Ginny's story. Genie is a feral child

Our whole life from the very beginning is determined by two factors - the natural and social environment. It is the social environment that teaches us such seemingly primitive things as the ability to express our thoughts, distinguish good from bad, or interact with our own kind. This is where childhood and the journey of each of us begin.

However, the sad story that we will tell you is about a man who was once deprived of such luxury. Moreover, this case is considered in modern history as the loudest and most shocking example child abuse.

Genie in a bottle

On November 4, 1970, a woman calling herself Irene Wiley contacted the Department of Social Services in Temple City, California. The woman was practically blind in both eyes, and, according to her, her daughter needed medical attention.

Irene’s daughter, who was nearby at that moment, made a truly creepy impression. The girl moved with a strange gait, with difficulty moving her legs and pressing her hands to her chest, she could not utter a word, nor could she control her salivation - all the child’s clothes were soaked in saliva and vomit.

The child, apparently, was hardly aware of where he was, showing fear and aggression with his entire appearance. The girl hissed and spat every time they tried to touch her. She appeared to be six or seven years old, but her mother stated that her daughter turned thirteen in April of this year.

Jeanie Wiley during rehab

The strange couple did not have any documents, and the woman answered any questions asked evasively, confused in her own testimony.

Almost immediately, a department employee contacted the Los Angeles County police. On the same day, the story of the 13-year-old savage received worldwide publicity. The girl's real name still remains unknown. Scientists and doctors who subsequently worked with the unfortunate woman gave her the name Jeanie(Genie) - the girl was compared to a genie from a bottle who suddenly appeared among people, having passed the first 13 years of her life.

Wiley Family History

Jeanie was born to Dorothy Irene Oglesby and Clark Gray Wiley, the fourth child. The two eldest children in this family died under sad circumstances. The first child, in fact, became the first victim of abuse by the father of the family.

The baby annoyed his father by crying, while Wiley could not stand the noise. It ended with Wiley locking the child in a desk drawer in the garage for a long time. After this, the firstborn of the Wiley family died of pneumonia. Their second child also died in infancy, choking on his own saliva.

Clark Wiley has always been a hot-tempered and cruel person, not without oddities. However, after the death of his elderly mother in a car accident, the atmosphere in Wiley's house changed. Distraught, Clark did not allow his household to speak even in a low voice.

His wife Irene and son John spoke only in whispers. There was no TV or radio in the house to avoid extraneous noise. Often the father of the family would take his anger out on his son, not hesitating to assault him. Soon the boy ran away from home. Since then, he has never returned to his hometown.

Despite the events unfolding in the Wiley family, none of their neighbors suspected that in addition to John, Irene and Clark had another child growing up. It was Jeanie. She was born on April 18, 1957.

Genie grew up to be a healthy girl and was examined by her pediatrician several times during her first year of life. However, at one point the doctor suggested that Genie was probably showing symptoms of delayed development. Having learned about this, Clark Wiley decided to protect his daughter from communicating with her mother and brother, resorting to intimidating methods.

The father locked the girl in a room on the second floor of his house. During the day, he tied her to a highchair so that Genie could not get up or move around the room. At night, Clark locked her in a homemade enclosure made of wire, similar to a dog cage.

At the same time, Wiley communicated with the girl, not using human speech, but imitating a dog's barking and growling. If Genie tried to scream or at least make a voice, her father severely beat her.

Genie's brother, father and mother

In such conditions, the girl spent more than 10 years - without seeing any people except her crazy father, without learning to speak, without seeing sunlight. She was not toilet trained, did not know how to chew solid food or use cutlery - all this time, Wiley fed her daughter only with liquid infant formula. Apparently, the father hoped that his daughter, whom he considered mentally retarded, would not live long in such conditions and would stop burdening the family.

He forbade his wife Irene, who suffered from cataracts in both eyes and practically did not leave the house, to do anything. However, Clark promised his wife to allow her to take her daughter to the doctor when she turned 12 years old. Wiley did not keep his promise, and a year later, when Jeanie turned thirteen, Irene took her daughter and still left her husband.

Release and rehabilitation

After the police were called, an entire police squad was sent to Wiley's house. Sergeant Frank Linley, who participated in the operation, recalls:

It was dark in that house, all the curtains were drawn. There were no toys, no scattered clothes - nothing that could indicate that children lived in the house. There was barely any street light coming into Genie's room, and there was no artificial lighting at all in her room. But the worst thing was that the entire decoration of her room consisted only of a makeshift cage and a chair, to the arms of which some kind of belts and fastenings were attached.

Following the police visit, both parents were charged with child abuse. Upon learning of this, Clark Uyali committed suicide, leaving a suicide note consisting of one phrase: “The world will never understand.”

Genie's release from home confinement was followed by a long period of rehabilitation. Genie's story caused such a stir in society that the government funded a large staff of doctors and scientists ready to work on the girl's integration into society. Genie suffered from vision problems - she was unable to focus her gaze at a distance greater than the perimeter of her room.

Genie learns to walk

The girl also had problems with the musculoskeletal system, digestion, bite and, of course, speech skills. Doctors were never able to determine whether Genie was truly mentally retarded - encephalograms indicated brain dysfunction, but it was impossible to determine whether it was congenital. At the time of placement under the supervision of doctors, the intelligence of thirteen-year-old Genie corresponded to the level of mental development of a one-year-old child.

However, the girl soon began to show good results in her studies. She mastered a few words, but what was especially terrible was that Genie’s first words were “enough” and “don’t.”

Later, Genie learned to express herself in simple phrases, but without combining words into sentences using conjunctions and other functional parts of speech. And despite the fact that Genie never mastered English grammar, several years after her imprisonment she was able to go to a school for children with disabilities.

Teachers described Genie as a sociable and curious girl, fluent in non-verbal communication - in a fairly short time she learned sign language.

Meanwhile, many conflicts occurred among scientists involved in Gini research. Some experts literally fought for the opportunity to work with the girl, others accused the former of wanting to become famous and profit from this story.

Several people left the project as a result of friction. But, be that as it may, in 1975, when Genie turned 18 years old, the research was stopped, and the American National Institute of Mental Health stopped funding the project.

Psychologist David Rigler initially took custody of Genie, but his family gave up custody around the same time funding was cut off. Then Genie managed to live in several foster families, but during this time her condition managed to noticeably regress.

Adult Genie meeting with her mother

As a result, Genie was placed in a special institution for people with disabilities, the location of which was not disclosed. It is interesting that soon Genie's mother, Irene Wiley, filed a petition for custody of her daughter, but, of course, received a decisive refusal.

Today, according to rumors, Genie lives in a specialized private institution in California. She is almost 60 years old, she does not need anything, but she has never managed to master the English language - Genie communicates mainly using gestures. Sometimes her older brother John, who was lucky enough to escape from his parents' home, visits her.

Valeria Rogova

One November day in 1970, Irena V., accompanied by her thirteen-year-old daughter, went to the local social security office in the suburbs of Los Angeles to apply for visual disability. Being practically blind in one eye and having a cataract that causes ninety percent blindness in the other eye, Irena mistakenly entered the general social assistance department with her daughter. This mistake changed their lives forever. When they approached the reception desk, the social worker looked in amazement at Irena’s daughter: outwardly, she looked like a child of six or seven years old, she was stooped, and had a shuffling gait. The employee immediately called his supervisor and an investigation began. As a result, the world learned about a girl who was isolated and subjected to inhumane treatment for thirteen years. Subsequently, she entered the history of psychology under the name Genie.

Family history

The key figure in Genie's story and the person who spent a lot of time with this girl in subsequent years was Susan Curtis, a graduate of the Department of Linguistics at the University of California. Curtis later wrote and published her doctoral dissertation on Genie. In her opinion, “to understand this case, it was necessary to understand the family history.” It was assumed that research into the history of Genie's family would provide an explanation for the incredible situation in which this girl found herself.

Irena grew up in ordinary conditions: her father, who loved his daughter, was busy at work, and her mother was a strict and unapproachable woman. As a child, Irena had an accident: one day she slipped and hit her head. The resulting neurological damage left her blind in one eye, limiting her ability to care for herself and her loved ones. At the age of twenty she married Clark W., who was twice her age. Although they met in Hollywood, the story of their union did not have a happy ending.

At the beginning of World War II, Clark easily found a job and proved himself such a valuable specialist in the aviation industry that he decided to continue his work in peacetime. Outwardly, Irena and Clark looked happy and satisfied, but at home Clark, as Irena later said, tried to excessively restrict her freedom. She claimed that her life effectively ended on the day of her marriage. One of the things about Clark was that he didn't want to have children. However, five years after the wedding, Irena still became pregnant for the first time. During her stay in the hospital, where she was treated for injuries inflicted by her husband, Irena gave birth to a healthy daughter. However, three months later the child died. The official cause of death was pneumonia, however, according to some assumptions, the child, left by his parents in the garage, died of hypothermia. Their second child died of blood poisoning shortly after birth. The third child, a boy, was born healthy, but developed very slowly due to poor care. His grandmother, Clark’s mother, helped raise him, often staying with the child for several months. In April 1957, the couple had a fourth child, a daughter. She managed to survive after birth thanks to a blood transfusion, but by that time the grandmother was already too old to help care for the girl. Irena and Clark were forced to raise their daughter on their own. An examination of the girl, carried out at the age of five, showed that her development was “slow” and “delayed”.

During this period, Clark's mother suffered an accident that had important consequences for the whole family. One day, when this old woman was crossing the road to buy ice cream for her grandson, she was hit and killed by a car, which then fled the scene. Clark was very attached to his mother and fell into a deep depression after the tragedy. The driver responsible for the incident received a suspended sentence. Clark felt insulted: he felt that society had treated him unfairly, and he began to isolate himself more and more from the world around him. He decided that he could do without this world and his family should follow his example. Clark quit his job and locked himself in his own house.

Unfortunately, Clark felt that the best way to protect his family was to keep them locked up. He thought it was his responsibility to stop this evil world from taking advantage of the vulnerability of his loved ones. And they were indeed very vulnerable, which is why they were forced to remain his captives for the next decade. Perhaps Clark did not realize that they were defenseless against his own destructive behavior, which caused them far more harm than any evil they could encounter in the world around them.

Insulation

After Genie's story came to light through a mother-daughter visit to the Social Security office, it was determined that the girl had spent almost her entire life (thirteen years) in a small bedroom in a house on Golden West Avenue in Temple City, California. Most of the time she was forced to sit on a children's toilet chair. A mark in the form of a circular callus has formed on her buttocks from many years of sitting on this device. The girl was only able to move her limbs and fingers and toes. Sometimes at night she was placed in a narrow sleeping bag, which resembled more of a straitjacket. The girl was then placed on a crib with a wire mattress and covered with wire mesh.

She was strictly forbidden to make any sounds, and if she violated the ban, her father beat her with a stick. In her presence, he himself only made barking sounds and growled at her like a dog. Jeanie's brother, on the instructions of his father, spoke to her extremely rarely. In the house, brother and mother spoke to each other in whispers for fear of irritating Clark. In her solitude, Jeanie hardly heard any sounds, so it was not surprising that she was silent. Her vision was also not stimulated in any way: the room had only two windows, which were almost completely covered with curtains that let in a minimum of light. All she could see behind the glass was a tiny piece of sky.

Sometimes Genie was allowed to “play” with two plastic raincoats hanging in the room. Sometimes she was allowed to look at carefully selected pictures; Any images capable of awakening thoughts were mercilessly thrown away by the father. Empty thread spools were virtually her only “toys.”

Genie was given very little food: baby food, cereal, and the occasional hard-boiled egg. The girl was fed quickly and in complete silence by her brother, so contact with her was kept to a minimum. If she choked or refused to eat, they smeared food on her face. This order was maintained by Clark; It is difficult to imagine the existence of a small child in more terrible conditions. Clark told his wife that the child would not live more than twelve years, but if it was longer, Irena could try to get help. Fortunately, the girl lived through this period; Irena decided to somehow change the situation. After a nasty fight during which Clark threatened to kill his wife, she left home with Jeanie. A few days later they ended up at the social security office, where the story came out.

Rehabilitation

While the investigation was ongoing, Genie was being cared for at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Her parents, accused of child abuse, were scheduled to go to trial on November 20, 1970. But on the morning of that day, Clark shot himself in the right temple. He left two posthumous notes: the first explained where the police could find his son, and the second contained the following words: “The world will never understand.” Irena was already in court when she was told this news. She did not admit her guilt, explaining everything that happened as the cruel tyranny of her husband; her arguments were considered convincing. It seemed that Genie and Irena could finally start a new life.

At the hospital, doctors examined the girl and began treatment for exhaustion. At thirteen years old, she weighed only 25 kilograms and was 135 centimeters tall. Jeanie was an intemperate eater and could not chew solid food. She could not swallow properly, produced excessive amounts of saliva, and was constantly unhappy. The girl's clothes were often splashed with saliva, and she involuntarily urinated when she became excited. In addition, she could not focus her vision on objects more than three to four meters away from her. Why did her eyes need to focus on what was outside her bedroom? She had two rows of teeth and very thin hair. She walked with great difficulty and could not move her arms and legs normally. Apparently she didn't feel hot or cold. She never screamed and could hardly speak. While she understood some words, such as “mother,” “blue,” “walk,” and “door,” she could only utter a few short negative phrases, which she combined into one word, such as “not enough” and “more.”

Testing

Children's Hospital psychologist James Kent began assessing Genie's cognitive and emotional abilities. He stated that “of all the children I have ever seen, she is the most severely damaged child. ... Genie’s life is an uncultivated field.” Her virtual inability to speak made it incredibly difficult to assess the girl's intelligence. She seemed to be able to express only a few emotions, such as fear, irritation and, surprisingly, amusement. However, her irritation was always directed inward - she scratched her face and urinated, but never made a sound.

Nevertheless, Genie showed rapid progress. On the third day of her stay in the hospital, she helped dress herself and learned to use the toilet. A few months later, she was seen making threatening gestures towards a girl from a rehab center who was wearing a dress that she had previously worn. Observers were pleased to note that this was the first time that irritation was directed outward. She also began to keep various objects, in particular books, and, apparently, began to develop a sense of her own Self.

A month later, as Kent was leaving the ward after a series of sightings, she tried to detain him by grabbing his arm. Apparently she began to develop friendships with some of her adult assistants.

Genie participated in various intelligence tests and showed remarkable progress in the first few months. In some areas, she achieved in two months the results that were expected to be achieved in a year. However, there was instability in the girl’s development: in some places she succeeded, but in others she lagged noticeably behind. Her language proficiency remained extremely low, but she began to participate in games with other people and stopped avoiding physical contact. She learned to take a bath the way children do at the age of nine, but her ability to chew food was no different from a one-year-old child.

She enjoyed daytime walks outside the hospital. Everything was new and exciting for Jeanie. Usually the people she met were very friendly. She was given gifts by complete strangers, men and women. Curtis felt that Jeanie was an effective nonverbal communicator. Indeed, she soon witnessed how her ward successfully carried out wordless communications - that is, engaged in a kind of telepathy.

Jeanie especially enjoyed shopping and would collect plastic toy buckets of different colors and keep them under her bed. She really wanted to have any products made from polymer materials. Her obsession with this desire was explained by the very two plastic raincoats that served as her toys during her imprisonment. They were her main source of entertainment; perhaps she continued to associate plastic products with play.

The girl also developed the idea of the permanence of objects: the understanding that a thing exists even when it is not visible (according to Jean Piaget, a researcher of developmental psychology, this idea is usually developed in children at the end of the sensorimotor stage of development, around the age of two). In addition, she could perform delayed imitation, that is, she imitated behavior that she had seen before. She demonstrated this ability by reproducing the barking of a dog she saw earlier that same day. Genie also became less and less self-centered - she began to understand that other people could see things from a different point of view, that her way of thinking was not the only possible one. The presence of this ability is observed at the preoperative stage of child development - between the ages of two and seven years.

Reward

Jay Sherley, a psychiatrist and recognized expert on the effects of isolation, was also invited to meet Genie. He described this girl as having suffered the most prolonged social isolation of any child reported in the scientific literature. Researchers have debated a lot about Genie and argued that any scientific results could benefit similar children in the future.

Sometimes Jeanie stayed overnight at the house of Jean Butler, one of the teachers at the rehabilitation center, who began to show increased concern for the girl and, at the same time, disagreement with other members of “Team Jeanie” (as she called them). Butler later applied to be recognized as Genie's temporary foster parent, which was denied on the grounds that granting such a request would be contrary to the hospital's policy regarding the placement of patients in the home of staff.

In the absence of other temporary foster parents, David Rigler, a professor and chief psychiatrist of the hospital's psychiatric department, agreed to take Genie in for a short period. This time, the traditional principles of forming relationships between hospital staff and patients were again violated, but Jeanie spent four years in the Rigler family. She turned out to be far from an ideal guest: she continued to spit and took other children’s things. However, Genie showed a great interest in music, which literally fascinated her, but only if it was classical music (during Genie's period of isolation, their housemate took music lessons; perhaps this was the only regular source of sound in Genie's childhood).

Genie started going to kindergarten and then to a school for children with mental retardation, where she could interact with other children. It seemed as if Genie began to blossom before the Rieglers' eyes. She demonstrated a good sense of humor and learned to iron and sew. One day in the summer of 1972, the girl said, “Genie is happy.”

Meanwhile, her mother Irena, after successful cataract surgery, returned to the house on Golden West Avenue. She never admitted the slightest guilt for what happened to Genie, while many scientists condemned her passive role. After Rigler was denied a grant to continue testing Genie, she moved home with her mother. Thus, the child returned to the place where he was abused. It was an ill-conceived decision: the mother could not provide adequate care for the child, and social services had to place Genie with another family. But this decision turned out to be even more unsuccessful: the new parents’ life was organized on a military basis, which ran counter to the girl’s needs. Genie closed herself off and shut herself off from the world, she wanted to control her life, and, as she felt, the only way to achieve this was to hide what had accumulated in her soul and remain silent.

All this time, Susan Curtis was the only specialist who visited Genie. She did this completely voluntarily, simply because she had a warm relationship with this child. Eventually, Genie's conditions were deemed unsatisfactory, and Curtis convinced authorities to return the girl to the children's hospital.

As time passed, Irena “hid” Genie in a home for adults with mental retardation and no longer allowed the scientists to see her daughter. Jeanie reportedly spent one day off every month with her mother until Irena sold the house on Golden West Avenue in 1987 and moved to another place without giving a new address. From the point of view of any research, Genie ceased to exist again.

There is also more recent information about her life within the walls of a medical institution. Jay Sherley visited Jeanie on her twenty-seventh and twenty-ninth birthdays. He reported that she became accustomed to a set routine, began to slouch heavily and avoided eye contact. She spoke little and looked depressed. He described her as an isolated person who entered the real world and perceived what that world offered only for a short time, and then found herself isolated again. The fictitious scientific name the researchers had invented for her suited her much better than one might have expected.

Neurology

After the first neurological studies, it became obvious that Genie performed well on the so-called right-brain tasks and extremely poorly on the left-brain tasks. Typically, speech is a task that is associated primarily with the activity of the left hemisphere. Each hemisphere of the brain controls the opposite side of the body. For example, a hemorrhage in the left hemisphere is likely to impair motor activity on the right side of the body, and vice versa.

In a dichotic listening task, the subject is asked to listen through headphones to two different messages, each of which is sent only to the right ear or only to the left ear. Under such conditions, sounds sent to each ear are processed almost exclusively by the opposite hemispheres. Using this method, Curtis could provide information to a specific hemisphere to figure out what was going on in Genie's brain. She discovered that Genie's language processing was done in the right hemisphere, whereas it was normally done in the left hemisphere. As it turned out, speech processing directed to the left hemisphere of Genie was carried out at the same level as in children with a remote left hemisphere. Curtis concluded that our brain development is determined by our external environment - namely, how we hear speech in the period before we reach puberty.

Language Acquisition: An Unnatural Experiment

How people acquire language is a subject of intense debate among both linguists and psychologists. There are two main schools of thought: nativists, who emphasize innate factors, or “nature,” and empiricists, who emphasize the influence of experience, or “nurture.” Thus, the question of language acquisition is of great importance in debates about the relationship between the roles of nature and nurture. One way to resolve this dispute is to isolate the child and not allow him to hear any speech. In this case, will he develop some forms of speech, based only on innate abilities? Pinker later argued that language acquisition is such a natural process that "there is practically no way to prevent its occurrence except by raising a child in a vat." Of course, no experiment of this type is possible, but in Genie's case the researchers felt that they were dealing with a "natural" experiment in which the supposed manipulation of external conditions occurred "naturally." Genie's upbringing meant that researchers could test many of the untested hypotheses.

The most famous proponent of nativism is Noam Chomsky. He suggested that language acquisition could not be explained by simple learning mechanisms alone. Chomsky argues that some language ability is innate and independent of learning. Empiricists, on the other hand, argue that language can be acquired without any innate ability.

Nativist linguistic theorists argue that children acquire language through an innate ability to establish the laws of speech, but that this can only happen in the presence of other people. These people do not formally "teach" the child language, but the innate ability cannot be used without verbal interaction with other people. Learning undoubtedly plays an important role, as children in English-speaking families learn to speak English, in French-speaking families French, etc. However, nativists also argue that children are born with an innate language acquisition mechanism (LAD). . The basic principles of the language are already set, and some other parameters are set depending on the specific language the child is learning. In the presence of sounding speech, LAD makes it possible to set the appropriate parameters and output the basic grammatical principles of the language, regardless of whether it is Chinese or English.

The nativist approach to language acquisition remains highly controversial, but there is some evidence to support it. It is known that all children go through the same stages of language development. A one-year-old child can say a few unrelated words, a two-year-old can say a few short sentences, and a three-year-old can say quite a few grammatically correct phrases. By the age of four, a child's speech begins to resemble in many ways the speech of an adult. This similarity in speech development is thought to suggest innate knowledge of language.

In addition, there is evidence of a universal grammatical structure for all languages. Indeed, languages are similar to each other in many respects. In addition, there is evidence that profoundly deaf children who are not exposed to sign language or spoken language develop manual communication systems that reflect many of the features of spoken language. Brown and Gerstein concluded that “one individual bears the obvious imprint that the development of the biological process occurs in him in the same way as in the entire human race.”

Like other innate behaviors, language acquisition has several critical periods. Lenneberg argues that a person's critical period of language acquisition ends at around age twelve. (Remember that Genie was discovered at age thirteen.) After puberty, Lenneberg argues, brain organization is complete and the brain is no longer malleable enough to acquire language; thus, if a language has not been learned before puberty, it will never be learned in a normal and fully functional sense. This idea is known as the critical period hypothesis. Lenneberg never showed any interest in studying Gini because he believed there were too many ambiguous variables to attempt any reliable conclusions.

The concept of a critical period in nature is not new. A good example of its manifestation is imprinting. Ducklings and goslings, when properly exposed, can recognize chickens, people, or mechanical objects as mothers if they encounter them immediately after birth.

Infants less than one year of age have the ability to distinguish phonemes from any language (a phoneme is a category of speech sounds, such as [m] for "boy"). This ability is lost by one year. For example, Japanese children, according to Eimas, lose the ability to distinguish [l] from [r]. Any child who had not been exposed to any language before puberty could thus be used to test the critical period hypothesis, and Genie turned out to be just such a child. Could she, in a nurturing environment enriched with new events, master the language, despite the fact that the critical period for performing this task had already ended for her? If she succeeded, it would indicate the fallacy of the critical period hypothesis; if she failed, it would indicate the correctness of the hypothesis.

Many psychologists and language development specialists spent years trying to teach Genie to talk. Despite all their efforts, their patient never learned to speak normally. Although her vocabulary expanded rapidly, she was unable to create syntactic structures, even when receiving exceptionally clear instructions from her teachers.

Doctors at the children's hospital initially assessed Genie to be at the developmental level of a one-year-old child, and she appeared to recognize only her name and the word "sorry." However, she enjoyed discovering the world around her and quickly expanded her vocabulary. Starting with one-word sentences typical of toddlers, she soon learned to form pairs of words that she had never heard before, such as “I want milk” or “Curtis is here.” By November 1971, she was stringing together three words at a time, saying phrases like “two small cups” or “white light box.” She appeared to show encouraging signs of language acquisition. Jeanie even said the phrase "little bad boy" in reference to an incident where another child shot her with a toy gun. She used language to describe past events. At the same time, such terrible phrases were heard as “Father takes a stick. Beats. I'm screaming" and "Father is angry." She repeated them over and over again. Children who reach this stage of language acquisition typically experience a “language explosion,” which results in their vocabulary growing rapidly over a period of several months. Unfortunately, this did not happen for Jeanie.

Curtis suspected that Genie was simply being lazy and trying to shorten words or string them together. The girl even received the nickname “The Great Reducer.” Her speech development did not go beyond composing simple phrases such as “no bread” or “Miss has a new car.” This suggests that she could sometimes use verbs and, according to the speech therapists who worked with her, she was beginning to master some rules of grammar. But she never asked questions, had difficulty using pronouns (“you” and “me” were interchangeable for her and reflected her self-absorption), and her development was painfully difficult, despite intensive training using the most modern methods. From that moment on, further language acquisition virtually ceased.

Genie's story provides some evidence to support the critical period hypothesis. This case suggests that speech is an innate ability of human beings and that language acquisition occurs during the critical period from age two until the end of puberty. After puberty, learning languages becomes much more difficult for a person - which explains why learning a second language is not as easy as learning a first. However, Genie acquired some degree of language acquisition and thus demonstrated that language acquisition can be achieved beyond the critical period, albeit to a limited extent. Genie never managed to master grammar, and it is grammar, according to Chomsky, that distinguishes human language from animal language. In this view, Genie failed to develop her language beyond the critical period. In many ways, the debate now comes down to how we define “language.”

The methodological problem with the study of Genie is that this child was not simply deprived of opportunities to speak for himself and to listen to the speech of others; he experienced many other restrictions. The girl also suffered from poor nutrition and lack of visual, tactile and social stimulation. Given the key role of language in human development and interaction, it seems almost inevitable that anyone who is deprived of language stimulation will also be deprived of other opportunities for normal cognitive or social development. That's pretty much what happened with Genie. How might psychologists untangle these interrelated effects? It turned out to be impossible to do this. In Genie's case, there was also lingering doubt as to whether she was actually born with certain biological or congenital abnormalities that delayed her development. Her father pointed this out early in her life, and the pediatricians who examined Gini also noted some problems. However, Irena argued that the girl began to make incoherent sounds and utter random words before her father isolated her from others, so that in the initial stage of her life she was able to acquire language at a normal rate. Of course, this evidence cannot be relied upon 100%. Moreover, according to Curtis, the girl was not mentally retarded. She performed very well on spatial tests and developed the ability to see things from a different perspective.

Susan Curtis viewed Genie's case as a strong argument against Lenneberg's critical period hypothesis, which holds that natural language acquisition cannot occur after the completion of puberty. Genie was able to acquire some degree of "language" after puberty, and Curtis claimed that her charge learned to speak through "mere exposure." However, it was subsequently reported that Curtis appeared to have radically changed her stance on language nativism. She argued that Genie's case did not really provide compelling evidence of language acquisition after puberty. Sampson and Jones independently examine in detail how Curtis's thinking about Genie in later publications contradicts what she wrote in her earliest book, although she did not gain any new facts and did not provide any explanation for the reasons for her change of views.

P.S

What can we say about Genie? Of course, her father ruined her life; the system designed to protect against such parental abuse has failed; and even after the “discovery” of the girl, the professionals called upon to care for such children did not fulfill the functions assigned to them. Although Genie's story has become perhaps the most famous in modern psychology, it has not provided convincing arguments for or against the critical period hypothesis for language acquisition. This case has become the epicenter of debates about the ethics of research in psychology and has become a potential source of conflict between the needs of scientists and the people being studied.

Ultimately, Genie's story can be interpreted as a list of mistakes caused by unfortunate circumstances or misconceptions of people. However, at the same time, Genie managed to “reach out” to people, touch their hearts, feel the beauty of life and demonstrate the true depth of the human ability to forgive. In a unique way, Jeanie remains an inspiration to us all.

Notes:

Bruner J. S. Foreword (1987) in the book. Luria A.R. The Mind of Mnemonist. New York: Basic Books, 1968 (1987 reprinted edn.).

Genie (which translates from English as genie) is a fictitious name used by scientists to hide the girl's true name. Apparently, the choice turned out to be successful - thanks to this name, it seems that the child appeared out of nowhere. For a more detailed account of Genie, see: Rymer R. Genie: A Scientific Tragedy. New York: Harper Collins, 1993.

Curtiss S. Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study of a Modern-day “Wild Child”. New York: Academic Press, 1997.

Pinker S. Language Learnability and Language Development. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1984. P. 29.

Brown R., Hernstein R. Psychology. Boston: Little, Brown, 1975. P. 479.

Lenneberg E. Biological Foundations of Language. New York: Wiley, 1967.

Eimas R. Speech perception in early infancy // Scientific Amer. 1985. Vol. 252. P. 46-52.

Sampson G. Educating Eve. London: Cassell, 1997.

Jones P. Contradictions and Unanswered questions in the Genie case: a fresh look at the linguistic evidence // Language and Communication. 1995. Vol. 15. P. 261-280.

Genie is a code name given to a girl who spent the first 12 years of her life locked up. This - the assignment of a different name - was done to keep the girl's identity secret, since interest in the monstrous experiment that her own father performed on her was invariably aroused by everyone who learned about this incident. The girl was discovered by American authorities in 1970 in Arcadia, California, USA.

According to linguist Susan Curtis, who worked with Genie, she was so named because the girl was like a genie in a bottle who, having passed her childhood years, suddenly appeared in society. "She didn't have what people call a childhood," Curtis said.

Possible developmental delays

Genie's parents - Dorothy Irene Oglesby and Clark Gray Wiley - lived in the Californian city of Arcadia, they had four children, of whom two survived - Jeanie and her older brother John. The first two died under unclear circumstances. Clark Wiley wrapped his first child, a girl who annoyed him by crying, in a blanket and placed it in a table drawer in the garage. At the age of 2.5 months, the child died of pneumonia. The second child, a boy, died shortly after birth, choking on his own saliva. Irene suffered from cataracts in both eyes, caused by a childhood injury, and was ninety percent blind.

Jeanie was born on April 18, 1957. During the first six months of her life, Genie was seen regularly by her pediatrician. According to medical records, Genie was a normal child during this period.

At the age of 14 months, Genie was diagnosed with acute pneumonia; After examination, the attending physician stated that she was showing signs of “possible mental retardation.” This assumption became a turning point in Genie’s life: the girl’s father isolated her in one of the rooms of his house from contact with her mother and older brother.

A truly difficult childhood

Clark Wiley fed the girl only infant formula with milk and communicated with her, mainly imitating dog barks and growls. Every time she tried to speak, he beat her with a stick. Jeanie's toys were plastic raincoats hanging in the room and empty spools of thread.

Clark assumed that Genie would die before she turned twelve. He told Irene, his wife, that the woman would be able to seek medical help for Jeanie when the latter turned 12. However, Wiley later retracted his words and did not allow his wife to leave the house or contact her parents.

The attention of the authorities and the suicide of the father

In 1970, 50-year-old Irene left her husband, taking with her her daughter, who was 13 years old at the time. On November 4, 1970, Irene contacted the Department of Social Assistance. The social worker who received her noticed the unusual behavior of Genie, whom her mother took with her.

The child spat, scratched and moved with a jerky “rabbit gait”, with his arms stretched out in front of him. He informed his supervisor, who in turn notified the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office. The Wileys were charged with child abuse.

Shortly before the trial began, Clark Wiley committed suicide by shooting himself in the right temple. He left a suicide note that said “The world will never understand,” as well as another note and $400 for John.

Genie's condition at the time of her discovery

At the time of her discovery, 13-year-old Jeanie was wearing diapers and had virtually no speech. By court order, she was admitted to the Children's Hospital at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The girl did not respond to the ambient temperature, was not toilet trained, could not chew, could not control her salivation and was constantly spitting; the girl’s body and clothes were covered in saliva.

As a result of the fact that the child was fixed in a sitting position for a long time, massive calluses formed on her buttocks. Significant problems with her vision and dental health were noted.

Genie still had a number of habits acquired in her early years of life. The girl had uncontrollable urination when something really interested or worried her. She also "masturbated immoderately."

During the first months of Genie's stay in the hospital, a number of tests were carried out to determine her mental and physical state. Tests showed that in terms of mental development she is at the level of a one-year-old child. At first, she could only recognize her own name and the word “sorry.” After some time, the girl began to utter two phrases, which, according to experts, were of a ritual nature: “stopit” and “nomore” (“enough” and “no need”).

Susan Curtis, a young certified linguist, took part in the study. Curtis recalls: “Genie was not socialized and behaved terribly, but at the same time she charmed us with her beauty.” Curtis devoted the next few years of her life to working with Jeanie.

Attempted rehabilitation with Susan Curtis

At the first stage of working with the girl, Susan Curtis, trying to establish contact with her, visited her or took her for walks. Curtis went into stores with Jeanie, and the latter showed curiosity, looking at meat products and plastic containers. Jeanie, who spent her life practically never leaving the walls of her home, was interested in all the buildings she and Curtis passed by. The girl often came to the doors of houses, hoping that they would let her in and she could see what was inside.

Even though Genie initially had fewer than 20 words in her vocabulary, Curtis described her as a “very outgoing” child. According to Curtis, if Genie could not express her thoughts with words, then she used gestures. In addition, the girl liked to be stroked and hugged. If something upset her, the girl would react with a “silent scream,” but over time she began to “express her emotions quite openly.”

In June 1971, Curtis began systematically exploring the girl's linguistic capabilities. In the first 7 months after her release, Genie learned to recognize, presumably, a little over a hundred new words and began to speak. Curtis recalls that once he and Jeanie came to visit a psychologist, and the girl began to explore the rooms of his house. A decorative pillow caught Jeanie's attention. To the question “what is this?” the girl replied “pillow”. Then the girl was asked if she would like to look at the cat. Jeanie replied “No. No. Cat” (“No. No. Cat”) and shook her head sharply. However, the child was mostly silent.

At first, Genie (like children who are just beginning to speak) uttered phrases consisting of one word. In July 1971, she began to combine two words in one phrase: “big teeth”, “little marble”, “two hand”. Somewhat later, Jeanie began to use verbs: “Curtiss come” (“Curtis to come”), “want milk” (“want milk”). In November of the same year, Genie began constructing phrases consisting of three words: “small two cup”, “white clear box” (“white transparent box”). In January 1972, according to Curtis's reports, Genie, using a limited vocabulary, began describing events that had happened in the past. In particular, the girl spoke about Clark Wiley: “Father beat his hand. Big stick. Genie Cry" (English: Father Hit Arm. Big Wood. Genie Cry). After some time, she learned to read simple words.

Psychiatrist Jay Charley stated the following in this regard: “I had the absolutely clear impression that Genie was mentally retarded from birth. Studies that looked at the state of her brain during sleep prove this." Susan Curtis objects to him: “Gini’s functional delay is due to the conditions in which she was kept during the first years of her life. She is not mentally retarded in the strict sense of the word. In particular, Genie took tests every year and demonstrated the development of intelligence every year. This doesn’t happen to mentally retarded people.”

The Life of Jeanie with Jean Butler

The girl was taken into her home by her teacher from the children's hospital, Jean Butler. On June 23, 1971, she appealed to the hospital management with a request to allow Genie to spend the night in her house, and on July 7, Butler reported that she was experiencing symptoms of rubella and that Genie was probably also infected. To prevent the spread of infection on the premises of the children's hospital, Butler left the girl in quarantine in her home. According to Susan Curtis, the rubella story was specifically invented by Butler. Moreover, Curtis claims that Butler did not hide her ambitions and hoped to become famous thanks to Genie.

Butler's actions were accompanied by the development of a conflict situation between her and some members of the research team. In mid-July, in particular, an incident occurred between Butler and David Rigler. The cause of the incident was a Labrador puppy that Rigler was going to show to Jeanie, but she got very scared and ran away. The girl said “no dog” and “scared”.

According to Butler's notes, in July - August 1971, significant progress was made in Genie's rehabilitation: she began to urinate less often at night, and she began to masturbate less, switching her interest to other types of activity. In addition, Butler notes: “The quality of her speech has improved, and her vocabulary has expanded at least 10 times. I taught her the correct use of the word 'yes'... and taught her to verbally express her dissatisfaction by saying the word 'angry' followed by punching the air or hitting an object (such as a large inflatable plastic clown)."

David and Marilyn Rigler's attempt

In 1971, Rigler and his wife became the girl's first legal guardians, and Jeanie moved into the Rigler home, where, in addition to the couple, they lived with their two sons and daughter (all in their teens), a dog and a cat. Jeanie had her own bedroom and bathroom, Rigler said. David Rigler recalls: “Genie, as a 2-year-old child, could not be left alone at home. She learned to eat solid food, stopped wetting the bed and, since she got her period, learned to use pads.”

Marilyn Rigler's goal was to "awaken in Genie a sense of connectedness to the material world." Marilyn recalls: “One day I let Jeanie fill the bathtub, but when I put my hand in the water, it turned out that it was ice cold. But it didn’t seem to matter to her.”

The Rigglers taught Jeanie to recognize words by touch, the letters of which were made of sandpaper. The girl learned to write her name, in addition, she drew a lot and sculpted from plasticine, and also mastered sign language and showed significant progress in development.

After funding was stopped in 1974, the girl's guardians abandoned her.

Unique abilities of a girl

Genie developed unique nonverbal communication skills, with observers reporting repeated instances of strangers giving the girl things in which she expressed interest.

Susan Curtis recalls: “During the first months [of working with Jeanie], we met a certain butcher several times. This man didn’t ask her anything, he didn’t even know what to call her. But somehow they managed to communicate. Every time we went [to the meat section of the supermarket], he would give Jeanie something: some bone, a piece of meat, some fish, etc. And this man would allow her to do what she usually did [with strangers objects], namely, to conduct a tactile examination of them, just as blind people do: she touched them with her fingers and touched them with her lips.”

David Rigler recalls a similar incident: “One day we met a man and his son - they were leaving the store, and the boy was holding a toy fire truck in his hands. And we had already missed them, but suddenly the boy caught up with us and handed Gini a toy. She didn't ask him to do this, she didn't say a word, but somehow she managed to do such things."

Life after research

After the Rieglers relinquished custody of Jeanie, the girl lived in foster families (one of them was deeply religious), where she gradually regressed.

At one time she lived with her mother, who was eventually cleared of charges, but her mother soon abandoned her, unable to care for her. Genie was placed in a specialized institution for people with disabilities. Her location has not been disclosed.

Susan Curtis continued to work with Genie on a voluntary basis, but was prohibited by court order from visiting her patient. In a 2008 interview with ABC News, Curtis said that she had been trying to find Genie for the past 20 years, but her efforts had been unsuccessful.

An anonymous investigation into the circumstances of Genie's life and her real name

“I have accounts of her expenses. There are, for example, bills for such things as a swimsuit, towel, hula hoop and Walkman. This is so touching. But she feels good there,” said the anonymous author. That same year, ABC News reported that Jeanie was being cared for in a private facility in Southern California. She can only speak a few words, but has a good memory of the sign language she was taught in the 1970s.

In 2010, Donna Oglesby, a maternal relative of Genie's who studies genealogy, published her research on Genie's origins and her immediate circle on the Find a Grave website. According to information provided by Oglesby, Genie's real name is Susan M. Wiley. Her current whereabouts are unknown.

Film about the life of Genie

In 2001, the film “Mockingbird Shall Not Sing” was released, the plot of which is based on the story of Genie. Events are presented from the point of view of Susan Curtis. The film's director, Harry Bromley Davenport, spent about 40 hours talking with Curtis. The film won first prize for best screenplay at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Genie spent the first 13 years and 7 months of her life locked in a room, in almost complete social isolation. The case aroused considerable interest among psychologists, linguists and other scientists. The girl was initially admitted to a children's hospital; later she stayed in the homes of scientists, guardians and with her mother. After some time, research funding was stopped, and Genie was placed in a specialized institution for people with disabilities. Her location has not been disclosed.

Jeanie is not the girl's real name, but a pseudonym given by researchers in order to guarantee her some anonymity.

When Genie was admitted to the children's hospital, she weighed about 27 kg and was 1.37 m tall. She could not run, could not fully straighten her arms and legs, and therefore walked with considerable difficulty. The girl did not respond to the ambient temperature, was not toilet trained, did not know how to chew, did not control salivation and was constantly spitting; the girl’s body and clothes were covered with saliva]. As a result of the fact that the child was fixed in a sitting position for a long time, massive calluses formed on her buttocks. Significant problems with her vision and dental health were noted. Genie still had a number of habits acquired in her early years of life. The girl had uncontrollable urination when something really interested or worried her. She also "masturbated immoderately." During the first months of Genie's stay in the hospital, a number of tests were carried out to determine her mental and physical state. Tests showed that in terms of mental development she is at the level of a one-year-old child. At first, she could only recognize her own name and the word “sorry.” After some time, the girl began to utter two phrases, which, according to experts, were of a ritual nature: “stopit” and “nomore” (“enough” and “don’t”).

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There are many stories of children growing up isolated from society - with little or no contact with other people. But few of them have received wide publicity and attracted as much attention from scientists as the case of a little girl named Ginny. She spent almost her entire childhood locked in her room, isolated and abused. It was on her example that the hypothesis of the so-called critical period was first tested.

Can a child raised in deprivation and isolation develop language skills? Is it possible with care to correct what was destroyed by such a terrible past?

Ginny was discovered on November 4, 1970. A social worker in Los Angeles, California discovered the 13-year-old girl when her mother contacted social services. Social workers soon realized that the girl had not left her room and an investigation revealed that she had spent most of her life tied to a chair in her room.

The girl was given the name Ginny to hide her identity. "We called the case 'Ginny.' It's not a real name, we just thought of a genie - a creature that comes out of a bottle or something like that... This creature, it seems to us, did not have a human childhood.", Susan Curtiss said in the 1997 documentary The Mystery of the Wild Child.

Both parents were accused of abusing the child, but Ginny's father committed suicide the day before the trial, leaving a note that read: "The world will never understand".

Before they found out about Ginny, the girl's life was terrible. She spent most of the day tied naked to a chair in her room, and could only move her hands and feet. If she made a sound, her father would beat her. Her father, mother, and even her older brother rarely spoke to her. If her father spoke to her, it was only with shouts.

Rumors about Ginny spread very quickly and attracted the attention of not only the public, but also the scientific world. Her case was of great scientific importance, argued psycholinguist Harlan Lee, because “our moral values do not allow us to experiment on people with deprivation, so we can only work with such unfortunate people.”

As soon as Ginny's story became public, a completely logical question arose: what should be done with her? A whole team of psychologists and language specialists took on Ginny’s rehabilitation.

Ginny's training

The National Institute of Mental Health allocated funds for scientific work on the study and rehabilitation of the girl.

“I think everyone who came into contact with her was fascinated by her. Her ability to communicate with people, which is developing more and more, is undoubtedly innate. She learned to get everything she needed without saying a word - she just looked in a special way, and people wanted to do everything they needed for her.”, said David Rigler, a member of Ginny’s rehabilitation group.

The team also included Susan Curtiss and James Kent. Upon arrival at the University of California, they were greeted by a girl weighing 59 pounds and with a strange, “bunny” gait. She often smacked her lips and could not straighten her limbs. Silent, incontinent, unable to chew, she seemed to recognize only her name and the word “sorry.”

Kent assessed Ginny's emotional and cognitive capabilities and concluded: “This is the most wounded child I have ever seen. Her life is empty". Her reticence and inability to use language made it difficult for the researchers. After a series of tests, they concluded that her cognitive abilities remained at the level of a one-year-old child.

However, in some areas she still began to make progress quite soon; Ginny quickly learned to use the toilet and get dressed. In the following months, she showed even greater progress, but, for example, she was not able to master the language. She liked to leave the hospital for walks and explore the world around her - the girl’s curiosity surprised both those who worked with her and complete strangers.

Curtiss suggested that she had good non-verbal communication skills, often receiving gifts from strangers who surprisingly sensed her need to explore the world around her.

Critical period and language acquisition

Part of the reason for the excitement around Ginny (especially among psychologists and linguists) is that her story presented a unique chance to resolve the language debate. Nativists believed that the ability to communicate verbally was inherent in us by nature, while empiricists believed that it was the environment that played a decisive role in this matter. This only fueled the eternal debate “nature vs. education", which is reflected in many branches of science.

Noam Chomsky suggested that human language acquisition cannot be explained by learning alone. Instead, he believed that children inherently possess a kind of “language acquisition device”—an innate ability to understand the basics of language. Once they are exposed to the language, this device helps them to master it very quickly.

Linguist Eric Lenneberg believed that, like many other aspects of human activity, human language acquisition is largely determined by “critical periods” - time frames that limit the process of mastering a skill. During this period, the body is especially sensitive to external stimuli and is able to learn quickly. According to Lenneberg, the critical period for language acquisition lasts until approximately age 12. With the onset of puberty, the brain structure becomes less flexible and less capable of fully acquiring language.

Ginny's case presented a unique opportunity for researchers: Surely, they could surround her with a language background and see if she could acquire language despite missing her critical period? If not, Lenneberg will be right.

Ginny's progress in learning the language

Even though tests showed that Ginny's cognitive abilities were approximately equal to those of a one-year-old child, Ginny soon began to rapidly expand her vocabulary with new words. And then she began to make simple phrases out of them, as little children do. Curtiss said that at that moment she decided that Ginny was still capable of learning the language.

A year later, she could form phrases of three words. In young children, this stage is followed by a “language explosion,” a period when they learn new words especially quickly and begin to speak a lot. But, unfortunately, this did not happen to Ginny. Her language skills remained at the same level; she never learned to use grammar and compose meaningful statements.

Although Ginny was able to demonstrate progress in language learning, her inability to use grammar (which Chomsky considered the fundamental difference between human and animal language) supported the critical period hypothesis.

Of course, Ginny's case is not as simple as it seems. She not only missed out on the time when other children learned language, but she also experienced violence. She was mistreated and deprived of access to cognitive stimulation. The researchers couldn't even find out whether she suffered from congenital cognitive impairment. In childhood, the doctor identified a developmental delay, but specialists could only guess whether her condition was only the result of her experiences or due to congenital problems.

Hype around Ginny

At first, psychiatrist Jay Shirley helped evaluate Ginny’s condition; he noted that since such cases are rare, the girl quickly became the subject of controversy among researchers involved in her rehabilitation.
One day Ginny was staying at home with Jean Butler, her teacher. After a measles outbreak, the girl was quarantined there, and Butler began restricting access to her. Other members of the team thought that the woman wanted to make a name for herself in this matter, some even said that Butler called herself the new Anne Sullivan (that was the name of the teacher who helped Helen Keller master the language).

Ginny was removed from the Butler home and placed in the home of David Rigler, where she lived for the next four years. Despite some difficulties, things were going well for her at Rigler's house. She liked to listen to someone play the piano, she loved to draw - she often preferred this method of communication to others.

Beginning of the End

In 1974, the National Institute of Mental Health withdrew grants for the study because the results were insignificant. Susan Curtiss determined that Ginny could use words, but grammar was inaccessible to her. She could not put words in the order required for a meaningful phrase, which confirmed the validity of the idea of a critical period in language development. Rigler's findings were random and fragmentary. As soon as Ginny's rehabilitation project lost funding, she was removed from his home.

In 1975, Ginny was returned to her mother. When she could no longer cope, the girl began to wander from one foster family to another, where she also became the object of ridicule and even violence. The girl's mother sued Children's Hospital Los Angeles and a team of researchers, accusing them of conducting too many experiments on her. The matter was settled, but the question of treatment and care for Ginny again arose.

The girl's condition continued to deteriorate, and after living in foster care, she returned to the children's hospital. Unfortunately, the disgusting environment and lack of care negated all the positive changes that happened to her during her first stay in the hospital. Ginny was now afraid to open her mouth, and fell silent forever.

What's wrong with Ginny now?

Today, Ginny lives in an adult shelter somewhere in southern California. Very, very little is known about her condition, although in 2000 a private detective seemed to have found her at the request of an anonymous customer and told her that Ginny was happy.

However, this contradicts the words of Jay Shirley, who visited her on her 27th and 29th birthdays. He found her silent and depressed.

“What can we learn from this sad story”?— Harlan Lee asks in the film “The Mystery of the Wild Child.” — “Look, in research of this kind we are faced with an ethical dilemma. If you want to keep things strictly scientific, Ginny's interests have to take a backseat. If all you care about is helping Ginny, you're unlikely to do good research. So what should you choose then? To make matters worse, in her case they tried to combine both roles - scientist and therapist. So, I think future generations will study this case for a long time... not so much because of the powerful lesson about human development, but because of the lesson about the benefits and risks of such prohibited experiments."

Ukraine.

Another case: “the dogs fed me milk and brought me food,” recalled a 19-year-old girl, who was thrown out onto the street by her parents at the age of three and lived for six years in... a doghouse.

Now Oksana lives in a boarding school for the mentally retarded, she has learned to construct simple sentences, but she continues to be tormented by memories of the past

The other day, FACTS wrote about a terrible incident that occurred in the Vinnytsia region: three small children were taken to the hospital, whose parents... kept them in a cage like little animals. And on Saturday, February 22, our newspaper published information about a four-year-old boy who grew up in a doghouse. A baby who entered the Poltava regional orphanage, when asked what his name is, just smiles and answers: “Woof, woof!” The child eats without using his hands and... gratefully licks people trying to caress him.

The fate of abandoned babies and those children who grew up among animals is of keen interest not only to the public, but also to scientists, because studying this problem can help answer the question that has long troubled humanity: will a person become a full-fledged member of society if he does not grow up? among people?

Instead of a “noble savage”, an unfortunate downtrodden creature appeared before the doctors

The first case recorded by science, when an attempt was made to return a child raised among animals to human society, occurred in 1800 in southwestern France and became a shock for the entire enlightened Europe.

Local residents have repeatedly talked about a strange feral child who was hiding in the forest. The kid was caught twice, but managed to escape. One day, two hunters, tracking a deer in the forest, came across this little savage and caught him. No one knew how the child, who looked to be about ten years old, ended up in the forest. Only the terrible scar on his neck spoke of the tragic circumstances. The news of the captured boy spread throughout the country and reached the capital.

This happened immediately after the French Revolution, when society was fascinated by the idea of bringing people as close to nature as possible, says Michael Newton, author of the book “Wild Girls and Boys.” — The appearance of a forest boy, who was named Victor, aroused great interest. But when the child was brought to Paris, the enlightened society was disappointed - instead of a “noble savage”, an unfortunate downtrodden creature appeared before it.

Most doctors recognized the boy as mentally retarded. Only the young doctor Etar did not turn away from him. Step by step, trying to introduce the boy into human society, he recorded in great detail everything that happened, and his evidence became truly priceless for science.

From Etar's point of view, a person must have two main qualities that, in fact, make him a person - the ability to empathize and the ability to speak. At first, Victor was not capable of either one or the other. But soon the efforts of the doctor and his housekeeper Madame Guerin yielded results. Dr. Etar understood the importance of the role of loving adults. By involving a kind woman in raising a little savage, he helped the boy take one of two important steps on the path to transforming a young animal into a human being—learning to empathize with another person. Within a few months, progress became obvious. The boy began to help Madame Guerin and became very attached to his guardians.

But Victor never succeeded in the second step - mastering human speech. At first, Etar taught him to distinguish sounds - he blindfolded him and gave him a drum and a bell. The boy played with pleasure. But, alas, when it came to reproducing sounds, all the doctor’s efforts went to waste. Realizing that the experiment had failed, Dr. Etar lost interest in the child. Victor lived the next twenty years with Madame Guerin. She surrounded him with love and care, but he never became a full-fledged person.

An experiment on a baby chimpanzee turned into experiments on... a one-year-old son of a scientist

Time passed, but interest in abandoned children did not fade. In 1930, it became known about two girls who lived in a pack of wolves. This story has been documented. Unfortunately, both girls soon died of fever.

One of those who hoped to use the example of these children to prove that the environment plays a decisive role in a child's development was primate specialist Winthrop Kellogg. But, alas, he understood: in order to confirm his theory, he must find a child, place him in a pack of wolves and observe his development. Such an experiment was impossible, and the scientist... took a monkey into his family. For a whole year, a young chimpanzee, Gua, was next to his little son Donald. He, as the scientist expected, learned many human habits. But gradually an eerie truth was revealed to Kellogg: the experiment on the monkey turned into experiments on... his own son. Growing up in the company of a young chimpanzee, Donald did not learn to speak, but uttered only short, abrupt sounds, exactly like his “sworn brother.” Kellogg immediately stopped the experiment.

In the 60s, American psychologist Harry Harlow continued experiments with primates. He showed what a huge role the mother’s care for the baby and physical contact with her play in the development of a child. One of Harlow's experiments has become a classic. A tiny chimpanzee, separated from its mother, was asked to choose two dolls as its “mother” - one made of wire mesh, but with a bottle of milk, the other without milk, but covered with soft fur. The little animals, without hesitation, chose a warm and soft mother.

However, chimpanzee cubs separated from their mother were catastrophically behind in development. The isolation affected the rest of their lives. It could be concluded that these rules also apply to human cubs. However, another 20 years passed before scientists were able to verify this.

American girl Ginny spent 13 years in a room with boarded up windows.

The impetus for a new round in the study of “wild children” was a monstrous incident that occurred not in the forest, but in the suburbs of densely populated Los Angeles, where a strange girl named Ginny was discovered. She couldn’t walk or talk, she was in diapers, and at 13 she looked like a seven-year-old child.

The neglected house where Ginny was found belonged to Clark Wiley, a strange, sullen fellow married to a blind woman, Irene. They had two children. When Clark's mother died in a car accident, he lost his mind, locked his family in the house and did not allow his wife and son to enter the back room where he kept Ginny. When the police first saw this room, they were horrified - there was only a wire cage and a chair with homemade belts attached to it. The girl spent the night in a cage and the day tied to a chair. The window (as, indeed, all the windows in the house) was tightly boarded up; light entered the home only through a tiny crack.

Ginny spent 13 years in complete isolation. Even the closest neighbors did not know about its existence. They learned about the girl’s situation after Clark’s wife, Irene, rebelled one day and ran away from home when her husband briefly went out to the store.

The police arrested both the husband and wife. Clark didn't say a word to the police. A lawsuit was brought against him, but on the eve of the first hearing, Clark Wiley shot himself.

And scientists took up the fate of Ginny. This was the unique case that they had been waiting for so long - the girl was as abandoned a child as if she had grown up in the forest among wolves. Child psychologist James Kent and linguist Susan Curtis decided to find out how the human brain and speech are connected.

Ginny was like a newborn, recalls James Kent. - We decided to start introducing her to the outside world, like parents introduce babies. She was catching up at a surprisingly fast pace.

According to scientific ideas of the early 70s, a child could master speech in strictly defined, so-called cognitive periods, and Ginny had already missed her chance. But the girl refuted this theory - she surprisingly quickly remembered the names of objects.

She wasn't mentally retarded, says Susan Curtis. “He was a normal child, memorizing hundreds of words, learning to form phrases, and it began to seem to me that the theory was not entirely correct. But Ginny still couldn't learn to speak normally. Having learned the words, she was never able to learn how to form sentences.

Today, scientists have a clearer picture of what happens in such cases. The nerve centers responsible for the development of speech are located in the cortex of the left hemisphere of the brain. If these centers are not stimulated, they decrease in size, the interaction of nerve cells in them is disrupted, and ultimately this part of the brain even changes physically. Children who grow up alone have noticeably smaller brains - this can be seen using a scanner. Ginny's brain was deprived of stimulation, and the part responsible for speech development did not develop.

Ginny's story had a tragic continuation. She needed a family, but unfortunately, when the girl turned 18, she and her mother returned to the house where they spent the first 13 years of her life. After a few weeks, it became clear that the blind mother could not care for her daughter, and Ginny was transferred to an orphanage.

The mother dealt her daughter another blow - jealous of the warm relationship that Ginny had with James Kent and Susan Curtis, she... went to court with a request to prohibit scientists from interfering in her daughter’s fate. The court granted her request. Now Ginny lives in a boarding school. Susan is forbidden to see her.

“Dog girl” Oksana barked and ate without using her hands, and “dog boy” Edik bit other children and imitated... a dog wedding

The sad story of Oksana Malaya, who lived in a doghouse for several years, at one time shook up the whole of Ukraine. Oksana was born in November 1983 as a healthy, normal girl, weighing 5 kilograms 300 grams. How did she become more like a dog than a person?

Oksana's parents were alcoholics and one evening, in a drunken stupor, they threw their three-year-old child out into the street. In search of warmth, the girl climbed into the doghouse and snuggled up to the mongrel. She spent the next five years in a kennel, and when Oksana was found, she looked more like a puppy than a child - she could not speak, ate without using her hands, and walked on all fours.

“FACTS” also wrote about an incident that occurred in 1999 in the village of Mirnoye, Kherson region. Social workers found a four-year-old boy named Edik in one of the empty apartments. His alcoholic mother was not around. When the authorities sorted out the situation, it turned out that the boy’s older sister Nadya was looked after by neighbors, and stray dogs took care of the abandoned boy.

Edik and Nadya were placed in a foster family. At first it was extremely difficult to deal with the boy: he behaved like a dog - he scratched and bit. “Edik was running after his Nadya, trying to catch her,” recalls Lyudmila, the children’s adoptive mother. - When he succeeded, he forced his sister to get down on all fours and imitated a dog wedding. He couldn't speak, but he knew what the dog had to do! He was a wild child - he did not know how to dress, use cutlery, or go to the toilet. But in the last six months there has been a breakthrough.”

Today, six-year-old Edik has made great progress and has learned to play with other children. And although he is not superior in speech development to a three-year-old child, his chances are much higher than they were for Victor and Ginny.

Leading speech development expert James Lowe came to Ukraine to assess Edik's condition and find out how the two years spent in isolation affected him. In terms of language acquisition, the child made great progress, but there were still blank spots in his past. Therefore, together with the children, their adoptive mother and the Discovery Channel film crew, James went to the village, hoping to restore some of the circumstances of the boy’s life on the spot. Once in the village, the boy remembered the yard where he ran and slept with the dogs that became his family, and wanted to show the apartment. But the arrival of the television crew became known to local authorities and the police, who claimed that Edik’s story was a lie and demanded... to stop filming.

By providing the dogs with food and shelter, he gained friendship

There is an amazing relationship between people and the dogs that live next to them. It can be assumed that the dogs that came to Edik’s house found food there, perceived the baby as the provider of this food for the entire pack, and his status was high. Edik was lucky - by providing the dogs with food and shelter, he received friendship.

What is the fate of Oksana Malaya? She is already 19 years old and lives in a boarding school for the mentally retarded. She was found when she was eight years old, and she had 3-4 years left to master speech. The girl was able to learn to construct simple sentences, but she continues to be tormented by memories of the past.

My mother wanted a boy, so she threw me out of the house and I ended up in a kennel. The dogs fed me milk and brought me food. I wasn't afraid of them. People say that the parents are not to blame, but I cannot forgive them, says Oksana.

She needs to learn to live among people, says psychiatrist Vladimir Nagorny. “The best thing we can do is find her something suitable to do.” This will help Oksana switch her attention from dogs to people. But she will never be able to fully adapt.

Edik has a happier fate: according to scientists, in a year or two he should master the grammatical structure of the language. But the consequences of a terrible injury can be felt throughout his life.

“We must learn to treat these children not with pity, but with admiration,” say the authors of the documentary film “Wild Child.” “It’s amazing that after what was done to them, abandoned children still want to reach out to another person.”

Genie spent the first 12 years of her life in a locked room, in almost complete social isolation. The case aroused considerable interest among psychologists, linguists and other scientists. The girl was initially admitted to a children's hospital; later she stayed in the homes of scientists, guardians and with her mother. After some time, research funding was stopped, and Genie was placed in a specialized institution for people with disabilities. Her location is not disclosed.

Jeanie is not the girl's real name, but a pseudonym given by researchers in order to guarantee her some anonymity. According to linguist Susan Curtis, who worked with Genie, the girl was like a genie in a bottle who, having passed her childhood years, suddenly appeared in society. "She didn't have what people call a childhood," Curtis said.

Isolation and release

Genie's parents are Dorothy Irene Oglesby. Dorothy Irene Oglesby; 1920-2003) and Clark Gray Wiley (eng. Clark Gray Wiley; 1901-1970) - lived in the Californian city of Arcadia, they had four children, of whom two survived - Jeanie and her older brother John. The first two died under unclear circumstances. Clark Wiley wrapped his first child, a girl who annoyed him by crying, in a blanket and placed it in a table drawer in the garage. At the age of 2.5 months, the child died of pneumonia. The second child, a boy, died shortly after birth, choking on his own saliva. Irene suffered from cataracts in both eyes, caused by a childhood injury, and was ninety percent blind.

During the first six months of her life, Genie was examined regularly by her pediatrician. According to medical records, Genie was a normal child during this period. According to the mother, the girl refused to take solid food and also showed developmental delays. At the age of 14 months, Genie was diagnosed with acute pneumonia; After examination, the attending physician stated that she was showing signs of “probable mental retardation.” This assumption became a turning point in Genie’s life: the girl’s father isolated her in one of the rooms of his house from contact with her mother and older brother.

Genie spent the first 12 years of her life in a locked room. During the day, her father put diapers on her and tied her to a highchair. At night, he restrained the girl using a homemade straitjacket and placed the child in a metal enclosure. Clark Wiley fed the girl only infant formula with milk and communicated with her, mainly imitating dog barks and growls. Every time she tried to speak, he beat her with a stick. Jeanie's toys were plastic raincoats hanging in the room and empty spools of thread. Wiley could not stand noise, and therefore there was no radio or television in the house. The girl's mother and her brother, fearing Clark, spoke in whispers.

Clark assumed that Genie would die before she turned twelve. He told Irene that the woman would be able to seek medical help for Jeanie when the latter turned 12. However, Wiley later retracted his words and did not allow his wife to leave the house and contact her parents.

In 1970, 50-year-old Irene left her husband, taking with her her daughter, who was 13 years old at the time. By this time, John had already run away from home. On November 4, 1970, Irene contacted the California City Department of Social Assistance Temple City. The social worker who received her noticed the unusual behavior of Genie, whom her mother took with her. The child spat, scratched and moved with a jerky “rabbit gait”, with his arms stretched out in front of him. The employee suggested that the girl was 6-7 years old. Upon learning that she was actually 13 years old, he informed his supervisor, who in turn notified representatives of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office.

Research and rehabilitation

When Genie was admitted to the children's hospital, she weighed about 27 kg and was 1.37 m tall. She could not run, could not fully straighten her arms and legs, and therefore walked with considerable difficulty. The girl did not respond to the ambient temperature, was not toilet trained, did not know how to chew, did not control salivation and was constantly spitting; the girl’s body and clothes were covered in saliva. As a result of the fact that the child was fixed in a sitting position for a long time, massive calluses formed on her buttocks. Significant problems with her vision and dental health were noted. Genie still had a number of habits acquired in her early years of life. The girl experienced uncontrollable urination when something really interested or worried her. In addition, she "masturbated immoderately". During the first months of Genie's stay in the hospital, a number of tests were carried out to determine her mental and physical state. Tests showed that in terms of mental development she is at the level of a one-year-old child. At first, she could only recognize her own name and the word “sorry.” After some time, the girl began to utter two phrases, which, according to experts, were of a ritual nature: “stopit” and “nomore” (“enough” and “don’t”).

Genie’s rehabilitation and research was carried out by a team that included:

Howard Hansen Howard Hansen) - head of the psychiatric department of the hospital,
David Rigler (ur. David Rigler) - leading psychologist of the psychiatric department,
James Kent (English) James Kent) - Therapist,
Jay Charley Jay Shurley) - psychiatrist, specialist in the field of research on cases of social isolation.

The overall project direction, entitled "The Impact of Extreme Social Isolation", was provided by David Rigler.

To determine the extent to which Genie's language skills deviated from the norm, she was invited to Victoria Fromkin is a psycholinguistics expert at UCLA who has subsequently published several books about Genie. Susan Curtis took part in the study with her. Susan Curtiss) - a young certified linguist. Curtis recalls: “Genie was not socialized and behaved terribly, but at the same time she charmed us with her beauty.” Curtis devoted the next few years of her life to working with Jeanie.

Susan Curtis

At the first stage of working with the girl, Susan Curtis, trying to establish contact with her, visited her or took her for walks. Curtis went into stores with Jeanie, and the latter showed curiosity, looking at meat products and plastic containers. Jeanie, who spent her life practically never leaving the walls of her home, was interested in all the buildings she and Curtis passed by. The girl often approached the doors of houses, hoping that they would let her in and she could see what was inside.

At first, Genie (like children who are just beginning to speak) uttered phrases consisting of one word. In July 1971, she began to combine two words in one phrase: “big teeth”, “little marble”, “two hand”. Somewhat later, Jeanie began to use verbs: “Curtiss come” (“Curtis to come”), “want milk” (“want milk”). In November of the same year, Genie began to construct phrases consisting of three words: “small two cup” (“small two cups”), “white clear box” (“white transparent box”). In January 1972, according to Curtis's reports, Genie, using a limited vocabulary, began describing events that happened in the past. In particular, the girl spoke about Clark Wiley: “Father beat his hand. Big stick. Genie is crying" Father Hit Arm. Big Wood. Genie Cry ) . After some time, she learned to read simple words.

Unlike normal children, Genie never asked questions, although repeated attempts were made to teach her to do so. She was also unable to master grammar, and the development of her speech skills was extremely inhibited. Typically, a few weeks after a child begins to pronounce two-word phrases, a sharp jump occurs and his speech skills begin to actively develop. This didn't happen to Jeanie. Even after 4 years of training, her speech resembled a “distorted telegraphic style.” The girl was unable to connect several words into meaningful sentences using conjunctions and auxiliary parts of speech. Difficulties for her were sentences that used linking verbs. She regularly omitted supporting words such as "have" and "will". However, the teachers managed to achieve some success. For example, at the beginning of rehabilitation, Genie said “no to have a toy” (eng. no have toy), hereinafter - “I do not have a toy” (eng. I don't have a toy), and finally, “I don’t have a toy” (eng. I don't have the toy) .

In 1967 Eric Heinz Lenneberg - psychologist at Harvard University - put forward the so-called critical period hypothesis . Lenneberg argued the following: there is a certain age threshold, after reaching which mastery of language skills is not possible. According to Lenneberg, the critical period begins at about 2 years of age and ends with the completion of puberty. Having passed the critical period, a person is unable to master the first language. Genie partially refuted this hypothesis. Victoria Fromkin notes in this regard that at the end of the critical period, the child “to some extent can master language skills.” On the other hand, Genie failed to master grammar, which, according to Noam Chomsky, is what distinguishes human language from animal communication. For example, Jeanie could not understand the difference between pronouns or between active and passive forms of verbs. Based on this, it was suggested that this kind of problem was a confirmation of the critical period hypothesis.

Genie's learning difficulties can hardly be attributed to a lack of attention from teachers. At first it seemed impossible that this girl would ever go to school, but within a few months of her arrival at the children's hospital she began going to a nursery for normal children. Soon she was transferred to an elementary school for children with disabilities. Then, for several years, she studied at a secondary educational institution for children with mental retardation. In addition, for several years Gini worked with a speech therapist.

Researchers suggest that Genie's language problems were not due to congenital abnormalities. Despite the fact that her mother often provided conflicting information, doctors are inclined to believe that Genie was born a normal child. Curtis made an assumption based on the fact that in the vast majority of people who are right-handed, the speech center is located in the left hemisphere of the brain. Based on this, Curtis suggested the following: Genie’s language problems can be explained by the fact that the right hemisphere of her brain is responsible for the development and functioning of her speech skills.

To make sure her assumptions were correct, Curtis conducted a series of tests, one of which was the so-called “ dichotic listening " The method consists in the fact that the subject is given various sound information through headphones through two independent channels. As a result of the test, it was found that Genie in all cases recognized information entering the left ear much better than the right. Curtis writes that information transmitted to the left earpiece was recognized with 100% accuracy, and that received to the right earpiece was recognized with an accuracy below the level of chance. This indicated that Genie had predominantly right-brain functioning.

In addition, a number of studies were conducted by employees of the Brain Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA Brain Research Institute). During one of the experiments, Genie first listened to a set of different sentences, then looked at cards with faces depicted on them. At the same time, an electroencephalogram was taken, the data of which confirmed that the tasks of performing both speech and non-speech functions were performed by the right hemisphere of her brain.

Curtis reports that the girl performed especially well on tasks aimed at testing the functions of the right hemisphere. In particular, Genie passed the so-called “ Mooney test", which consisted of the following: the subject was shown black and white, very contrasting pictures, some of which depicted human faces, and some of which were abstract figures. The patient's task was to recognize which pictures showed faces. According to Curtis, Genie "showed the best outcome among children and adults of any case ever described in the literature."

From the very beginning, Gini's vocabulary contained words that could describe the characteristics of objects in the visible world - their color, shape, size. And this was, according to Curtis, further evidence of the dominance of the right hemisphere of the brain. All of her first two-word phrases described inanimate objects. The topics of early conversations in normal children are people, actions, or dynamics between people and objects. Genie mainly talked about the characteristics of objects: “black shoe”, “lot bread” (“a lot of bread”).

During 1971-1979. Curtis also conducted tests to determine Genie's intelligence level. Curtis notes that her ward has grown significantly during this time. In particular, in 1971, Genie, taking a test designed specifically for deaf children and not requiring verbal instructions, scored 38 points; in 1972 - 53 points; in 1974 - 65 points; and in 1977 - 74 points. However, she was much less successful in tasks involving the left hemisphere of the brain. In particular, according to the results of the auditory memory test (function of the left hemisphere), she demonstrated development at the level of a 3-year-old child. In a visual memory test (both hemispheres are involved), it showed the level of development of a child of 6-12 years old. In a test for Gestalt perception (a function of the right hemisphere), Genie showed the level of development of an adult.

Genie was never able to master English grammar; all she was capable of was composing short phrases like “Applesauce buy store.” In his works, Curtis concludes that there is a critical period in the development of the left hemisphere. This means that if the first language has not been acquired during this period, then the speech functions of the left hemisphere atrophy and further learning is limited exclusively to the right hemisphere. Research has suggested that mastering grammatical skills is impossible without language practice. If a child is deprived of the opportunity to speak, then a moment comes when the ability to construct sentences is lost forever.

Jay Sharley

Gene Butler

Some researchers believed that living Genie in an atmosphere filled with love for her would have a beneficial effect on the girl’s rehabilitation. Psychologist James Kent James Kent) argued that the girl should not be separated from her mother, since the relationship that developed between them was the only positive emotional connection in her life.

However, the girl was taken into her home by her teacher from the children's hospital, Jean Butler. On June 23, 1971, Jean Butler appealed to the hospital management with a request to allow Genie to spend the night in her house, and on July 7, Butler reported that she was experiencing symptoms of rubella and that Genie was probably also infected. To prevent the spread of infection on the premises of the children's hospital, Butler left the girl in quarantine in her home. According to Susan Curtis, the rubella story was specifically invented by Butler. Moreover, Curtis claims that Butler did not hide her ambitions and hoped to become famous thanks to Genie. According to Curtis, Butler often told her colleagues that she would “become the next Anne Sullivan.” For her part, Jean Butler expressed concern in personal notes that the researchers were subjecting Jeanie to excessive experimentation.

According to Butler, she was not the only person who experienced this kind of anxiety. On July 13, she wrote the following in her diary:

“Sue Omanski from the Department of Human Services came in... She was extremely critical of this child being treated as a guinea pig and was against this student (Curtis) going around and recording everything the child said. According to Ms. Omanski, these people are using Genie to become famous."

After some time, Butler filed a complaint with the Department of Social Welfare. Department of Public Social Services ) application for guardianship of Jeanie. According to Sue Omanski, the Butler house fully met the necessary requirements.

Butler noted that, like most children who grew up in conditions of social isolation, Genie attempted hoarding, in particular, the girl tried to “stock up” containers with liquids (water, milk). According to Butler's notes, in July - August 1971, significant progress was made in Genie's rehabilitation: she began to urinate less often at night, and she began to masturbate less, switching her interest to other types of activity. In addition, Butler notes: “The quality of her speech has improved, and her vocabulary has expanded at least 10 times. I taught her the correct use of the word 'yes'... and taught her to verbally express her dissatisfaction by saying the word 'angry' followed by punching the air or hitting an object (such as a large inflatable plastic clown).

Staff at the National Institute of Mental Health also noted the progress that had been made in Jeanie's rehabilitation during her stay at the Butler House.

However, representatives from the guardianship service inspected Butler's home and concluded that it did not meet the conditions necessary to obtain a license. Therefore, the application submitted by Butler was not granted. The decision was made partly under pressure from some at the children's hospital. According to Kent, David Rigler asked Butler to leave the team.

David and Marilyn Rigler

In 1971, Rigler and his wife became the girl's first legal guardians, and Jeanie moved into the Rigler home, where, in addition to the couple, they lived with their two sons and daughter (all in their teens), a dog and a cat. Jeanie had her own bedroom and bathroom, Rigler said. David Rigler recalls: “Genie, as a 2-year-old child, could not be left alone at home. She learned to eat solid food, stopped wetting the bed, and, since she got her period, learned to use pads."

Marilyn, David Rigler's wife, became Genie's new teacher. Marilyn was faced with the need to conduct non-traditional lessons, in particular, she had to teach Genie the ability manage anger . Typically, when angry, Genie would direct the energy toward herself, committing acts of self-harm. Marilyn taught the girl to give vent to her emotions - to jump, slam doors, stomp her feet, etc. Over time, Rigler taught the girl to express her emotional state using both verbal and nonverbal means. In particular, she signaled strong negative feelings by showing one finger, and moderate distress by showing all five fingers.

In addition, Marilyn Rigler set herself the task of “awakening in Genie a sense of connectedness with the material world.” Marilyn recalls: “One day I let Jeanie fill the bathtub, but when I put my hand in the water, it turned out that it was ice cold. But it didn’t seem to matter to her.”

The Rigglers taught Genie to recognize words by touch, the letters of which were made of sandpaper. The girl learned to write her name, in addition, she drew a lot and sculpted from plasticine, and also mastered sign language and showed significant progress in development.

Genie developed unique nonverbal communication skills, with observers reporting repeated instances of strangers giving the girl things in which she expressed interest. Susan Curtis recalls: “During the first months [of working with Jeanie], we met a certain butcher several times. This man didn’t ask her anything, he didn’t even know what to call her. But somehow they managed to communicate. Every time we went [to the meat section of the supermarket], he would give Jeanie something: some bone, a piece of meat, some fish, etc. And this man would allow her to do what she usually did [with strangers objects], namely, to conduct a tactile examination of them, just as blind people do: she touched them with her fingers and touched them with her lips.” David Rigler recalls a similar incident: “One day we met a man and his son - they were leaving the store, and the boy was holding a toy fire truck in his hands. And we had already missed them, but suddenly the boy caught up with us and handed Gini a toy. She didn’t ask him for this, she didn’t say a word, but somehow she managed to do such things.”

Termination of funding

Despite the fact that some success was achieved in the rehabilitation of Genie, the American funder of the research was not satisfied with the results obtained. Criticism was expressed regarding the research materials, which, according to representatives of the Institute, were conducted unsystematically and unprofessionally. In particular, questions arose regarding the activities of David Rigler, who collected a significant amount of material, but never determined the direction for his research activities. After repeated warnings, funding was stopped in 1974. The following year, the Rieglers decided to give up guardianship of Genie. In 1993, David Rigler, in an open letter published in The New York Times, stated that his guardianship of Genie was originally intended to be temporary.

Further fate

After the Rieglers relinquished custody of Jeanie, the girl lived in foster families (one of them was deeply religious), where she gradually regressed. In 1975, Genie turned 18 years old. That same year, the study was discontinued, and soon Irene Wiley, having achieved the dismissal of charges brought against her for child abuse, expressed a desire to take Genie under her wing. She was granted this right, but after a few months of living together, Irene realized that she could not fulfill her duties and refused further custody of Genie. According to David Rigler, Genie was happy when she lived with her mother. In 1977, she was again admitted to the children's hospital. Jeanie, using sign language, said that she vomited in one of the houses, and for this she was severely punished by her adoptive parents. After this incident, there was a sharp regression in Gini’s behavior - fearing that she would vomit again, she stopped talking. In 1978, after undergoing eye surgery, Irene Wiley again filed for custody of Genie. However, by that time Genie was already in a special institution for adults. The private foundation that covered the cost of Genie's care has refused to divulge information regarding her whereabouts.

In 1977, Irene Wiley sent Curtis a letter in which she expressed disagreement with the position expressed by Curtis in the book Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study of a Modern-Day "Wild Child". In particular, she wrote that she was hurt by her daughter's classification as a "jungle child." In addition, the letter contained denials of information that Clark beat Jeanie and Irene, and also did not talk to the child.

In 1979, Irene Wiley filed a lawsuit against the children's hospital and members of the research team (including Susan Curtis). Irene, on her own behalf and on behalf of Jeanie, accused doctors and scientists of disclosing “private and confidential information” concerning her and her daughter. According to Irene Wiley's lawsuit, members of the research team subjected the girl to "excessive and outrageous" experiments, the purpose of which was not to rehabilitate the patient, but to obtain personal and material gain. David Rigler claims that Jean Butler was the real initiator of the lawsuit. According to Rigler, Butler was motivated by a sense of revenge. His statement was supported by Fromkin and Curtis in their letter to the weekly The New Yorker . Los Angeles Times reported that the lawyer representing the interests of Irene Wiley estimated the damage at $500 thousand. In 1984, the claim was satisfied. However, David Rigler, in an open letter published in The New York Times, argues that the lawsuit was dismissed by the California Supreme Court and the case was not prosecuted. Irene Wiley died in 2003.

The birth certificate of Pearl Martin, Genie's paternal grandmother, is one of the documents provided by Donna Oglesby

In 2008, American media reported that a person “investigating Genie’s life” had located her using the services of a private detective. According to this person, who wished to remain anonymous, in 2000, Genie was held with 6-8 other patients in a private specialized facility for adults. “I have accounts of her expenses. There are, for example, bills for such things as a swimsuit, towel, hula hoop and Walkman. This is so touching. But she feels good there,” said the anonymous author. Same year ABC News reported that Jeanie is in a private facility located in southern California, and she is being well taken care of there. She can only speak a few words, but has a good memory of the sign language she was taught in the 1970s.

In 2008, John Wiley shared memories of his early years. He said that at the age of 6 he witnessed a traffic accident that killed his paternal grandmother. When John was 4 years old, this woman took the boy from his father, whom she considered a bad parent, and settled him in her house. John claims that his grandmother, Clark Wiley's mother, was a single mother who ran a brothel. After his grandmother's death, John returned to his parents. His mother, according to John, was a nearly blind and mentally ill woman, and his father blamed him for the death of his grandmother. Soon the whole family moved into her house. “My house was like a concentration camp,” recalls John Wiley, “I didn’t know what a normal life was.” Genie, born in 1957, was isolated by her father in one of the two bedrooms of the house; according to John Wiley, access to the second bedroom was prohibited - the father wanted to leave everything in it as it was during his mother’s life. The family members slept in the living room: Clark in a chair, Irene on the dining table, and John on the floor. When John reached puberty, he said he was severely punished by his father for his "growing sexuality." Clark Wiley tied the teenager's legs to a chair and struck him in the groin area. “I think he didn’t want me to have children, and it’s surprising that I ended up having one,” John recalls. “To prevent other children from seeing my private parts when we were showering, he sent notes to the school asking to be excused from physical education classes.”

In 2010, Donna Oglesby, a maternal relative of Genie's who studies genealogy, published on the website Find a Grave his research regarding the origins of Genie and her immediate circle. According to information provided by Oglesby, Genie's real name is Susan M. Wiley. Susan M. Wiley) .

In popular culture

Notes

Clark Gray Wiley on Find a Grave
Ward A. Genie, a modern-day Wild Child (English). FeralChildren.com. Archived from the original on May 7, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
James S. D. Wild Child Speechless After Tortured Life. ABC News (5/7/2008). Archived
Staas C. Der Kaspar-Hauser-Komplex (German). - Der Spiegel, 2007.
Secret of the Wild Child (English). NOVA (03/04/1997). - Text transcript of the audio of the documentary film. Archived from the original on May 23, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
Pines M. The Civilizing of Genie // Teaching English through the Disciplines: Psychology/ L. F. Kasper, Ed., Whittier. - 1997.
James S. D. Raised by a Tyrant, Suffering a Sibling's Abuse (English). ABC News (05/19/2008). Archived from the original on May 23, 2012. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
Rolls D. Innocence Lost: Genie's Story // Classic Cases in Psychology. - Moscow, 2010. - pp. 25-30. - ISBN 978-5-49807-397-2
, p. 3
Fuchs A. The Critical Period Hypothesis supported by Genie's case. - GRIN Verlag, 2002.
Boeckx C. Language in Cognition: Uncovering Mental Structures and the Rules Behind Them. - Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. - P. 51. - 264 p. - ISBN 1405158824