Miss Doolittle Talks Only to Animals

Posted by Alex in Animal, Baby & Kids, Medicine on January 4, 2008 at 8:53 pm


Her parents thought that four-year-old Rose Willcocks was mute because of an extremely unusual genetic condition. But they were surprised to find out that Rose indeed can talk - but only to animals!

Here’s an interesting story about the little girl - nicknamed Miss Doolittle after the storybook doctor that can talk to animals:

Rose has a chromosome defect which has left her with a floppy voicebox and windpipe. She also has learning difficulties and autism. [...]

"We went to see the cows," Mrs Willcocks said. "Suddenly, Rose perked up. I did a double-take as I struggled to take in what I was hearing. She wasn’t actually saying words but there were no two ways about it - she was talking to a cow."

"There was something about animals that made Rosie connect. We could barely get her to make eye contact or moan or groan but here she was, chatting like an old friend to the cows and horses."

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COMMENT

5 comments to "Miss Doolittle Talks Only to Animals"

  1. gabi
    January 4th, 2008 at 9:16 pm

    What a beautiful story! I can only imagine how amazing that must be for her parents. I hope the BEST for Rose, I find this tale so endearing. I totally just got a case of the AWwWwWw’s

  2. louisa
    January 4th, 2008 at 9:48 pm

    I got the same feeling, gabi. Beautiful little girl and a bittersweet story.

  3. Vako
    January 5th, 2008 at 5:53 pm

    I can relate to this story, as I am autistic. I remember at that age, that I was much more at ease around non-human animals, and animals generally “liked” me. Whereas my human counterparts were bitter, abusive assholes, and often still are. I still get along quite well with animals these days. Hopefully the parents of that precious girl will be good parents and she will grow up to be a functioning adult, probably working with animals, and very good at it.

  4. donna
    January 5th, 2008 at 7:42 pm

    I do pet therapy with my golden retriever, and it is amazing how much some people will perk up around him. Even when I just have him out for a walk, people ask if they can pet him and want to talk to him.

    Some therapy dogs are “reading dogs” now - they go to libraries and schools so the kids will read out loud to them. These are kids who won’t talk to or read to an adult, but they love reading to the dogs.

    Autistic kids often benefit from having a pet or visiting with a therapy animal and are brought out of their shyness by the animal.

    I hope they will get this little girl a pet of her own to talk to.

  5. B
    January 6th, 2008 at 9:42 am

    yes, but do the animals talk back? sounds more like she is talking “at” the animals…


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