The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook

Perry introduces Peter, a seven-year-old boy adopted from a Russian orphanage at age three. Peter displayed infantile bonding behaviors with his adoptive mother, embarrassing his parents who expected age-appropriate conduct. The orphanage had housed 60 infants in rows of cribs, providing only 15 minutes of individual adult attention per eight-hour shift for basic feeding and changing. With no holding, rocking, or conversation, the children became sources of comfort for each other, reaching through the crib bars to hold hands and play simple games. Most remarkably, the orphaned children developed their own rudimentary language system of several dozen words. When Peter arrived in America, translators discovered his speech belonged to no known language—the children had created their own communication system in the absence of adult interaction.

Perry’s evaluation revealed Peter’s severely fragmented development. Brain scans showed cortical atrophy, enlarged ventricles, and underdeveloped lower brain structures—clear evidence of the impact of early neglect. At age seven, Peter functioned cognitively at or above his chronological age in mathematics and some language skills, but socially and emotionally, he resembled a three-year-old, while some motor skills matched those of an 18-month-old child.

Perry explained crucial brain development principles to Peter’s parents. The brain reaches 85% of adult size by age three—precisely when Peter experienced severe deprivation.