Genie Case study summary

by a truck and Genies father moved the family into her house and cut off access to the outside world. He then isolated Genie completely, by tying her to the potty chair in her room for all of the day, and then tying her to her crib throughout the night. She was separated from the rest of the family, and had little stimulation. If she ever made a noise for attention, she would be beaten and so stopped. Genie’s brother imitated the father by not speaking to her, and soon Genie’s mother went blind and found it difficult to speak to her, removing all stimulation from Genie’s life. At the age of thirteen Genie was rescued by the police and social services. She got taken in to hospital and treated for severe malnutrition. As well as this researchers tried to help her develop normally by trying help with her speech, numbers and general living. In some aspects she was at a relatively high level e.g. bathing herself she was at a nine year old level, which is pretty high considering she had been living in isolation for the best part of thirteen years. However in other things such as chewing food she was only at a 2 year old level. After a year she used language for the first time and she was able to speak about a past event.. Another two years after this she was beginning to be able to understand English and use it correctly however her understanding was not fully comprehensive. Researchers believe that there is a critical period for language learning which is between the age of two and the beginning of puberty. Genie’s case provided a natural experiment to test critical periods. If she could develop language use, there would be evidence against critical periods. Whilst Genie did indeed learn some language, among other skills, her development was never normal. Her language use was not ‘normal’ nor was her behaviour. It was claimed that the language she did develop was associated with the right hemisphere of the brain, and scientific testing showed that she was a right hemisphere thinker. She used that hemisphere for language, and her language was abnormal, therefore the case study provided evidence for critical periods, for ‘normal’ development at least.