...When she was first noticed by authorities in the Los Angeles area, she was, at age 13, still wearing diapers. She had the physical development of an eight-year-old due primarily to her sub-standard diet. When she was young, her father had decided that she was retarded and for this reason, kept her confined most of the time to her room, sometimes tied to a potty chair. Her mother claimed that she too had been a victim of this man. Shortly after Susan Wiley was discovered, on the day that they together were to appear in court, he shot and killed himself. Susan had had very limited social interaction, she could not talk having never been taught how. Her language tutor was Susan Curtiss. Her first psychologist was James Kent. She also met at this time scientist Jay Shurley a psychiatrist who was an expert in social isolation. Her special education teacher was Jean Butler. At this time also David Rigler, a psychologist was a member of the team. He would become more important later in this case, he became her surrogate father, and later he and his wife, becoming her foster parents. She lived with David and his wife Marilyn Rigler and their children, for four years, in their home near Children's Hospital, Los Angeles. The interest in Susan Wiley's case was heightened because linguistic theory at that time was informed greatly by Noam Chomsky. Chomsky had stated that the structures upon which we hang words and grammar were already hard-coded into the newborn's brain. When he learn...
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...Course: Psychology Professor: Mr. Falzone Genie The Wild Child After reading the story of Genie the Wild Child my heart truly ached for this child. The abuse this child endured was despicable and cruel and no human being should go through this kind of abuse. Due to the abuse and isolation of this child, she developed a “bunny like” walk, only knew twenty words and had not developed into a normal twelve year old child she looked and acted like she was six years old. Genie’s had an older brother who was abused as well, but he was rescued by their grandmother who helped him regain his life and move past the physical and mental abuse. Genie also had two other siblings that died at the hands of her parents (one locked in a garage for crying and the other died from RH-blood poisoning right after being born). Genie however was left with her parents and began to suffer mentally and physically. Her behavior was not of a normal 12-13 year old child. She was strapped to an infant’s potty seat during the day and at night she was put in a confined sleeping bag. Her father felt she had special needs and felt restraining Genie was the solution so others would not pick on her or exploit her. How her father handled Genie’s condition did not help her, it only hindered her and made her abnormal. When she would speak, she was beaten so Genie stayed silent in fear of punishment from her father. Genies father felt she would die young, but agreed to get Genie help if she made it to the age of thirteen...
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... 22/Feb/2012 Film analyses: “Genie: The secret of the Wild Children” Genie is a wild child who found in LA on 1970, she is a very extreme case of neglected the caretaking from adult. Her father believed she is retarder She spent her first thirteen years on tiding at the potty chair and still wearing diaper, she had never see, listen, being taught of anything in her life. For the past many years she had been isolation and lack of adult care make her the way she is right now. According to the George Hebert Mead’s integrationist theory; Mead (1934, 1964a). During the preparation stage, child had no self-present, however, they imitates the action of others, for example; when adults cry the child cry. During the play stage, child is developing the sense of self-present. They start to rakes the role of a single other, as if he or she were the other. The game stage is the last stage under Mead’s model, the child will no longer be playing role taking but starts to develop the relationship between the other and recognize the responsibilities as well as the social positions. It is very important for an infant to be around adult human. An infant imitate people around them, they can’t be disconnected from the socialization. Otherwise, they will be lost of human interaction and the important process of learning attitudes, behavior appropriate and the culture. In the case of Genie, I see very strong statement on hoe important for a child to have normal human interaction...
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...FILM REVIEW In 1970, a wild child was found in California: a girl of 13 who had been isolated in a small room and had not been spoken to by her parents since infancy. “Genie,” as she was later dubbed to protect her privacy by the psycholinguists, who tested her, could not stand erect. At the time, she was unable to speak: she could only whimper. The case came to light when Genie’s 50 year old mother ran away from her 70 year old husband after a violent quarrel and took the child along. The mother was partially blind and applied for public assistance. The social worker in the welfare office took one look at Genie and called her supervisor, who called the police. Genie was sent to the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital for tests. Charges of wilful abuse were filed against both her parents, according to the Los Angeles Times. On the day he was due to appear in court, however, Genie’s father shot himself to death. He left a note in which he wrote. “The world will never understand.” As a social worker the developmental concerns that would be identified one year after Genie was found are: Unable to form relationships with peers. Extreme infantile noises and behaviours. An example of this was her whimpering and how she touched and felt objects for the first time, moving them closer to her face and lips. No emotions displayed, unable to express emotions. Hoarding liquids. Water temperature disparity. An example of this is the disconnection she has with the hot and cold water...
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...Secret Of The Wild Child Graded Discussion You will participate in a graded 1x1 discussion that reflects your thoughts about the story of “Genie,” as portrayed in the documentary watched in class called “Secret Of The Wild Child.” You will be graded on both the ideas you present in discussion and the way you present them (discussion skills). The BIG IDEA of the discussion is as follows: · In the nature vs. nurture debate, where do intelligence and language acquisition fall? o Do humans have an innate ability to learn language? Or is language ability the product of the environment? o What is the “critical period” for language development? o Was Genie cognitively disabled at birth, or because of the environment in which she was raised? o Use examples from Genie’s case to support your ideas. Other ideas for discussion include: 1. Do you agree with the allegations of the lawsuit against the Genie team and Children’s Hospital that Genie was exploited for research and her privacy was violated to the detriment of her treatment? Was there an unavoidable conflict between the goals of research and Genie's need to receive treatment and care? Did harm come out of the researchers' good intentions? 2. What, if anything, could have been done differently so that both science and the stability and welfare of Genie could have been served? 3. Was it ethical for any of the members of the Genie team to become her foster parents? Why or why not? Do you...
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...Feral children A feral child (also called wild child) is a human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, and has no (or little) experience of human care, loving or social behaviour, and crucially, of human language. Genie Genie was discovered at the age of 14, and had spent her life being tied to a chair since the age of 20 months. Nobody ever spoke to her, and her blind mother would feed her hurriedly and punish her if she made a sound. After her discovery psychologists and linguists attempted to teach Genie language. Although she learnt to use many words and combined them into simple phrases, she never became proficient at syntax. It appears that the crucial factor behind her lack of language development was the relatively late age that she learnt language. (Curtiss 1977). * Does research into feral children support the idea that language is learnt (nurture) or innate (nature)? Research into feral children supports the idea that language is learnt because for instance Genie was isolated from language for 13 years; after linguists and psychologists studying her the found out that even though she was able to pick up some useful words, she wasn’t ever properly able to have conversations because it was said she went past the age which is known as a critical period. The theory states that child could only learn certain things at certain times, language was one of these critical periods and according to the theory Genie who’s a teenager has now...
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...Genie is a wild child who found in LA on 1970, she is a very extreme case of neglected the caretaking from adult. Her father believed she is retarder She spent her first thirteen years on tiding at the potty chair and still wearing diaper, she had never see, listen, being taught of anything in her life. For the past many years she had been isolation and lack of adult care make her the way she is right now. According to the George Hebert Mead’s integrationist theory; Mead (1934, 1964a). During the preparation stage, child had no self-present, however, they imitates the action of others, for example; when adults cry the child cry. During the play stage, child is developing the sense of self-present. They start to rakes the role of a single other, as if he or she were the other. The game stage is the last stage under Mead’s model, the child will no longer be playing role taking but starts to develop the relationship between the other and recognize the responsibilities as well as the social positions. It is very important for an infant to be around adult human. An infant imitate people around them, they can’t be disconnected from the socialization. Otherwise, they will be lost of human interaction and the important process of learning attitudes, behavior appropriate and the culture. In the case of Genie, I see very strong statement on hoe important for a child to have normal human interaction in their early...
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...Nell and Genie Comparison Background Story: * What happened to them? * They were both isolated from the world. In Nell’s case, the isolation was much less severe because she was able to grow on her own. She was more self-sufficient than Genie was. Genie was completely dependent on someone else. She didn’t have the ability to completely grow. * How were they found? * Nell’s mother was found dead one day by the man who was bringing her groceries. That same man found Nell after she made a noise in the back room. He went back to town and told the policeman about her. The doctor (Lovell) followed the policeman and then met Nell. * Genie was found after her mother escaped her house and found the police and brought them back to the house. They found her sitting on a potty chair. * Why were they isolated? * Nell’s mother isolated her and her sister because she was raped when she was younger, and didn’t want her girls to grow up in the same terrible, hateful world that she grew up in. She wanted her girls to be safe. * Genie was isolated because her father thought she was mentally disabled. He didn’t want people to know about her, so he locked her up. * What were the circumstances/details? * Nell was living on her own in the forest in the mountains. She was over twenty years old, and she was able to fend for herself. She chopped wood by herself, so she was strong, she could feed herself, and she was obviously doing well on...
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...Socialization After reading the case study given to us in class, reading chapter 3 on Socialization and watching ‘The Secret of the Wild Child,’ I believe it is possible to socialize a child after isolation and maltreatment, but only to a certain extent and never to the equivalent state of a ‘normal’ upbringing. The extent is dependent on many variables. The first being how long the child was neglected or isolated. I believe the younger a child is when the isolation ends, the easier or further socialized the child can become. I do not believe a child isolated for any lengthy period of time is ever going to be considered ‘normal.’ According to our textbook and the documentary children who have been isolated have smaller, more underdeveloped brains than those who have been loved, stimulated, taught and spoken to. These children with underdeveloped brains are much farther behind in all cognitive abilities, and parts of their brains may never develop fully. The brain is a muscle like any other part of the body, and if it is not ‘fed’ or exercised, or used, then it atrophies. Atrophy can happen to the point of no longer being able to use that portion of your body and I feel this may be the case with these studies. A malnourished brain therefore, may never fully recover from the neglect which has occurred. As was stated in the case of Genie and the ‘wild child’ of France, these children, while understanding of vocabulary, could not form a complete sentence in the language in which...
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...Johnesha Reed Sociology TR 6:30-9:20 Reflection #1 February 11, 2013 Reflection#1 Socialization is in which people learn the attitudes, values, and behaviors appropriate for members of a particular culture. The Role of Socialization The question was asked “What makes us who we are”? First of all many questions came to mind with that question. For example, are we genetically bad? Or is it our upbringing? Maybe a bit of both, maybe some people are naturally bad but their upbringing can influence this further. Our genes give us potentials for example; two addicts will give birth to a potential addict. Our upbringings give us our values. Two thieves will probably raise another thief. Sometimes people want to make a change though, I strongly disagree with two thieves raising another thief, and because many people throughout history have risen out of the gutter they were born in, and even dedicated their lives to help others in the same situations. We certainly inherit traits from our parents, don’t get me wrong, but we have the possibility to choose the right way over the wrong as far as it is in our power. There is no such thing as people who are born badly. The monsters we hear about like serial killers, rapists, etc. are usually people with mental illnesses, or psychopaths. Have you ever thought about the fact that some highly respected people in our society are the biggest criminals of all? Agents of socialization Family is the most important agent of socialization...
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...It's natural for your baby to learn to talk, and he needs your help. Your interaction with him through talking, listening and playing, makes all the difference to the way he learns to talk. When you talk to your child, you give him a head start in life. Language development Most language development happens in the first three years of life. Until the age of ten, your brain has a 'critical period' for developing language, especially grammar. After this age, it is more of a struggle for your child to learn to talk. That's one of the reasons why children can pick up a new language easily if they move to a different country, while adults find it far more difficult. Speech deprivation We know what happens to children when no one talks to them. Sadly, we sometimes find children who've grown up without any...
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...Aladdin By Sarah White Contents Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 3 Feminist Perspective............................................................................................................. 3 Sociological Perspective....................................................................................................... 7 Post-Colonial Perspective.................................................................................................... 9 Conclusion............................................................................................................................... 13 References............................................................................................................................... 14 Introduction Fairytales have become an integral part of children literature. The various tales have been reinvented as picture books, novels, animated and real-life films. The stories have been twisted and shaped by an ever changing society to represent a wide range of the dominant society’s views. Among these they show perspectives on social class, women’s roles, cultural differences, religion, and human behaviour. As time goes on, the original tales are discarded and the altered stories become widely known and read. This can lead to the underlying perspectives of the altered stories become subconsciously...
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...clearly identified an ability to discern syntactical nuances in very young infants, although they are still at the pre-linguistic stage. Children of three, however, are able to manipulate very complicated syntactical sentences, although they are unable to tie their own shoelaces, for example. Indeed, language is not a skill such as many others, like learning to drive or perform mathematical operations – it cannot be taught as such in these early stages. Rather, it is the acquisition of language which fascinates linguists today, and how it is possible. Noam Chomsky turned the world’s eyes to this enigmatic question at a time when it was assumed to have a deceptively simple explanation. Furthermore We are going to describe the stages in child language...
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...INTRODUCTION Children’s acquisition of language has long been considered one of the uniquely defining characteristics of human behaviour. Still today, it is the commonly held belief that children acquire their mother tongue through imitation of the parents, caregivers or the people in their environment. Linguists too had the same conviction until 1957, when a then relatively unknown man, A. Noam Chomsky, propounded his theory that the capacity to acquire language is in fact innate. This revolutionized the study of language acquisition, and after a brief period of controversy upon the publication of his book, Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, in 1964, his theories are now generally accepted as largely true. As a consequence, he was responsible for the emergence of a new field during the 1960s, Developmental Psycholinguistics, which deals with children’s first language acquisition. He was not the first to question our hitherto mute acceptance of a debatable concept – long before, Plato wondered how children could possibly acquire so complex a skill as language with so little experience of life. Experiments have clearly identified an ability to discern syntactical nuances in very young infants, although they are still at the pre-linguistic stage. Children of three, however, are able to manipulate very complicated syntactical sentences, although they are unable to tie their own shoelaces, for example. Indeed, language is not a skill such as many others, like learning...
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...Socialisation &Feral Children Summary In this lecture we learned about socialisation and Wild or Feral children. The class started off with a question asking what we believed feral children were and what we thought socialisation consisted of. It seemed apparent that about half of the class were aware of what feral children were with the majority having an idea of what socialisation is. To explain to the class fully we were more than told what the meaning was but also shown videos to show the extent of the meaning. We learned that feral children we raised with no or minimal human interaction which resulted in them growing up basically alienated from human culture or lacking in socialisation skills. The video clips we watched showed harrowing examples of stories about feral children. For instance Oxana a girl from the Ukraine who lived for years with a pack of wild dog, the video clip showed her on all fours acting like a dog. We also learned of girl called Genie who was held captive alone in a dark room from the age of 1 to 13 by her father. She rarely saw other human beings and was spoon fed soft food which she could barely survive on. When she was discovered she could not walk, talk or stand up and was not toilet trained. We then discussed how once she was rescued how she struggled to adapt to socialisation and now lives in sheltered accommodation. There were numerous other examples given with the authenticity of some open to debate but all came back to the same point...
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