Perry’s experiences with these children, he began to notice that therapy had to primarily focus on when the child’s trauma began. If the child’s cognitive development was negatively affected when the abuse and/or neglect occurred, this is where the therapy should begin. This is due to the traumatic event ultimately allowing the child to stay in, or skip this stage of development which is still important to the child’s overall development. Therefore, Dr. Perry explains that therapy focuses on what the child needed at that age despite their current chronological age. This could be seen in Dr. Perry’s patient who was known as, Peter. Peter was adopted and had delayed development in numerous areas in his life due to early childhood neglect. This caused Peter to become fixated in certain areas of childhood despite his age being much older than he was acting. However, by treating Peter how you would treat a young child he began to see progress and later graduate high school and attend …show more content…
Perry states how damaging our current modern western society can also be on a child. This is due to this societies attempt to dismantle extended family structures. In many other cultures, extended families are a tightly woven web of family support. Having more stable and healthy relationships can only positively effect a child’s development. Unfortunately, this was not the case for a child that Dr. Perry reviewed. This child, known as Leon, viciously murdered two young girls. This child led a very different life than his older brother Frank who flourished in an extended family lifestyle, versus Leon who was often left alone for hours while his mother and brother went about their