Genie (feral child)

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Genie

Genie displaying her characteristic "bunny walk" shortly after she was rescued at the age of 13.
Born April 18, 1957
Arcadia, California
Known for Feral child
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Genie is a feral child who spent nearly all of the first 13 years of her life locked inside her room. She was discovered by authorities on November 4, 1970.

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[edit] Early life

Genie is the fourth (and second surviving) child of unstable parents, Irene and Clark. An elder brother also lived in the home.[1] Irene was partially blind due to cataracts and a detached retina, and Clark (who was 20 years his wife's senior) was mentally unbalanced. His condition seems to have worsened after his mother's death in a hit-and-run accident.

When Genie was between 14 and 20 months of age and was just beginning to learn speech, a doctor told her family that she seemed to be developmentally delayed and possibly mildly retarded. Her father took the opinion to extremes, decided that she was profoundly retarded, and subjected her to severe confinement and ritual ill-treatment in an attempt to "protect" her.

Genie spent the next 12 years of her life locked in her bedroom. During the day, she was tied to a child's potty chair in diapers; at night, she was bound in a sleeping bag and placed in an enclosed crib with a cover made of metal screening. Her father beat her every time she vocalized, and he barked and growled at her like a dog in order to keep her quiet. He also rarely allowed his wife and son to leave the house or even to speak, and he expressly forbade them to speak to Genie. By the age of 13, Genie was almost entirely mute, commanding a vocabulary of about 20 words and a few short phrases (nearly all negative), such as "stop it" and "no more". [2][3]

[edit] Rescue

Genie was discovered at the age of 13, when her mother ran away from her husband and took her daughter with her. On November 4, 1970, the two entered a welfare office in Temple City, California to seek benefits for the blind. A social worker met them and guessed that Genie was 6 or 7 years old and possibly autistic. When it was revealed that she was actually 13, the social worker immediately called her supervisor, who then notified the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.[4] Temple Station Deputies responded, the parents were charged with child abuse, and Genie was taken to Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Genie's mother, weak and almost blind, claimed she was herself a victim of abuse by Genie's father. The father committed suicide by shooting himself on the day both parents were to be arraigned on child abuse charges. Charges against the mother went forward in municipal court, but the judge refused to forward the charges to superior court stating "No judge or jury would ever convict this woman".[citation needed]

Genie had a strange "bunny walk", in which she held her hands up in front, like paws. Although she was almost entirely silent, she constantly sniffed, spat and clawed. Many of the items she coveted were objects with which she could play.[5] In spite of her condition, hospital staff hoped they could nurture her to normality. When interest in the case widened, Genie became the focus of an investigation to discover whether there might be a critical age threshold for language acquisition. Within a few months of therapy, she had advanced to one-word answers and had learned to dress herself. Her doctors predicted complete success. They even screened François Truffaut's movie The Wild Child for ideas. Psychologist James Kent became her surrogate parent.

[edit] First foster home

Jean Butler was Genie's teacher at Children's Hospital. Butler became Genie's foster parent by accident or by, what members of the Genie team suspected, a scheme that Butler concocted to allow Genie to stay with her. Butler claimed that she herself had had a rash that was likely measles, and thus when Genie had visited her home, Genie may have contracted it. Genie was moved to Butler's home with the initial intent of a temporary quarantine, but the stay became prolonged when Butler petitioned to make it permanent. Butler became very protective of Genie and resisted visits by other members of the Genie team including Susan Curtiss and James Kent.

Butler's personal journal recorded concern that Genie was taxed too greatly by the Genie team and experiments; however (according to Susan Curtiss in the Nova transcript), Butler didn't hide that she hoped Genie would make her famous. According to Curtiss, Butler frequently stated that she was "going to be the next Annie Sullivan." Her true intentions may never be known, but many members of the Genie team claimed genuine affection for Genie and an overwhelming desire to "rescue" her.

Butler did, however, continue the essential practice of observing and documenting Genie's behavior while in her home. One such behavior Butler documented was Genie's practice of hoarding, a behavior typical of children who have been moved from abusive homes. When Butler applied to be Genie's legal foster parent, she was rejected.[4]

[edit] Second foster home

Genie returned to the hospital and was handed over to a new foster parent, therapist David Rigler. His wife Marilyn became Genie's new teacher. Marilyn found the need to teach Genie unconventional lessons, for example in anger management. Genie would go into a fit of rage and act out against herself, so Marilyn taught Genie to "rage" through jumping, slamming doors, stomping her feet and generally "having a fit." Marilyn noted that Genie had a stronger command of vocabulary than most children acquiring language. During this period Genie was even able to discuss her years of abuse:[4]

Marilyn Rigler: Where did you stay when you lived at home? Where did you live? Where did you sleep?
Genie: Potty chair.
Marilyn Rigler: You slept in the potty chair?
Genie: Mmm-hmm. Potty chair.

She stayed with the Rigler family for the next four years. During that period she began to learn some language, and the Riglers arranged for her to learn sign language. She also learned to smile. If she could not express herself in language, she would try to communicate by drawing a picture.[4]

[edit] Loss of funds and interest

Despite Genie's relative success, the National Institute of Mental Health, which had funded the project, grew concerned about the lack of scientific research data generated. In 1974, the Institute cut off funding. The following year the Riglers decided to discontinue their foster parenting. Genie had not yet learned full grammatical English and only went so far as phrases like "Applesauce buy store".[4]

[edit] Later childhood

Genie's mother had been charged with child abuse, but the charges were later dropped after a trial in municipal court. In 1975, Genie was returned to the custody of her mother, who wished to care for her daughter. After a few months, the mother found that taking care of Genie was too difficult, and Genie was transferred to a succession of six more foster homes. In some of the homes she was physically abused and harassed, and her development regressed severely, returning to her coping mechanism of silence and the addition of a new fear of opening her mouth. This new fear developed after being severely punished for vomiting in one of her foster homes; she didn't want to open her mouth, even to speak, for fear of vomiting and facing punishment again.[4]

The original research team heard nothing more about Genie until her mother sued them for excessive and outrageous testing and claimed the researchers gave testing priority over Genie's welfare, pushing her beyond the limits of her endurance. The suit was settled in 1984.[6]

[edit] Present condition

Genie now lives in a sheltered accommodation in an undisclosed location in Southern California; it is at least her sixth adult foster home. Her mother died in 2003.[1]

An independent film entitled Mockingbird Don't Sing is based on Genie's life.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b "Raised by a Tyrant, Suffering a Sibling's Abuse", ABCnews 19 May 2008, by Susan Donaldson James
  2. ^ Genie, a modern-day Wild Child at FeralChildren.com
  3. ^ The Civilizing of Genie by Maya Pines
  4. ^ a b c d e f Secret of the Wild Child - NOVA document transcript, PBS.com
  5. ^ Curtiss, Genie: Psycholinguistic Study of a Modern-day "Wild Child".
  6. ^ Susan Donaldson James (2008-05-07). Wild Child Speechless After Tortured Life.

[edit] References

[edit] External links