A brain scan was done to two children of the same age, but one is an emotionally abused toddler and one is a toddler with happy home life. It showed that the scan of the emotionally abused toddler is significantly less structured while the scan of the toddler with happy home life is bigger.
"This child is suffering from severe sensory deprivation neglect," writes Professor Bruce Perry, chief of psychiatry at Texas Children's Hospital. Perry shared the images on a newspaper and he showed how childhood neglect affects cognitive development later in life.
He wrote: "These images illustrate the negative impact of neglect on the developing brain. In the CT scan on the left is an image from a healthy 3-year-old with average head size. The image on the right is from a 3-year-old child suffering from severe sensory-deprivation neglect. This child's brain is significantly smaller than average and has enlarged ventricles and cortical atrophy."
