Genie, the second case of a wild child, was discovered confined to a potty chair in a room. Her father believed she was mentally disabled from birth and kept her locked away until the age of 13, when she was rescued by a social worker. Denied any interaction with society and subjected to physical abuse for making noises, Genie lacked the ability to communicate verbally and exhibited infantile sounds. Despite abnormal brain activity, doctors held hope for Genie’s learning potential and embarked on teaching her and fostering interpersonal connections in an effort to stimulate her cognitive development.
Genie started to speak, although her words were challenging to comprehend. Her progress provided doctors with optimism that she would improve. Prior to Genie, there was a documented case featuring a boy named Victor, which served as a guideline for dealing with Genie’s situation. Victor was brought up in the wilderness and had no ability to speak. He was discovered naked and covered in scars. Doctors believed they could socialize Victor and attributed his mental impairment to his feral upbringing and lack of exposure to social norms and civilization.
The video demonstrates object permanence as the doctor presents food in a mirror to Victor. Victor attempts to retrieve the food from the mirror before realizing it’s actually in the doctor’s hand behind him. Victor, also known as the Wild Child, had a movie made about his treatment which aired a week after Genie was discovered. Genie, now 14 years old, raised concerns among doctors about her ability to learn to speak normally. The doctors believed that if a person doesn’t acquire their first language before puberty, it may be too late for them to develop language skills.
Genie had a strong attachment to balloons and threads of various colors and desired to expand her vocabulary for different objects. Genie took up residence with her language doctor, who observed Genie accumulating containers of liquid without understanding the reason behind it. The language doctor wished to become Genie’s foster parent as she believed that the numerous tests conducted on Genie were not beneficial and aimed to protect Genie from other doctors. However, the hospital opposed the language doctor’s request and denied her foster parent status for Genie.
They discovered another doctor to be Genie’s foster parent. The doctor’s family believed that she required significant support and had the potential to learn. They instructed her on how to express her anger through tantrums and then verbally, rather than resorting to self-harm. Genie could construct brief sentences resembling those used by a child aged 1 or 2. She was now capable of reading simple sentences and articulating aspects of her past in sentences. Genie was in the process of acquiring her first language and started attending a nursery school. Victor’s progress, on the other hand, slowed down and he never truly acquired the ability to speak.
Victor died in his 40’s in 1828, without a happy ending. The doctors aimed for Genie to have a better outcome than Victor’s. They started teaching Genie sign language, as they believed this was where the doctors had failed with Victor. It was never determined if Genie was intellectually disabled since birth, but it was discovered that she was making mental progress after being found. When the government discontinued funding for Genie, the foster family gave her up and she was reunited with her mother in 1975. However, Genie still struggled to form sentences like a typical person her age.
After some time, Genie’s mother became unable to handle caring for Genie, so she was placed back in foster care. While she was in foster care, Genie experienced both mental and physical abuse. The abuse was so severe that she regressed to the point of not speaking, just like when she was initially discovered. Subsequently, the doctors and the hospital were being sued for prioritizing excessive testing and research over Genie’s well-being. It was claimed that these tests were detrimental to Genie and too repetitive to facilitate productive learning. Furthermore, these tests were not officially approved and provided no benefit to Genie.
Genie spent the rest of her life in adult foster care and was unable to speak at her normal age capacity. Due to her isolation, Genie never had the opportunity to hear others speaking or engage in conversations, making it impossible for her to mimic and develop speech. In order to acquire this language skill, Genie required exposure to people talking and conversing. Unfortunately, Genie had missed crucial developmental stages and would require significant effort to catch up.
Some doctors in the Genie case appeared to be motivated by money and fame. The treatment method utilized was unsuccessful and lacked Genie’s best interest. It would require significant time for Genie to achieve proper communication skills, but she would never reach the same cognitive age as her birth age unless she could acquire two or three cognitive years simultaneously. To regain those years, Genie would have needed to exert more effort and increase her skill level. Unfortunately, Genie’s learning progress was hindered because the tests administered did not assess any changes in skill level; it seemed as though she was being presented with the same test in a different format.
