Case Study: Genie Essay example

In the early 1900’s autism was a completely misunderstood concept and any child who was living with it was assumed to be living with “childhood schizophrenia” and developed much slower than children without autism. A four year study of Donald Triplett gave Dr. Kannar a better understanding of what autism was and what it caused certain people to do. The main question was, does it affect the child’s development? Living with autism can affect a child’s development due to the fact that they don’t have a long attention span, can cause them to have a repetitive behavior, along with trouble in social situations whether it be verbal or non verbal.

At the age of two Temple Grandin had no speech, made little eye contact, withdrew from social interactions, and spent a lot of time staring into space (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009). Autism is the most common diagnosis under the persuasive developmental disorder category; it differs from Rett’s disorder and childhood disintegrative disorder. Children with autism have impairments in three categories with at least six items within the categories; two from the first category and at least one each from the

* After a year of treatment, she even started putting three words together occasionally. In children going through normal language development, this stage is followed by what is known as a language explosion. Children rapidly acquire new words and begin putting them together in novel ways. Unfortunately, this never happened for Genie. Her language abilities remained stuck at this stage and she appeared unable to apply grammatical rules and use language in a meaningful way.

Temple Grandin’s autobiographical book, Thinking in Pictures, opened the door that revealed the true aspects of autism. The author, who is an autistic woman, portrayed autism not as a complicated developmental disorder but as a unique characteristic that is a compliment to society. To break apart from society’s stereotype on autistic individuals, Temple focused her book on issues such as how her disorder was initially misdiagnosed, her issues with learning acceptable behavior and social cues, her connection with animal minds, sensory sensitivities, and explored the possible treatments with medication.

Do we learn language from our experiences and environment, or are we just born with the ability? “Genie” seemed to be a great “experiment” that helped me understand this questions. She was exposed to almost no language in a critical time in her life. Genie was kept in almost complete isolation for her entire life. She was strapped to a potty chair in a room always alone and had no outside stimulation. When Genie was found she had many different characteristics that did not fit with her age. She could barely walk almost infant like in the way her arms and legs looked. Her language was minimal, slow using mostly grunting sounds and would spit a lot, probable due to lack of

Russ Rymer manages to blend science and literature and philosophy expertly, so that the book GENIE: A Scientific Tragedy sort of defies genre. With any kind of encounter of Genie’s case by reading this book, videos anything it is very unlikely that anyone with forget about. I’ve watched the video and read this book, Rymer‘s book isn’t much about the horrors of the abuse it’s more about the forbidden experiment. The question if a child was raised in complete isolation, with any human contact, would that child acquire a language, if so what kind of language? That topic was the major focus on this case.

Doctors and researchers took advantage of and exploited Genie’s situation. At first the professionals were mesmerized by her situation and wanted to know more about her case. Doctors came from all over the country to exam Genie to make a name for themselves. She was used for research on cognitive development and speech development. But she was being over tested because the doctors and researchers wanted fast results. They tested her to the point that they stopped video recording the testings. They would visit her at all times. Genie was also abused by her foster parents and caretakers. One family that she lived with punished her for vomiting and Genie speech never recovered after that incident.

She tends to be good at the vocabulary of colors and the adjectives, but for some reasons why she have a problem to build up simple sentences without grammatical problem. “We have language is out gene, we have language because of nature, not just nurture” said Chomsky. Genie’s father believed that she is mentally retarder, but I don’t think the same as he did. I can see Genie had a process in learning and the understanding in human speech; it might not be optimism, at least she is in a process, and that means she is capable to learn, doesn’t mean she is retarder.

The case of “Genie” is a tragic look at the effects of child abuse and neglect on childhood development. Genie’s case was particularly extreme, as she lived the first 13 years of her life in isolation and confinement. With little to no human interaction throughout her entire life, she developed no language skills. Researchers were extremely interested in this case, as it gave them a chance to explore two theories of language development. One theory is Noam Chomsky’s view that children are born with an innate ability to learn and understand language. Chomsky termed this structure in our brain the “Language Acquisition Device” (LAD). An alternate theory by Eric Lenneberg stated that language development is a result of our environment, and stressed the importance of critical periods. Lenneberg believed that the critical period for language development only lasted until around 12 years of age, and inability to develop language during these critical periods would result in major deficits.

Autism Speaks. (2012). The Federal Response to Autism. Retrieved June 17, 2012, from HYPERLINK "http://www.autismspeaks.org" http://www.autismspeaks.org.

I do agree with you that socialization is very important to learn speak and function normally in society. After watching the video again, I can't help thinking about the question posed to us. Are Genie's socialization problems due to isolation or biological problems? In both in Victor and Genie's case, these individuals were isolated from social contact for many years of their life. They missed out on socialization during the crucial early developmental years. In our reading, it discusses some typical stages that that happen in our lives. Genie was in isolation for 12 years and missed out on such as things as social interaction, since her contact with other people was limited she did not develop how to interact and respond to others. Her isolation did not allow her to establish rules that would guide her on in how to behave and be treated in social settings. Hence, when Genie would erupt in silent storms of rage, tugging and tearing her body.

According to the CDC, autism is “a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges (Facts About Autism, 2016)”. Autism was first discussed in 1943 by Dr. Leo Kanner, after he observed 11 children who had fixations on the inanimate environment rather than people (Quick Facts About Autism). It affects about one percent of the population, and is

The documentary “Genie, Secret of the Wild Child” seeks to enlighten its audience on the many travesties and peculiar consequences which occur as a direct result of the forbidden experiment. The main object of its queries being Genie, a thirteen-year-old girl deprived of society by the very people who were meant to protect her from harm, her parents. The state in which she was found, was particularly unbecoming of her father, considering the fact he had been the one so adamant in her isolation from society as he believed her to be retarded. During these first real human interactions was she then described as possessing both the mannerisms and gait of a six-year-old autistic child, most likely in reference to her infamous bunny walk and curious

Genie was 13 when she was discovered by social workers. She was kept chained to a potty chair in her bedroom. She was abused by her parents so much that she couldn’t even learn to speak. She was made to sit alone every day and night. She had no one to talk to and the girl when found by social workers gave an impression of an infant. She was still in diapers when she was found.

Genie is a thirteen year old girl who was saved from social isolation. She was born with Rh blood poisoning but was saved because of a blood transfusion. Genie’s father, Clark was told that she may have a chance of mental retardation because of the blood transfusion. Taking that into consideration, Clark was determined to protect his child. Therefore, he strapped her up into an infant potty chair keeping her away from the outside world.