By age 18, Genie was able to communicate with sign language, and this is when much of the physical abuse that researchers suspected was confirmed. Close Drawer. Individual Entries. Explore By Topic. Guides, Videos, and Rubrics. How to Create an Entry. Create a New Entry. How to Create a Tour. Create a New Tour. About Clio. Clio in the Classroom. Clio for Historic Preservation. Clio for Museums. Genie was the most disturbing case Jay Shurley, an expert in solitary confinement, had ever seen.
And try to expand this to ten years boggles one's mind," he said. Genie's mother, a nearly blind elderly woman, claimed to be a victim herself.
She blamed Genie's father for much of the abuse. When Genie was a baby, her father decided she was "retarded" and kept her in isolation. Shortly after the authorities discovered Genie, her father shot himself. He reportedly wrote "The world will never understand" in a suicide note. When researchers ran diagnostic tests on Genie, sleep studies showed abnormal brain waves.
Some researchers, like Shirley, thought this suggested she experienced brain damage at birth. Others, however, like Curtiss, refused to accept that theory. Throughout Genie's testing though, she showed improvement. Mentally challenged children and adults don't. James Kent, another researcher on Genie's team, thought her condition would improve if she could form meaningful relationships with people. He began feeding her breakfast in the morning and tucking her in at night with a story and a kiss.
But "doctors aren't supposed to love their patients," he said. Initially, Genie didn't respond to his efforts. Then, one day, Genie frowned and pulled Kent's arm when he tried to leave. She didn't want him to go. Genie's first, real breakthrough came during a session with language teacher Jean Butler. Jean said to Genie, "You [tie your shoe] and then we can tell Doctor Kent what you can do.
The question became: Could Genie fully recover? Genie had her first birthday after being found — her 14th — at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Over the course of her therapy, Genie's timid nature morphed into a natural inquisitiveness about the world around her. Going anywhere became a fascinating, new adventure. Rigler recalled one instance where, without a word, a little boy gave Genie his brand new firetruck.
The two had only passed each other on the street. The twists of Genie's life since her release -- a succession of breakthroughs, setbacks and manipulations at the hands of caregivers, researchers and foster homes -- offer some perspective on the path ahead for the severely stunted Austrian children, who communicate mostly in simple grunts and gestures, much like Genie did after her rescue.
During the four years she was under the intense care of specialists at Children's Hospital at UCLA, Genie progressed, but only briefly. Though she eventually learned to speak, the team of credentialed doctors with millions of dollars in federal funding could not rescue Genie from a fate of abuse and exploitation.
Doctors argued over her care and affections. Finger-pointing, hateful allegations and a lawsuit followed. Even storytellers and filmmakers took sides, and ultimately, Genie regressed. Today Genie is She is again in psychological confinement as a ward of the state -- her sixth foster home.
And again, she is speechless. It was as much out of ignorance as disagreements. Genie's story began 20 months after her birth in Believing she was mentally retarded, Clark Wiley locked his daughter away, separating her from her nearly blind mother and 6-year-old brother, under the guise of protecting her. Wiley spoon-fed her only Pablum and milk, and spoke to her mostly in barks and growls. He beat her with a wooden paddle every time she uttered a sound. In , Genie's year-old mother, Irene, escaped with Genie, then Mother and child turned up at welfare offices in Los Angeles, seeking financial support.
Caseworkers noticed the odd child, who spat and clawed and moved in a jerky "bunny walk," with her hands held out front. The Wileys were charged with child abuse, but the day they were to appear in court, Clark Wiley shot himself to death after reportedly leaving a note that read: "The world will never understand.
John Wiley, now 56 and a housepainter in Ohio, admitted he had often been in the room where Genie was tortured. I was a captive audience and could do nothing about it. When she entered Children's Hospital at the age of 14 -- still in diapers -- Genie was the size of an 8-year-old with the language and motor skills of a baby, speaking only a few words -- including "stopit" and "nomore. Her discovery coincided with the premiere of Francois Truffaut's film "The Wild Child," about an 18th century French "wolf boy" and the doctor who adopted and tried to civilize him.
Riveted during a private showing of the film, the staff assigned to Genie's care applied for a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study Genie's rehabilitation. The hottest academic issue of the day was the Lenneberg theory that maintained that children cannot learn language after puberty. In some ways, Genie disproved this, but she had passed the "critical period" and was never able to master grammatical structure.
From to , a multidisciplinary team used Genie as a case study -- "Developmental Consequence of Extreme Social Isolation" -- under the direction of Dr. David Rigler. The team was mesmerized by her charisma and curiosity. Susie Curtiss, just out of graduate school in theoretical linguistics, was a member of the team and worked with Genie on language acquisition.
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