There are many feral children that we know of, and Genie is one of the greatest discussed today. Genie was born in 1957 in Arcadia, California. Almost from the time of birth, Genie wasn't treated very well. There are reports done from different psychologists, police officers, and welfare authorities that all report she was being abused, neglected, and isolated socially from outside communications. Genie was reported to L.A. Child Welfare around 1970.
When Genie was found, she was thirteen years old, and was presumed to have been in her home since she was around the age of two. She had either been strapped to a child’s toilet, or tied to her bed with complete immobilization during this time, also never being shown any speech—never truly giving her a language to speak. It was discovered, that Genie’s father seemed to be the reason she was locked away (Newton). Although Genie was born through a C-Section, she had little to no problems at birth. She was born a normal healthy little girl. Her medical records all showed that she was growing at a normal rate. Doctor reports are stating that around about a year, Genie was alert and able to sit by herself, but was falling behind in her weight category. Researchers later discovered this may have been the beginning of the malnutrition. There was a problem that was later discovered, requiring Genie to wear a brace on her leg, slowing down the time she learned to walk. Psychologists believe it was this instance that led Genie’s father to believe she was mentally challenged. It is also shown that because of these thoughts, Genie’s father felt it was necessary to hide Genie from the public—whether because of embarrassment or protection. Most researchers will speculate that Genie’s father was a...
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...ears of Genie’s life in the ‘light’, scientists were giving her an immense amount of attention because of the lack of communication skills she had. They had great imaginations, as to what was going to be learned from Genie and language development. Through Genie, scientists were glad to announce they had found a “critical period” for learning language. This critical period is vital if children want to learn how to speak. Despite everything we could’ve continued to learn, Genie’s mom was not allowing any further testing. She was allowed to see one single person, but no tests were to be taken. Eventually, Genie left to live with her mother, figuring out that she couldn’t care for her. She was then placed in different mental institutions, and foster homes. The last report of Genie is 2008 living in California in psychological confinement (Newton) (Gazzaniga) (YouTube).
Temple Grandin was born to Richard Grandin and Eustacia Cutler on August 29, 1947 in Boston, Massachusetts. From birth, her parents could tell that there was just something “different” about her. When Temple was two years old, she was diagnosed with “infantile schizophrenia,” also known as autism in today’s terms. Autism affects nearly 5 times more boys than girls. In fact, 1 in 54 boys, and 1 in 252 girls are diagnosed with autism. Due to Temple’s autism being very severe, the doctors told her parents that she was a “lost cause” and that she should just be shut up in a mental institution to live out the rest of her years. Temple’s parents would not stand for that. They tried to make the best of the situation by working with Temple each day. Temple was finally able to speak her first words when she was about three and a half years old.
Genie was a locked up in her room by her father until she was 13 ½
Development: Medical Problems: Lawrence had no developmental medical problems. He was uncertain of how old he was when he first sat alone. Around the same time he starting saying his first word, which was “mother”, is when he started walking as well. He stated that he was about 8 to 9 months when he took his first steps. It took about another or two after taking his first steps for Lawrence to get toilet trained.
In the beginning of the short story we learn Alan’s parents didn’t find out about his intellectual disability until he was 16 months old. We can assume the doctor wasn’t able to diagnose Alan for over a year, because he still went through the Sensorimotor Stage, just at a little slower pace than other children. In the sensorimotor stage we know that children learn object permanence and the use of their 5 senses. We know from the way Terry describes him, he is passed the first stage of development. This puts Alan into the Pre-Operational stage. In the Pre-Operational stage we know that children are very ego-centric meaning everything is their way. When they talk they only describe what they know, because they fail to understand other minds. Alan does just that throughout the story. For example Terry stated, “He was unpredictable. He created his own rules and they changed from moment to moment. Alan was twelve years old, hyperactive, mischievous, easily frustrated, and unable to learn in traditional ways.” (The Village Watchman, Pg. 29.) We as students and educators watch children go through this stage they are much like Alan. Children have a hard time sitting for long periods, they act out and if they can’t learn something easily they get frustrated just like Alan in the story. Most children eventually move passed this unlike Alan, because they learn from educators and get through the obstacles. Alan is not able to be educated through school and textbooks like most children in the story instead, he is learning through his experiences and interactions with the world helping him to develop cognitively. Terry tells us that he would vocalize whatever was on his mind with punctuated colorful speech. (The Village Watchman, Pg.30.) This tells us that Alan has yet to think through his actions. He does not know that he is being rude in
Up until now Lynn had it very tough growing up in a hearing world, but as soon as she started learning and using sign language her world turned around. Lynn finally gained a means of communication and Thomas and Louise were finally able to understand and communicate with their beautiful little girl with whom they were cut off from with a language barrier. Through communicating with other deaf individuals like her, Lynn finally felt like she was “normal” without trying to please the society’s normalcy.
... ago before support and treatments were available for families. To communicate she would throw tantrums and scream. By the age of three, Grandin began to speak, and her mother worked with her 30 minutes every day so that she was not institutionalized. Grandin excelled in high school and graduated from college with a degree in psychology and a PhD in cattle and animal science (Meyer, Chapman & Weaver, 2009). While biological factors have been connected to autism, no single factor is identified as a cause of this disorder. Grandin meets the criteria for autism diagnosis because as a child she had impairments in three major areas of development: social interaction, communication, and behavior, interest, or activities. Behavioral interventions are used to increase functional skills, promote the use of speech and reward appropriate behavior (Hansell & Damour, 2008).
On June 1, 1926, a baby girl was born to Gladys Mortensen in Los Angeles, California. Her biological father is unknown because her mother was having sexual relations with multiple men at the time of conception. The newborn baby girl was named Norma Jeane Baker. Norma’s mother placed her into an orphanage shortly after her birth. Norma remained in the orphanage until the age of nine.
Our experiences shape us into the humans we are today. While we were all raised with differing beliefs and goals in life, we all share critical developmental periods that need to be met, for us to grow and emerge into successful adults. Without proper parental supervision children will miss the window of opportunity for these critical periods, if these critical periods are not met abnormal behavior known as feral or wild will appear. Feral children have very little known of them, they’re brains are mysteries that researchers are trying to uncover. The public tends to use information that they have seen before to make assumption about uncertain subjects, most of the misconceptions about feral children and their realities stem from two Disney
With that knowledge the deaf character gained more confidence when communicating and was able to achieve bigger goals in their life then when they had little to no knowledge of how things worked in society. Reading about these characters just gave me a small insight into the deaf community but with the documentary ”Through Deaf Eyes,” has open my mind and eyes that they are people who can thrive in and change the world just as anyone can when they put their mind to
Norma Jean Baker was born on June 1st 1926. She said that she came from an unhappy and deprived childhood. Galdys was Norma's mother. She had two children with Jack Baker (Norma's father) while still very young. Her father died in a car accident soon after she was born and at the age of 26 Galdys remarried to Edward Mortenson. Edward didn't want children but Galdys did so she divorced him. Soon after that Galdys couldn't take care of Norma anymore so she gave her up for adoption. In an interview Norma said that her grandmother tried to "mother" her with a pillow and how she was forced to do the dishes (at age 5) in an orphanage and that she was abused in one of the families that she was adopted by, and the fact that she was raped by a policeman.
She daydreamed to escape life (Marilyn p.8). She was placed in orphanages on and off throughout her childhood. When placed in a foster home, foster parents seldom believed her if the subject of her complaint was the biological child of the foster parent...
On November 4, 1970 in Los Angeles, California Genie’s condition was brought to attention by a social worker. The worker discovered the 13-year old girl in a small, dimly lit, confined bedroom. An investigation by authorities exposed that the child had spent most of her life in this room and typically was tied to a potty chair. Genie was found in diapers because she was not potty trained. Her case is an example of extreme isolation from human contact, society, sunlight, and any other environments besides her room. The deprivation of attachment showed when she was timid to humans, almost afraid. Someone whose life was a developmental nightmare could not possibly be expected to have the basic trust that the world is trustworthy and predictable. The life she lived was incredibly horrifying as morals, and psychology portray just how severe the consequences were on Genie.
Social isolation is one of the most severe punishments known to man. However, for one innocent girl, known as Genie, social isolation was all she knew. Genie was a nickname given to a feral 13-year-old girl who had been a victim of being severely abused and neglected by her parents, in her own house in Arcadia, California. Prior to Genie being discovered in 1970 by Los Angeles child welfare authorities, much of her life consisted of being locked alone in her room strapped to a potty chair or a crib resulting in her being immobile (Reynolds & Fletcher-Janzen, 2004). While Genie was locked away in her room she was never exposed to speech and would get beat for any noises she would make. Her father, Clark Wiley only interacted with her through barking and growling at her; as a result of this extreme isolation Genie missed the critical period to acquire language (Curtiss et al., 1974; Reynolds & Fletcher-Janzen, 2004). Immediately after Genie had been found she became a new subject for researchers to study and examine the theories of critical periods on humans to learn and understand language. Unfortunately, soon after Genie turned 18, her mother forbid any of the scientists from anymore testing and observations, which ultimately decreased any and all process Genie had made towards learning and understanding language.
A question was brought up during the film; was genie damaged from her years of abuse or retarded from birth? Genie’s father believed from an early age that Genie was retarded and therefore needed to be kept in isolation. However, this was his own bias. For 13 years, Genie grew up detached from people, there was no concern in her upbringing nor did she have any significant life experiences. Genie was not given the freedom of opening herself up to the world around her, this was unjustifiable as a child relies on their surroundings in order to learn, grow and prosper. Socialization is the process in which an individual interacts with others in turn allowing them to become more aware of themselves. George Herbert Mead outlined that “the self” is not there from birth, it develops through social experience. It was apparent that Genie did not have a sense of self, due to the lack of interaction between others and her environment. Mead also developed the idea of significant others, which are people that play an important role in the early stages of a child’s social development. Genie did not have that figure, as her mother and father were both dis-engaged from her life. They did not support Genie, and teach her the fundamental basic skills that are needed in order for a child to fit into the basic norms of society. Genie did not take part in secondary socialization, as she was not given the opportunity to go to school. Therefore, she acted much younger than a normal thirteen-year-old, and did not receive the proper care a young girl was obliged to
All the various experiments were most likely overwhelming and stressful for Genie, and could have been the major reason why she was never able to learn how to make sentences. I believe Genie was never really loved since she was always transferred to different foster homes. I also believe that if Genie stayed in one foster home, she could have been less overwhelmed and more capable of learning how to speak. Genie’s mother also viewed the experimentations on Genie as unethical and eventually sued children’s hospital for doing scientific research rather than providing therapy to rehabilitate her. Genie’s mother won the case, and further experimentations on Genie were no longer allowed. When experimentations were over, Genie went to her first foster home. At her fist foster home, she was intensely punished for vomiting. The experience of her getting punished was so traumatizing, that Genie needed to go back to Children 's