When Genie was born there appeared to be some evidence that she might be retarded.
Her father decided to keep her in isolation and treat her with considerable disrespect in order to protect her.
She spent 12 years locked in a room, tied to a potty chair during the day and put in nappies at night. She slept in an uncomfortable metal bed with only a modicum of light entering the room. Her father beat her if she made anoise and he made violent, animal noises to her to keep her quiet. He treated the rest of the family in a similar way and rarely let them leave the house. No-one was allowed to speak to Genie.
She was discovered age 13 when her mother left her husband and took Genie with her. She could not stand or walk properly, moving with a bunny-like shuffle. Her entire vocabulary was about 20 words. She could only understand her own name. She did not socialise, didn't know how to chew, salivated constantly and was not toilet-trained.
Genie's treatment was largely funded by research which sometimes meant she go the treatment she needed but meant she spent time living with different researchers or in institutions. She did not have the opportunity for a normal upbringing after she was discovered.
She did make rapid improvement and learned to talk, to a degree, though she never managed to understand grammar and her vocabulary did not increase as much as might have been expected. She didn't ask questions.
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Genie (2):
Must remember that as a baby it was believed she was retarded, but as no official tests were done at that stage it is impossible to know whether her language deficits are due to privation or to early brain damage.
Strongly argued by Lennenburg that there is a critical period for language and if a child isn't exposed to the richness of language by their 12th year, it will not develop at all. Genie's lack of progress does lend support for the critical period of language.
Unlike the Koluchova twins who were able to put their past behind them and have normal lives, Genie's cognitions and emotions never developed. There were hints from time to time that she had preferences for different care-givers, but the lack of consistency over her care-givers meant she would fall back into previous ways quite frequently.
Her mother suied the authorities for allowing her to be used as a research guinea pig. Genie returned to live with her mother, but when she couldn't cope, Genie was placed in more foster homes where she was abused further.
Sad case study shows that privation does have lasting effects, though how much is due to her natural level of retardation and how much is due to privation and later treatment is difficult to tell.
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