou make a very good, and sad, point that it was too late for the parents/guardians to realize the affects of the neglect these children had suffered for years. The damage is done and they will probably never make a full recovery. Also, it is scary to think how out of control Justin could have been if they didn't reach him when they did. I think his condition would be uncontrollable today because he would be even bigger and stronger and so used to his life as a dog that there wouldn't be much hope for any type of recovery.
DeleteI learned many new concepts from this chapter but there is one that really stuck out to me. Dr. Perry kept stressing how important early love and affection is. Justin was able to adapt and learn very quickly due his first year of life spent with his grandmother. Although he was traumatized and raised as a dog for several years after that, the attention he received in that first year of his life played a crucial role in his quick recovery. On the other hand, Connor was deprived of that love and affection from the beginning. For the first 18 months of his life, he was left alone all day. He did receive some attention in the evenings and on weekends. However, he still had a more difficult recovery than Justin since his brain could not develop properly for the first year and a half of his life.
ReplyDeleteChapter six also had several points that caught my attention. The first thing I was surprised to find out was the brain and head can actually shrink if it is deprived long enough of the factors it needs to grow and develop. I guess I assumed it would remain the same size rather than shrinking. I also found it interesting that Justin and the Ukranian girl had similar stories. Both were raised by humans in the beginning before ending up with the dogs. Luckily, as Dr. Perry pointed out, dogs are very affectionate and loving creatures so the two kids were at least exposed to some of that. Finally, both children were able to make quicker recoveries than some other traumatized or abused kids. I think their quick recovery time was partially due to the affectionate nature of the dogs they lived with, but mostly because the start of their lives were spent with humans capable of giving them the necessary love and attention to stimulate brain growth and development.
While Connnor wasn't as fast as the other two, he still came a long way. All three kids fought through many obstacles and eventually saw huge improvements. Some may say their recovery was strictly due nurture and all the help they were given from professionals, such as Dr. Perry, along the way. Others would argue that nature was the key factor that aided their rehabilitation since our brains are programmed to grow and develop when the right stimuli is provided. So what is the right answer? Does nature play a bigger role in our brain's development? Or is it nurture?
I believe nurture plays a bigger role in our development because anyone can survive just off of nature. It is nurture that makes us "human" and provides the human emotional development. You can take away nurture but you can't take away nature. "Nature" is nature; you can't change that. It would be impossible to survive just off of nurture.
DeleteIt is a good question about having social issues with speech and development. I think that since it was discovered at such a young age that it would be easier to teach normal behavior and go far with speech.
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ReplyDeleteI found it interesting how when a child was given love for the first couple months of their life they would "recover" much faster than a child who was deprived from love all of his life. I think this shows how important the first few months of a child's life can plan such a huge role in their brain development. The part that stuck out to me the most was how these children are able to, after years of being raised like a dog, are still able to learn some language and human behaviors. It amazes me how a child can just bounce back, not completely of course but they are able to learn better than an adult would.If a child is shown proper love even at the first few months they are much faster learners. Dr. Perry shows how important those first few connections in our brains are able to affect the rest of our lives. He points out the differences in how the children were raised and the difference in their recovery processes. My final question is if a child were raised by say a dog and found in their adult life, would they still be able to recover?
ReplyDeleteIt would be hopeful to think that a grown adult could possibly recover from such a traumatic upbringing but there is that saying that says you cant teach an old dog new tricks, which is ironic in this sense but still makes a point. There is a point in our lives where our brain becomes fully developed and at this point I feel it would be impossible to have an adult brought up with dogs fully recover, although they may somewhat be able to recover in ways a full recovery seems impossible at that point.
DeleteWatching this video shocked me I didn't think it was possible for someone to be raised and grow up thinking they were a dog. Just seeing how this young girl acted after living with dogs for five plus years astonished me. For someone to leave a young innocent child with dogs to raise it is just awful. It also shocked me though that the child was able to change her entire life so quickly and behave like a human-being after not knowing anything else but how to live and act like a dog. In one of the chapters it talks about Justin a young infant who's mother got pregnant and left him with his grandmother who unfortunately died and then was left in the hands of a unfit boyfriend. The boyfriend left Justin to live in the kennel with the dogs and raised him like a dog. In the other story a boy named Conner was left alone for hours throughout the day and no raised with any love or affection. Through his growing stages he would develop really slowly and was not acting normal. Unlike Justin who recovered very quickly it took Conner a lot longer. Its really sad to see how parents can just leave their children and not even care what happens to them. Every child need loves and affection from their parents or parent. Without this the whole developmental process will be messed up and can cause many different side effects. That's why i'm wondering what if half the children in world weren't raised by love and affection, what would are world be like?
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to find that by going back to the time the child was neglected and giving the child what they missed at that age can mend the brain to how it is supposed to be. This taught me a lot about the way our brains work with development of motor skills, speech and many other things that we learn from our caregivers. It makes you question weather nature or nurture is really more important in the development of a child or in better terms what makes a bigger impact on the future of children. The little boy who was left with the dogs by his caregiver was affected by nurture trying to find comfort and the only way he could get it was with the dogs. After he was helped by Dr.Perry however he was given the chance and comfort he needed by his own species helping his brain to understand the nature of how he is supposed to act. Dr. Perry brings up many interesting facts about our brain and the development processes. One of which being the rhythmic sequences in our bodies up until reading this chapter i had no idea that they were in any sense important for our bodies. I also had no idea that as you rock a child that creates the rhythmic sequence that the baby needs. Dr.Perry also talks about that maybe the result of Leon's actions were not only due to the neglect but that genetics could have something to do with his decisions making it about nature and nurture. Is nature or nurture more important? Or are they equally important? Does one affect the way we act more than the other?
ReplyDeleteThe video clip of the Ukrainian girl adds a sobering visual to the case of Justin. She was similarly raised as a dog, and has acquired the behavior typically expected of normal dogs. It is nonetheless an impressive example of the powerful effects of nurture (or lack thereof) on development and whom we ultimately become.
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting aspect of Justin’s case, in my opinion, is his remarkable and rapid recovery from the neglect-inflicted developmental retardation. The fact that this child was able to learn to walk and talk in a matter of weeks in astonishing, considering the severity of his condition when he first met Dr. Perry. Connor's similarly rapid improvement is equally impressive. A particularly interesting concept presented by Dr. Perry in this chapter is the power of repetitive and patterned stimulus in initiating a restorative process in underdeveloped areas of the brain. Our development, while subject to well-studied “critical periods,” is clearly not a deterministic process with strict time limits on learning, after which further development becomes impossible. The case of nature and nurture is quite interesting when Justin is viewed in the perspective of a human infant raised as a canine pup. Justin, at age 5, could neither walk nor talk (Perry 129) – two activities which require a certain degree of teaching, particularly talking – demonstrating that nature is not sufficient to provide humans with all of the traits that distinguish us from other animals. Dr. Perry’s idea of finding methods to resume development in stunted parts of the brain is quite interesting – it begs the question, what methods could exist that would enable us to increase what we call “potential?”
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ReplyDeleteThe most intriguing thing to me Is how much our behavior and actions depends on others. We aren't just born with human instincts we are shaped by our surroundings and what we pick up from them is what we breed. It is incredible how we are born with being able to understand simple things things such as love. It seems to me we are born to understand love and If we don't receive love it really damages a persons life. who knew that rhythm is important to our daily lives as Dr.Perry pointed out. What I would like to know is how different our human lives would be if we never learned language how different our world would be?
ReplyDeleteWhat interested me in the clip was the statement, “Part of what makes us humans, is being brought up by humans. If we aren’t brought up by humans, we lose the part of us that is human.” This made me think, what if the reason Justin was able to recover so drastically is because he had that human contact growing up as well as constant human contact in the first months of his life. There are so many hypotheses and connections between the recovering processes in these two situations; it is so interesting.
ReplyDeleteAnother relevant point, just as with Justin, Connor had been left alone for hours on end during his infancy. However, he did receive, although minimum, human contact during this crucial time period when his lower and most central regions of the brain are actively developing (139) he too was able to have such drastic improvement in his mental health.
Nurture is a valuable aspect of our human nature in order to be a successful parent. Even the slightest human nurturing contact makes an impact on a baby: a heartbeat is crucial to a baby’s development. Not having this physical touch as a part of their daily routine can set a baby’s development back and even in some cases cause death (143). Connor didn’t experience this heartbeat and other soothing techniques; so, a large part of his recovery included music and dancing and feeling rhythm. Would not only adding human contact to Justin’s recovery but also music and rhythm aid his development, do nothing to his process, or could it have set back his improvement?