Genie BY ALYSSA LEESER What Is a Feral

Genie BY ALYSSA LEESER

What Is a Feral Child? A human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, and has little or no experience of human care, behavior, crucially, of human language.

Clark Wiley Genie’s father Grew up in foster homes and orphanages Was teased for his birth name Did not want any children Did not like noise Aircraft mechanic Married Dorothy on September 28, 1944 Very abusive husband father

Dorothy “Irene” Wiley Genie’s mother Was often left to be cared for by family friends Sustained a severe head injury during her childhood Partially blind Dependent on Clark Victim of abuse

Clark and Irene’s Children 1 st child- daughter Clark placed her in the garage Died at 2 ½ months 2 nd child- son Died of Rh incompatibility soon after birth 3 rd child- son (John) Forces Irene to keep him quiet- physical and linguistic developmental delays Paternal grandparents took over raising him at age 4 4 th child- daughter Rh blood incompatibility, but was given a transfusion soon after birth Susan AKA Genie Born April 18, 1957

Early Life Relatively normal development Three months- Congenital hip dislocation 11 months- fallen to the 11 th percentile for weight 14 months- she got pneumonia Pediatrician said that there was a possibility of mental retardation Clark thought he had to “protect” her now

Becoming Prisoners Genie was 20 months old Hit and run accident Attachment to his mother Move to his mother’s two-bedroom house

Childhood Physically abused and neglected Genie’s father kept her in solitary confinement for 11 years He gave her poor living conditions Toys: empty cottage cheese containers, empty thread spools, the floor, her harness, and her body Food: baby foods, cereals, occasional soft boiled eggs

Seek Help? Irene was blind and was threatened with death if she sought help Clark was sure Genie would not live past the age of 12, but if she did, he promised that Irene that she could seek help for Genie When Genie turned 12, Clark took back his promise

The Discovery October 1970, Clark and Irene got into a violent argument November 4, 1970 - Arcadia, California 13 year old girl was discovered Genie’s condition raised concerns for the social worker Thought it was an unreported case of autism Estimated Genie to be 6 or 7 years old At this point, John ran away from home. He was scared to report anything, because he feared the consequences from his father.

Child Abuse Charges Clark and Irene were charged with child abuse November 20, 1970 Morning to appear in court Clark shot himself Irene pled not guilty in court Her plea was accepted

Children’s Hospital Genie was admitted to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles for extreme malnutrition Genie would become the focus of investigation Genie was tested and received that same score as a one year old She only recognized her name and “sorry” She was enrolled into therapy for months During her stay, Genie would begin to improve David Rigler, therapist and chief psychologist at the hospital, assigned James Kent to do examinations.

James Kent Conducted the first examinations of Genies condition: Still in diapers Could not chew solid food Could hardly swallow Eyes could not focus beyond 12 feet Could not cry Salivated constantly Spitting Clawing Ring of hard callous around her bottom Two nearly complete set of teeth

Kent Continued… Thin hair Could not hop, skip, or climb Could not do anything that required full extension of her limbs Showed no perception of heat or cold Vocabulary of under 20 words She weighed 59 pounds and was 54 inches tall Most of the information came from police reports Most severe case of child abuse he had ever encountered Noticed a fear of cats and dogs Genie could not distinguish between people Showed no signs of attachment Accompanied her for walks

Jean Butler Special education teacher She discovered that Genie knew more than she could produce. Butler asked a child how many balloons he had, and he said three. Genie looked startled and handed him another balloon, in order to make his answer correct.

Jay Shurley Professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Oklahoma Specialist in extreme social isolation Most severe isolation he had seen Sleep study Conclusions: Not autistic High level of emotional disturbance No signs of brain damage Persistent abnormalities in sleep Mentally retarded from birth

Areas of Interest Chomsky Nature vs. Nurture Was speech acquired (nurture), or was speech built into people (nature)? Eric Lenneberg Suggested that language was innate to humans and that it distinguished humans from animals Critical period for language acquisition There was always interest in these two hypotheses, but they could not be tested before Genie

Grant December 1970, Genie was seen as a potential case study subject National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Grant Used to do preliminary studies Primary focus is to test Chomsky and Lenneberg's hypotheses Victoria Fromkin was assigned to be the head of the linguistics evaluation

Susan Curtiss Graduate student in linguists May 1971 - began her work on Genie’s case https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=3 e. L 7 O 3 Rs. VDE Met with Genie almost everyday Recognized powerful non-verbal communication Genie had learned a significant amount of language Genie and her quickly bonded with one another

First Foster Home June 1971 - Jean Butler Measles Butler got Genie to express anger through words, instead of attacking herself Talkative and made substantial progress Would not let Kent or Curtiss visit Genie Foster application Genie’s mother continued to visit Genie here Foster application was rejected

Second Foster Home August 1971 - David Rigler Agreed to temporarily care for Genie Intended her only staying 3 months, but she stayed four years Marilyn became her teacher Rigler was her primary therapist Research team resumed observations and evaluations Irene visited weekly John Miner became Genie‘s legal guardian in 1972, while the Rigler’s were her primary caretakers Rigler’s puppy

Rigler Foster Home Continued. . Genie began to recall past events and learned more language "Father hit arm. Big wood. Genie cry. . . Not spit. Father. Hit face – spit. Father hit big stick. Father is angry. Father hit Genie big stick. Father take piece wood hit. Cry. Father make me cry. Father is dead. “ 1974 - Rigler’s made arrangements for her to learn sign language

Loss of Grant After the initial grant and the one-year extension (1973), Rigler proposed a threeyear extension September 1974 - NIMH grants committee did not believe that the study had benefited Genie Research did not address their concerns The committee denied the extension Rigler’s decided to end their foster parenting https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Vj. Zol. HCr. C 8 E

Early Adulthood In 1975, when Genie turned 18, her mother stated that she wished to care for her Genie moved back into her childhood home with her mother Her mother became overwhelmed with her behaviors Contacted the California Department of Health to find care for Genie

Third Foster Home Caretakers would rarely allow Irene to visit They were physically and emotionally abusive Genie became silent again She became withdrawn and only used sign language to communicate Curtiss was the only one who continued to work with Genie She was removed in 1977, and went back to the Children’s Hospital

More Foster Homes Genie would go through five more foster homes. Curtiss wrote to Miner: Genie did not understand the reasons she was moving and believed it was her fault for not being a good enough person, and said the frequency with which her living arrangements changed further traumatized her and caused continued developmental regression.

Lawsuit Butler put the lawsuit in Irene’s head In 1976 Curtiss finished and presented her dissertation, titled “Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study of Modern-Day ‘Wild Child’” She sued the Children’s Hospital and some of the researchers Curtiss, Rigler, Kent Irene said there was a violation of patient confidentiality, accused the research team of giving testing priority over Genie’s welfare, invading Genie’s privacy, and severely overworking Genie The researchers denied any coercion of Genie This put a stop to all testing and observations Guardianship was taken from Miner and given to Irene, on March 30, 1978 Lawsuit was dismissed in 1984

Genie Today 60 years old Ward of the state of California Living in an adult-care home Best for her to be left alone She is happy Sign language

Discussion Questions Do you think it was ethical to study Genie after what she had been through in her life already? Why or Why not? Do you think it is possible to both conduct research and have the best interest of the child in mind? Why or Why not? In what ways can this outcome be prevented from happening again? Where did they go wrong? Is there anybody to blame? Do you agree or disagree with having Susan “Genie” Wiley’s location confidential. Why or Why not?