What Is The Hypothesis Of The Wild Child

The Wild Child

In basic psychology classes, students will cover the main principles of language and communication development. To help validate the concept of what is known as the Critical Period Hypothesis, the disturbing case of Genie Wiley is used as an example. The critical exposure period describes that children from ages between four months and five years old have the best ability to understand phonemes and morphemes, as well as incorporating these into their own proper speech; however, from any age beyond six years old, comprehension becomes further difficult. Genie had helped many psychologists prove their theory, but enduring horrible child abuse also led to many more extensive effects for her other than exclusively having a hard
A couple weeks later, she brought Genie with her to social services, who had mistaken Genie for an autistic six-year-old. Once it was affirmed that she was in fact 13 years old, the police had become involved. Shortly after, news spread like wildfire, Genie was labeled as a feral child and quickly gained academic publicity from scientists and researchers interested in language and child psychology. Because they discovered her inability to understand and use verbal communication, she was fought over by many psychologists in an attempt to use her for experiments needed in proving the Critical Period
Genie had a hard time behaving correctly in the environment of her childhood home, and would often times act out in a way that became overwhelming to her mother. On account of this, Genie was sent to one of many foster homes; most found it too difficult to keep up with her retained issues from missing her critical period, and the severe isolation that followed. She then went back and forth from foster care, to children’s hospitals in an attempt to improve her conditions for years to