The case of Genie, A Feral Child

My daughter learned about this in health class. I never heard of it and thought it was interesting..

*Genie is not her real name, her real identity has been hidden for legal reasons.

Genie lived 13 years of her life in a Los Angeles suburb with her mother, her father and her older brother. When Genie was one, her Grandmother on her father's side died and they all moved into her old house. Her father insisted they leave his mothers room untouched even though this meant they all had to sleep in the living room. All except Genie who was given the back room. This room wasn't furnished or decorated and was away from the rest of the house.

During the day time Genie was kept tied to a potty chair and during the night time she slept in a caged crib, tied into a straight jacket so she could not move around. They did not potty train her, they did not teach her to speak, they did not love her, she had no stimulation whatsoever and she lived this way for 12 years. What's more in order to keep her quiet her father would growl at her from behind the door, like a dog and sometimes he would beat her with a stick….

No talking was allowed at all near the girl. Her older brother was charged with feeding her, but he was not allowed to talk to her. She was given only baby food and ceral.

Genie had other siblings. A sister was placed in the garage when she was two and a half months old because her crying disturbed her father. She died of pnemonia. A brother died when he was two days old from supposedly choking on his own saliva.

Her father believed she was mentally retarded although she was completly normal at birth according to hospital records.

When Genie's mother was 50 and her father was 70, her mother took her and ran away. Her mother was almost completely blind and she went to seek help from social services. This was on November 25, 1970. Social services took one look at Genie and called the police. Genie's parents were charged with child abuse. Her mother went to court and was found not guilty, partly because she eventually took her to get help and partly because she was also subject to abuse by her husband, she was a blind, nervous women and apparently couldn't do anything to help…. Genie's father shot himself a week before he was due in court. He left a note saying 'the world will never understand'.

Integrating Genie into society was a huge and difficult task. She would spit and scratch herself if she got upset, she was not potty trained. It wasn't understood why she drooled constantly and spat on herself, but her dress was always soaked from this habit. She had no idea of the social norms which govern society. She had grown up in almost total isolation and was unable to speak at all. At first she could only walk hunched over due to the years spent strapped to the chair and kept in the cage-like crib. Eventually she learned to walk upright, but always walked with a limp. She couldn't chew and was severely malnourished because of the years spent being fed only baby food and cereal. When she was admitted to the hospital, she was 54 inches tall and weighed only 62 pounds…..

Genie's case attracted a lot of attention because it gave scientists the chance to to test the Critical Period Hypothesis. A theory proposed by a linguist called Lenneberg's (1967). This is the hypothesis that humans are unable to correctly learn the use of grammar after early childhood because of the lateralization of the brain. Children who have grown up in situations similar to Genie have been the only way scientists have been able to test this and there are few other cases (notable exceptions include the case of the 'chicken girl' and the Wild boy of Avelon). If Genie was able to learn language then this would disprove the theories of Noam Chomsky who argued that language was innate to all humans.

A number of people were assigned to support Genie including Susan Curtis and Jean Butler. Once Genie was discharged from hospital she went to live with Jean for a short period and then with David Riggler and his family, where she stayed for four years. Jean Butler never forgave them for taking Genie away from her. The Rigglers changed their life for Genie and helped her immensely. Alongside Susan Curtiss they taught her how to speak, encouraged her to use sign language as well and most importantly gave her much needed love.

However, although Genie learned some vocabulary, she did not acquire language as hoped, she could not master grammar. It remains unclear as to whether her inability to acquire language was due to the fact that she had missed her critical period or because of the severe trauma she had suffered. All she was able to master were two and sometimes three word sentences.

Those assigned to care for Genie fought over her best interests and who should look after her. She was pushed from place to place and she never really settled anywhere. Her mother had a cataract operation and eventually got her back, but could not handle her, she was then placed in the care of a number of foster families and finally into residential care where she remains today. To make things worse Genie was abused in one of her care homes…. Today she resides in a home for adults; she no longer speaks or uses any signs…..

If you would like to know more about Genie, enter Genie and language into Google and you will get back a lot of hits. There is also a film called 'Mockingbird Don't Sing' which details this case although they have changed Genie's name to Katie. Susan Curtiss' thesis written on Genie, which is one of the only published thesis in the world is also available from most good libraries.

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