...A Child Called “It” Dave Pelzer Health Communications September 1st, 1995 184 pages The subject of this book was Dave Pelzer and I chose him because his life story interested me. What interested me about Pelzer was that he was strong, courageous, and smart enough to play his mother’s own games. Significant Events: 1) At age 12 Dave was finally rescued from the horror his mom would cause and placed in a series of foster homes until he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at age 18. Even with all that was against him, Dave was determined to better himself - no matter what the odds. 2) As a member of the Armed Forces, Dave was hand-picked to midair refuel the highly secretive SR-71 Blackbird and the F-117 Stealth Fighter, which played a major role in Operations Just Cause, Desert Shield and Desert Storm. While serving on active duty and maintaining a rigorous flight schedule, Dave made time to give of himself. 3) His first book was a major success and was about his alcoholic mother who was very abusive to him. Pelzer is the survivor of the third worst case of child-abuse in California’s history, a case he vividly recalls in A Child Called “It”. 4) Dave is the first to have four # 1 International Best Sellers and to have four books simultaneously on the New York Times Best Sellers List. Minor Events: 1) Dave was honored as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans. He joins a distinguished group including: John F. Kennedy, Anne Bancroft and Christopher Reeves...
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...The book “A Child Called It” tells the true story of a boy, David, who’s mother is physically and emotionally abusive. Throughout the book we hear in the first account tellings of what the other did to David and how his father stood by and wasn’t able to help. Many people may think that children who are abused are only children, that may be the case a lot of the time but not always. In David’s case he had brothers who were all treated fairly and were part of what helped his mother hide the abuse for so long. The thing that stood out to me the most was how his mother gave him affection and then would pull it away, he always longed for that affection but at some point he just gave up, because he realized that the affection was short lived. While reading this book I was shocked that it could have possibly gone on for so long and no one had noticed, unfortunately this happens way too often. When David was twelve his school nurse started to take an interest in him and his condition and everything came out. David was removed from his mothers care, which is the happy ending that a lot of children dream for, and unfortunately not all get. Part of what I thought was so horrible was how the mother would give affection and then all of a sudden take it away. I know how confusing and heartbreaking this can be for a child. The things David’s mother did are...
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...A Child Called “It” By:David Pelzer I chose the book, The Child Called “It” because one of my friends told me about the book. The whole story line caught my attention. I was amazed at what was going on in this boy’s life. This book, a true story, is very emotional. The title relates to the book because his mother calls the boy, David Pelzer, “It”. She does not call him by his real name. His mother treats him like he is nothing but an object. Also, I think the title fits well because it catches people’s attention and gives a clue what the book is about. The author is attempting to teach the readers that no one should treat people this badly. David is an innocent child and does not deserve his bad childhood. David does not even do anything wrong, and his mother continued to treat him like an object. Pelzer succeeded in telling how cruel the mother is. He also teaches that people can be cruel to each other, and that it is important to teach people that kindness can go a long way. The whole book discusses his childhood. Pelzer wrote some sequels to tell the rest of his child life for the interested readers. The story begins when he was first treated badly, in the 1960’s. His mother was a good mother until David’s father and mother started drinking. Its mother changed drastically from the alcohol drinking. The story begins in the kitchen of his house when he is doing his chores. His mother has a time limit on how fast he should do the dishes. If he does not accomplish...
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...Introduction A Child Called “It” by author David Pelzer is an incredibly emotional and vivid story of the experiences of a young boy. About his own life, Pelzer describes how he endured unthinkable abuse at the hand of his own mother. He provides detailed accounts of the abuse and neglect as well as the emotions and pain he endured, his struggle to cope and survive, and how he eventually was freed from her and the hell he was living. A Child Called “It” is a disturbingly real example of how children are victimized through various forms of maltreatment. Body Child maltreatment is not a new problem it has been occurring probably since the beginning of time. It wasn’t until the last few decades that child victimization has been recognized. Even then, child abuse and neglect in the home was overlooked and victimization by strangers was the focus. Thankfully, that has begun to change due to initiatives to increase awareness and reporting as well as to efforts better asses and understand child victims. Pelzer was the victim of abuse in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. He was finally removed from his home in 1973. Even though Child Welfare Services existed at that time, their services were limited and most abuse in the home was not addressed. It wasn’t until 1974 that the U.S Congress enacted the Child Abuse and Prevention and Treatment Act which required each state to establish policies and procedures for reporting and investigating child abuse and neglect (Burgess, Regehr...
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...Michael Padilla April 11,2012 George Boyd A Child Called "It" Paper In the first chapter of "A Child Called 'It'" the author Dave Pelzer illustrates a typical morning routine for himself. He wakes up, does his chores, gets beaten by his mother, Catherine Roerva, and tries to make it to school on time. He describes how his she is running around yelling at his brothers, stomping down the hallway towards the kitchen. As he is doing the dishes she catches him with his hand out of the scalding hot water for just a moment and she smacks him in the face, knocking him to the floor. She follows this up with more blows to the head and leaves seemingly satisfied with herself. What's surprising is that Pelzer says that he lets her feel like she won by having streams of tears and mock defeat on his face. Once he is done with his chores he eats his breakfast, leftovers from his brother's cereal. A few bites and a half of a bowl of milk. As his mother drives him to school in their old station wagon he arrives to school late. Just as he is leaving she gives him his lunch bag, two peanut butter sandwiches and a few carrot sticks, the same thing he has been getting for the past three years. As he walks away she reminds him to say that the marks on his face came from running into the door. Once he arrives inside the school he must report to the administration's office. The nurse takes him off to her office and goes through a regular routine. She checks his arms, face and body for bruises...
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...According to Dave Pelzer, author of A Child Called “it,” “Childhood should be carefree, playing in the sun; not living a nightmare in the darkness of the soul” (Pelzer, 1995, pg.98). Meaning, children should be able to enjoy their carefree lives and not worry about pain. Child Sexual Abuse is a very harrowing experience for many victims. As the child continues to develop though, the sexual abuse can have an enormous impact on their lives, to the extent sometimes that the child no longer realizes it. This is called normalization, according to the Southeast Center Against Sexual Assault and Violence, Normalization of the survivors’ reactions to the abuse experience and the effects this has had on their psychological functioning, both historically...
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...Autumn Binford Mrs. Hacker Honors English 9 Imagine growing up in an unsafe and unloved environment, and you don’t know if you will wake up the next day alive. Imagine not being allowed to do anything, own anything, or play with anyone pretty much your entire childhood. Imagine if no matter what you do, you would just get knocked down and hurt for doing it, and no matter what you do, it’s never good enough. Imagine having to fight to survive and live another day. Imagine your own mother not loving you and not even calling you by your own name, just calling you “it”. Instead of making you feel special, she would make you feel worthless and unloved. In the book A Child Called It, all those things happened to David Pelzer, who fought against his abusive mother so he could live another day, and basically survive her wrath. The theme of this book is survival, David fought against his mother to survive by defeating her games, surviving starvation, and surviving harsh beatings from her. David’s mother would always play her “games” with him. She would lock him into the bathroom for hours with a bucket of ammonia and Clorox mixed together. The solution would turn in to a white cloud like gas. This gas would fill the air and burn David’s throat as he inhaled the toxic solution. Also she would make David do a lot of tasks in a short period of time, and if he finished quick enough then he would be able to have food, but sometimes if he made the time limit then she would only give him...
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...Child Called It Summer Reading Sanih Giljic Chapter 1: The Rescue Summary The book is based on a true story. Dave's mom hit him because she said he needed to wash the dishes faster and he didn't. When he was done he ate breakfast. He didn't eat a lot because he wasn't allowed to. So after that he went to school and got checked out by the nurse. When she asked what happened he said he walked into a door. He said that because his mom told him to. What really happened was his mom banged his head against the counter in the kitchen. He even goes to the police station but did not tell on his mom because he knew he would've got another whooping from her. Reaction I really feel bad for Dave he gets beat from his mother and he can't do anything about...
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...I am reading A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer , and I have finished the book. The book is about a kid who used to have the perfect family, but things took a turn for the worse. His mom grew cold and she turned her son into the family slave. She had beaten him, starved him, forced him to wear the same clothes every day, and that’s just the tip of the ice berg. In this journal I will be evaluating. I evaluate that Dave’s mother has changed throughout the book. In the beginning of the book Dave describes his mom as a caring mother and wife. In the beginning Dave said she was known for being a happy nurturing mother. In the book she would always try to make her family happy. She would plan picnics and spend all day making supper. During the holidays she would decorate the...
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...Francisco Borroel English I Mr. Tuckerman 17 November 2015 A Child Called “Francisco” Today what I am going to talk about is something scary. It does not usually happen to teenagers unless they are dealing with abuse, drugs, alcohol and having a disease. It was horrifying for me because I would not have thought I would be alive. What I am talking about is death. I had a very near close death experience and I was terrified thinking that I was gonna die. I nearly died by rolling down a hill and on the way down almost getting my head busted by a big rock. It was a very scary moment for me. Now I tell my story to you. So one day... After School, I walking home, I was running late because I had school detention. I had put my earphones on and I...
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...article from Newsweek in Oct. 2009 called “Where do babies come from?”, today’s world population has reached over 6.6 billion people. Also the article mentioned that in 2009 57.4% of all new born babies who were born this year came from Asia alone. This is an issue because over population can lead to hasty consumption of resources. China who has one of the largest population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, has taken a stance against over population. By introducing China’s One-Child Policy (Family Planning Policy) in 1979, China hopes to decrease its country’s annual population growth. China has implemented the policy by many different ways; propaganda, taxation, and multiple forms of birth control. Though China’s intentions are to give its citizens better living conditions by enforcing its policy, many controversial topics about human rights have risen about the affects of the One-Child Policy. Also other issues that China has to deal with are the major demographic events that will occur. For example the significant and growing gender imbalance. With many negative side effects with China’s One-Child Policy, one thing is certain, China’s policy is working. According to an article from the Joint Force Quarterly called “Graying Panda Shrinking Dragon” written by Matt Isler, China’s One-Child Policy has successfully slowed its population growth and has curtailed over 250 million births sense its inception (pg 2). China’s One-Child Policy has been doing its purpose but...
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...significant theories on growth and development was done by, Erikson, Freud, and Piaget. Erikson’s theory is psychosocial. This is when the child interacts with his surroundings through physical action such as pushing, sucking, and grabbing and much more. From birth until about one and a half the child is going through the oral sensory stage. Freud’s theory of development is psychosexual. He proposed three stages in psychosexual development: oral, anal, phallic. Piaget’s theory was called cognitive development or the sensorimotor stage. The first two years of an infant, they grow taller, gain weight and increase in head circumference, all indicates of development. The birthweight doubles by the fourth month, and also triples by the first year mark, and by the time you hit the second year of the child’s life you have quadrupled in weight. As the time goes on with all this growing, sleep also decreases over the first two years. With the areas that are developing, there comes crazy sleeping patterns but it’s all normal, caused by nature and nurture. Biosocial Development covers the growth and developments that take place in the body, as well as the biological, social, cultural, and environmental elements affecting this growth and development. During the first 2 years of life, biosocial development occurs at a very fast pace. When a child is born the head is really the heaviest and biggest part of the body. Baby fat is stored to keep the brain nourished if teething or the sniffles...
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...behaviours or events while they are happening in their natural environment. The naturalistic observation is a planned observation of natural behaviours in their environment. A participant observational study can be beneficial as the researcher is part of the environment of the study allowing an insider view of their own study. Non participant observational studies can be seen as a good way of researching the study, as the researcher avoids contact with the participants and this could be because the observer could cause the participants to act in an unnatural way making the end results of the experiment inaccurate; this is called the observer approach. Structured observations are a semi experimental observational method of research, making this a controlled environment which provides a safer environment to work with, which is good for research with child studies. The type of study allows control of extraneous variables meaning the...
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...Transactional Analysis is a theory developed by Dr. Eric Berne in the 1950's. Originally trained in psychoanalysis, Berne wanted a theory which could be understood and available to everyone and began to develop what came to be called Transactional Analysis (TA). Transactional Analysis is a social psychology and a method to improve communication. The theory outlines how we have developed and treat ourselves, how we relate and communicate with others, and offers suggestions and interventions which will enable us to change and grow. Transactional Analysis is underpinned by the philosophy that: • people can change • we all have a right to be in the world and be accepted Initially criticised by some as a simplistic model, Transactional Analysis is now gathering worldwide attention. It originally suffered much from the popularised writings in the 1960's. Many did not appreciate the duration and complexity of the training. Today there is greater understanding of Transactional Analysis. More and more people are taking the four to five year part-time training courses to qualify, and increasingly universities are accrediting these courses for masters degrees. Those taking training include psychiatrists, organizational and management consultants, teachers, social workers, designers, engineers and the clergy. Today Transactional Analysis is used in psychotherapy, organisations, educational and religious settings. Books have been written for all ages, from children through...
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...In this form of therapy, communication is broken down into progressively harder types of communication. The first technique a ABA therapist tries to accomplish is what is called a mand. A mand is the most basic communication because the child is asking for something they want. For example, a child may say “cookie” when that is what they want. The second level communication is called a tact or label. This is where a child will say “cookie” when they see it. The third communication level is call echoic or vocal imitation. This is where a child can repeat the word “cookie” when they hear it. Another communication method is called the motor imitation. This is copying someone’s motor movements. An example might be to sign “cookie”. This is very useful in nonverbal children. The next level is called receptive language. This is where a child follows an instruction. A child may pass the “cookie” when asked. The next level is called receptive by feature, function, or class. The child would respond to items in the environment by pointing to a cookie. The final level of early communication is called interverbal. This is where they can answer “wh” questions. The child would say “cookie” when asked what is this? Breaking communication down into progressively harder components allows a child to be successful in achieving the basics of communication that many of us take for...
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