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

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child abuse and addiction.

ACE stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences, which refers to potentially traumatic events that occur during childhood. These experiences encompass various forms of abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction that can have lasting effects on a child’s development and well-being. The authors briefly note in the Preface to the 2017 Edition that awareness of ACEs has expanded dramatically over the past decade, moving from a specialized clinical concept to widespread public understanding and policy implementation across educational, healthcare, and social service systems.

The brain stem is the most primitive and foundational part of the human brain that controls essential life functions. Perry describes the brain stem as the lowest and most central region of the brain, which develops first during childhood and is responsible for regulating core bodily processes such as heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, and body temperature. This region represents the most basic level of brain organization that humans share with even simple creatures like lizards. In Perry’s hierarchical model of brain development, the brain stem serves as the foundation upon which more complex brain regions are built, and dysfunction in this area can affect a child’s most fundamental regulatory systems.