I have never seen anything quite like it in all my days.

A little boy who acts more animal than human. 

At the age of six, he has never known what it is to be loved.  Because of it, his developmental milestones are nearly nonexistant, and he seems to be mentally disabled.

David* can walk, but he cannot talk or do much for himself.  He is currently a resident at the local children's home for severely disabled children.  

Nobody wants to try to adopt or foster him; he requires constant supervision.  He throws violent temper tantrums.  He tries to bite people.  David is not toilet-trained and has to be fed by hand.  He does not know what it is to feed himself.

David has very little tolerance of people.  He would much rather prefer to be by himself (most often in a darkened room).  His personal hygiene is atrocious: he stinks of urine, dirt, and Lord knows what else.  

He was found by a police officer who had been called to a home for suspected child neglect.  What they found was nothing short of extraordinary and shocking.

He was only as tall as a three year old, impossibly skinny, and sitting on the floor, in his own excrement, rocking back and forth, whining like ... a puppy.  His mother was passed out on the couch, blind-drunk.  The smell of alcohol permeated the air and the house was a total disaster.

Thank God, there were no more children other than David.

The boy was immediately taken in custody and removed from the home; the mother (if you could call her that) was shaken awake and placed under immediate arrest for child endangerment and abandoment.  

David has been examined by numerous doctors, who have rendered his case hopeless.  They have determined that David is indeed a feral child, as if he had been raised by animals.

He was moved to the children's home, where he continues to reside and receive ongoing physical, occupational, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and social therapies, in the hopes of bringing him out of his "animalistic shell."

Hopefully, one day, David will start functioning like a typical six-year-old boy.

Some days are good, but most are not.  Oftentimes the therapists and doctors are back at square one.  It is an extremely frustrating case with a very uncertain outcome.

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*Not his real name

(To be continued)