Genie spent almost her entire childhood locked in a bedroom, isolated, and abused for over a decade.
Her case was one of the first to put the critical period theory to the test.
Could a child reared in utter deprivation and isolation develop language?
Imgorthand / Vetta / Getty Images
Could a nurturing environment make up for a horrifying past?
Who Was Genie Wiley?
Early Life (1957-1970)
Genie’s life prior to her discovery was one of utter deprivation.
When she made noise, her father would beat her.
The rare times her father did interact with her, it was to bark or growl.
Genie Wiley’s brother, who was five years older than Genie, also suffered abuse under their father.
Asocial workerdiscovered the 13-year old girl after her mother sought out services for her own health.
A Genie Wiley documentary was made in 1997 called “Secrets of the Wild Child.”
The case name is Genie.
We assume that it really isn’t a creature that had a human childhood.
The story of Genie’s case soon spread, drawing attention from both the public and the scientific community.
With so much interest in her case, the question became what should be done to help her.
A team ofpsychologistsand language experts began the process of rehabilitating Genie.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) provided funding for scientific research on Genies case.
Psychologist David Rigler, PhD, was part of the “Genie team"and he explained the process.
I think everybody who came in contact with her was attracted to her.
Genie’s rehabilitation team also included graduate student Susan Curtiss and psychologist James Kent.
She often spat and was unable to straighten her arms and legs.
Arguments over the research and the course of her treatment soon erupted.
Genie occasionally spent the night at the home of Jean Butler, one of her teachers.
After an outbreak of measles, Genie was quarantined at her teacher’s home.
Butler soon became protective and began restricting access to Genie.
Despite some difficulties, she appeared to do well in the Rigler household.
Recap
After Genie was discovered, a group of researchers began the process of rehabilitation.
However, this work also coincided with research to study her ability to acquire and use language.
These two interests led to conflicts in her treatment and between the researchers and therapists working on her case.
Linguist Susan Curtiss had found that while Genie could use words, she could not produce grammar.
Rigler’s research was disorganized and largely anecdotal.
Without funds to continue the research and care for Genie, she was moved from the Riglers' care.
In 1975, Genie returned to live with her birth mother.
Genies situation continued to worsen.
After spending a significant amount of time in foster homes, she returned to Childrens Hospital.
Genie was afraid to open her mouth and had regressed back into silence.
While the lawsuit was eventually settled, it raised important questions about the treatment and care of Genie.
Did the research interfere with the girl’s therapeutic treatment?
But this contrasts with other reports.
As of 2024, Genie would be 66-67 years old.
Why Was the Genie Wiley Case So Famous?
Essentially, it boils down to the age-oldnature versus nurturedebate.
Doesgeneticsorenvironmentplay a greater role in the development of language?
Once exposed to language, the LAD allows children to learn the language at a remarkable pace.
According to Lenneberg, the critical period for language acquisition lasts until around age 12.
Genie’s case presented researchers with a unique opportunity.
If Genie could learn language, it would suggest that the critical period hypothesis of language development was wrong.
If she could not, it would indicate that Lenneberg’s theory was correct.
She started by learning single words and eventually began putting two words together much the way young children do.
Curtiss began to feel that Genie would be fully capable of acquiring language.
Did Genie Learn to Speak?
After a year of treatment, Genie started putting three words together occasionally.
Children rapidly acquire new words and begin putting them together in novel ways.
Unfortunately, this never happened for Genie.
At this point, her progress leveled off and heracquisitionof new language halted.
Of course, Genie’s case is not so simple.
Not only did she miss the critical period for learning language, but she was also horrifically abused.
She was malnourished and deprived of cognitive stimulation for most of her childhood.
Researchers were also never able to fully determine if Genie had any pre-existing cognitive deficits.
As an infant, a pediatrician had identified her as having some pop in of mental delay.
Ethical Concerns
There are many ethical concerns surrounding Genie’s story.
Arguments among those in charge of Genie’s care and rehabilitation reflect some of these concerns.
In Genie’s case, some of the researchers held multiple roles of caretaker-teacher-researcher-housemate.
which, by modern standards, we would deem unethical.
Butler also played a role in removing Genie from the Riglers' home, filing multiple complaints against him.
Bottom Line
Genie Wiley’s story perhaps leaves us with more questions than answers.
We must always strive to maintain objectivity and consider the best interest of the subject before our own.
Curtiss has also reported attempting to contact Genie without success.
Along with her husband, Irene Wiley was charged with abuse, but these charges were eventually dropped.
Genie’s father, Clark Wiley, also abused his wife and other children.
Two of the couple’s children died in infancy under suspicious circumstances.
Genie’s story suggests that the acquisition of language has a critical period of development.
The severe abuse she experienced may have also affected her mental development and language acquisition.
Collection of research materials related to linguistic-psychological studies of Genie (pseudonym) (collection 800).
UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Vanhove J.The critical period hypothesis in second language acquisition: A statistical critique and a reanalysis.PLoS One.
2013;8(7):e69172.
James SD.Raised by a tyrant, suffering a sibling’s abuse.ABC News.
NOVA.The secret of the wild child[transcript].
PBS,
Pines M. The civilizing of Genie.
In: Kasper LF, ed.,Teaching English Through the Disciplines: Psychology.
Rolls G.Classic Case Studies in Psychology(2nd ed.).
Rymer R.Genie: A Scientific Tragedy.Harper-Collins.
