GENIE WILEY, THE WILD GIRL WHO ONLY KNEW HER NAME - SCIENCE - 2025

Genie Wiley was the name given to a wild girl rescued in 1970, when she was 13 years old. Her case was studied by many of the most important psychologists, linguists and scientists of the time, since at the time she was found the young woman suffered severe developmental delays and had not learned to speak.

When she was around 20 months old, her father locked her in a room that no one but him had access to. From this moment on, and until she was rescued, Genie remained tied at almost all times to a chamber pot or a small chair, without being stimulated of any kind, and with her arms and legs totally immobilized.

Genie's case first became famous after being discovered by California authorities. This was the first published photo of her after her rescue. It was widely reported in the media at the time.

These conditions during her first years of life resulted in the girl not developing her cognitive abilities. The workers who studied her case saw it as an opportunity to understand more about the nature of language, as well as about the critical learning period theory, which says that each mental skill can only be learned at a certain point in life.

During the years following her rescue, the scientists who worked with her greatly developed skills such as non-verbal communication or the ability to interact with other people effectively. However, despite all her efforts, she never fully acquired a first language.

Finally, after many years living in institutions for people with mental problems where she suffered severe abuse, both physical and psychological, her biological mother banned all studies related to Genie. Today, it is believed that she lives in a specialized center in California, in the United States.

Genie Wiley's Story

Genie was born in 1957, being the fourth daughter of a family from Arcadia (Los Angeles), California. Not much is known about her first two years of life, but it is believed that the girl may have been born with a developmental disorder, which would have caused her to acquire certain normal abilities at her late age.

Her mother was practically blind from an accident she had suffered when she was younger, and she was almost entirely dependent on her husband, Genie's father. He maintained an abusive relationship with her, physically abusing her and isolating her from the outside world, forcing her to cut off all contact with anyone other than him or his children.

When the girl was 20 months old, her paternal grandmother was killed by a driver while under the influence of alcohol, which affected her father a lot. This, paranoid, decided that he had to protect his family at all costs from the outside world, so he forced them to remain locked at home without having any contact with other people.

Thus, Genie spent almost twelve years without leaving the family home, tied at all times to a chamber pot that served as a chair, although occasionally her father transferred her to a crib in which she slept tied inside a sleeping bag. The room was almost completely dark, and practically devoid of stimuli.

As if that weren't enough, Genie's father had an extremely low tolerance for noise, and would beat up his wife or son if they spoke without first asking his permission. In addition, he expressly forbade them to speak with the girl, also avoiding doing so himself. In this way, during her first thirteen years of life, the young woman had practically no opportunity to hear spoken language.

Genie Discovery

Image: Screengrab

In October 1970, when Genie was approximately thirteen years old, her mother decided to run away with her to go live with her parents and leave the family home. The girl's brother, who was then 18 years old, had long since fled and was living with friends.

Shortly after, Genie's mother decided to apply for state aid due to her vision impairment, but she mistakenly entered the Social Services building. There, the workers noticed the difficult conditions in which the girl was, and after confirming her age they decided to contact the police.

Both Genie's father and mother were arrested and charged with child abuse, and the girl was taken to the Los Angeles Children's Hospital. The day before she had to go to trial to be convicted of the abuse towards her family, the father committed suicide, leaving a note in which she explained that "the world would never understand what she had done."

From this moment on, Genie passed into the hands of a team of experts led by David Rigler, a therapist at the University of Southern California; Howard Hansen, head of the department of psychiatry at the same institution; and James Kent, a pediatrician specializing in child development.

Genie's initial state

From the first examinations that showed the state in which the girl was, many experts were interested in her story and her possible improvement. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) donated the necessary funds to carry out all the necessary research with Genie, in order to help her and better understand human development.

The team that initially commissioned her rehabilitation came across a 13-year-old girl who weighed less than 30 kilos, could barely walk, and was unable to keep her legs and arms straight. Nor was she able to chew, control her bowel movements, and of course speak; and in fact, she only recognized two words: her own name, and "sorry."

Upon initial examination, Kent referred to her as "the most deeply affected child I have ever seen," thus showing pessimism about her possible recovery. On the cognitive skills tests administered to her, she achieved a score equivalent to that of a one-year-old.

However, in a very short time Genie Wiley began to make great strides in certain areas. For example, she learned to dress herself and go to the bathroom without assistance, as well as being able to communicate with other people non-verbally. However, her progress with language remained virtually nil.

Genie and language

One of the main reasons why Genie's case interested both psychologists and linguists was that it offered a virtually unique opportunity to study the nature of language.

At that time, one of the most important theories was that proposed by Noam Chomsky, who argued that humans are innately equipped with tools that allow us to understand the principles of language. If we are exposed to speech, these tools make it possible for us to learn to use a language very quickly.

However, other linguists such as Eric Lennenberg believed that the acquisition of speech can only occur really effectively at a given time in life, known as the "critical period."

According to this researcher, after 12 years of age the brain loses part of its plasticity and we are not able to learn a language in a fully functional way, if we have not previously acquired a primary one.

Genie's case, therefore, allowed experts in this field to check whether the critical period theory of language acquisition was true or not. If, with an adequate rehabilitation program, the girl was not able to learn to speak, this would imply that speech can only develop up to a certain age.

Progress with speech

Despite achieving a score equivalent to that of a 1-year-old child on her first tests, Genie began to speak her first words quickly. At first, she spoke words in isolation, and later joined them two by two, in the same way that babies do when they are learning to speak.

At this point, her therapists believed that Genie would be able to learn to speak completely normally. However, it never reached the next stage of development, in which children begin to experiment with new word combinations and apply basic grammatical rules. Therefore, her command of the language was stagnant at this point.

This result seems to corroborate Chomsky and Lennenberg's theories on the critical period in language acquisition. However, other factors such as the severe malnutrition he suffered during his first thirteen years of life, the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father and a possible genetic disease make the data not as conclusive as it might seem at first.

Later years and present

Over the next several years, the various investigators working on her case fought for her custody and for the opportunity to work with her more closely. However, in 1974 the NIMH withdrew funding for the research, due to a lack of important results.

Unfortunately, during the following years Genie went through different foster homes, where she suffered even more abuse and mistreatment. Finally, her mother denounced her investigators and asked that the young woman be withdrawn from public life, so her current situation is practically unknown.

Due to the abuse she suffered in the years after 1974, the young woman became locked into her silence again and seemed to lose much of the skills she had acquired during her years of treatment. Currently, it is known that she is admitted to a specialized center in Southern California, away from cameras and experiments.

References

1. "The story of feral child Genie Wiley" in: VeryWell Mind. Retrieved on: August 28, 2019 from VeryWell Mind: verywellmind.com.
2. "Genie Wiley: the terrible story of the wild girl" in: Tuul. Retrieved on: August 28, 2019 from Tuul: tuul.tv.
3. "The strange case of Genie" in: The Mind Is Wonderful. Retrieved on: August 28, 2019 from La Mente Es Maravillosa: lamenteesmaravillosa.com.
4. "Genie Wiley: the terrible story of the wild girl" in: Psychoactive. Retrieved on: August 28, 2019 from Psicoactiva: psicoactiva.com.
5. "Genie (feral child)" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: August 28, 2019 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.