In This Case Study Of What Is A Genie?

Genie's story came to light on November 4, 1970 in Los Angeles, California. A social worker discovered the 13-year old girl after her mother sought out services. The social worker soon discovered that the girl had been confined to a small room and an investigation by authorities quickly revealed that the child had spent most of her life in this room, often tied to a potty chair.

The girl was given the name Genie in her case files to protect her identity and privacy. "The case name is Genie. This is not the person's real name, but when we think about what a genie is, a genie is a creature that comes out of a bottle or whatever, but emerges into human society past childhood. We assume that it really isn't a creature that had a human childhood,”
She was completely isolated, and had no chance to relate herself to anyone else. Because of the treatment that she received prevents her from making noises, she cannot have any chance to learn her language.

Because in the early stage of her life, with Goffman’s concept of total institutions, we can perceive that Genie was under total control of her father. She was resocialized due to the fact that she had no choice. She was treated like an animal and strained to a chair, and thus made her became something entirely different compare to others in human society.

"I think everybody who came in contact with her was attracted to her. She had a quality of somehow connecting with people, which developed more and more, but was present, really, from the start. She had a way of reaching out without saying anything, but just somehow by the kind of look in her eyes, and people wanted to do things for her,” said psychologist David Rigler, part of the "Genie
Genie started to link a task towards relationship at the same time with guidance, by tie up her own shoes, she start to tie herself to the doctor and others around her, not just by simple hold his hand when he came to visit her. She started to reach out and actively seeking for belonging.

To my perspective, her therapies that she received would be not enough to help her develop full potential as a human being. It might not be lucrative but in order to do it to help her recovery, scientist must “grow-up” with her. Gave her a calculated environment with love and care, which is not possible without profound knowledge. The knowledge and capability that the scientist can do is non-replaceable. Too bad the fund stopped coming in, otherwise there might be some possibility for her to become a real human.

NIMH withdrew funding in 1974, due to the lack of scientific findings. Linguist Susan Curtiss had found that while Genie could use words, she could not produce grammar. She could not arrange these words in a meaningful way, supporting the idea of a critical period in language development. Rigler's research was considered disorganized and largely anecdotal. Without funds to continue the research and care for Genie, she was moved from the Rigler's