1. Genie: the feral child
Alexxis Wilson

2. The Beginning Name: Susan Wiley
Born: April 18th, 1957 (almost 61 years old)
City: Arcadia, California
Parents: Irene Wiley and Clark Wiley
Siblings: Robert Clark Wiley, Dorothy Irene Wiley and John Gray Wiley

3. Family Background
Clark Wiley: flight mechanic in WWII → aviation after
Married Irene forcing her to stay at home and beat her routinely
Disliked children
Irene Wiley: grew up farming in Oklahoma, left because of the Dust Bowl
Involved in a car accident causing sight problems
Became dependent on Clark

4. Family Background Dorothy: 1st child→ born 5 years after marriage
Died of pneumonia at 10 weeks
Robert: 2nd child→ born 1 year later
Diagnosed with Rh blood poisoning- died at 2 days old
John: 3rd child→ 3 years later
Healthy; slow in development→ neglected

5. Early Life Genie→ born 5 years after John
Signs of Rh poisoning, had blood transfusion
Noticed congenital hip dislocation→ splint 4.5 months-11 months
Splint caused her to start walking later
Father thought mentally impaired→ cut off interaction with her
Came down with pneumonia→ from 50% to 11% in weight percentile
Malnutrition
Pediatrician stated Genie was “mentally retarded”
Kernicterus

6. Clark’s Breakdown Genie→ 20 months old
Clarks mother died from a hit and run accident
Blames son
Decided family needed protection from the world
Genie needed “additional protection” being “retarded” → entirely hid her
Quit his job and moved family into his late mother's house
Shrine mother’s bedroom and car

7. Childhood Clark secluded Genie
Tied her to a toilet chair for 13 hours a day → function as straight jacket
Could only move extremities and wore only a diaper
At night, tied into a sleeping bag and put into crib
Clark beat her when she made noise
Also growled/barked at her, grew nails to scratch her
Masturbate in socially inappropriate context
Possible sexual assault → father or brother

8. Childhood Cont. Meal time Not allowed to speak around Genie
No solid food
Father or brother spoon fed her
Ate too slow, rubbed face in food
Only time Irene could be with Genie
Fed 3 times a day but often refused to feed her
Not allowed to speak around Genie
No tv or radio

9. Childhood Cont. Forced John to abuse Genie Tried to run away
Irene was threatened to be killed if she contacted anyone
Clark promised if Genie had survived 12 years of age, Irene could seek help
Clark was convinced she would be dead

10. The Accident October 1970 Genie was 13.5 years old Irene left Clark
Took Genie to parents house
November 4th
Decided to apply for disability
Accidently walked into Social Services office

11. The Rescue Social worker knew something was wrong
Guessed Genie to be 6 or 7 → reality 13.5 years old
Assumed autism
Immediately called police
Arrested Genie’s parents
Court order to take her to Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles

12. Question One
Upon finding out Genie’s age, social services called the police and had Genie dropped off at a Children’s hospital.
Ethically, how could the finding of Genie have been handled differently?

13. Los Angeles Children’s Hospital
David Rigler: chief psychologist and therapist
Howard Hansen: head of psychiatry and early expert on child abuse
Rigler and Hansen took direct control of Genie’s care
James Kent, expert in child abuse, examined Genie first
Lead to investigation on parents

14. The Media November 17th, 1970 News reached major media outlets
Clark refused to speak to public or media
Nov 20th → Clark committed suicide by gunshot
Left note for son, “Be a good boy, I love you”
Left note for police, “The world will never understand”
Charges were dropped on Irene after Clark suicide
Told court she was unable to protect her children

15. Examining Genie James Kent examined her
Most severe child abuse case he would encounter
Pale and malnourished
4’6’’ and weighed 59 pounds
2 full sets of teeth
Distended (swelling) abdomen
Thick callus and bruising on buttox
Coxa valga in her hips
Undersized rib cage
Eyes could not focus further than 10 feet

16. Characteristics Expressionless “Bunny walk” Hesitant and unsteady
Extremely incompetent → mentality of 13 month old
Could not
Stand up straight
Straighten her limbs
Chew or swallow whole food

17. Characteristics Cont. Interested in objects more than people
Afraid of cats and dogs
Curious about unfamiliar sounds
Antisocial
No sense of personal property
No physical touching

18. Communication and Personality
Non-verbal signals- the way she looked at someone
Genie would push objects to make noise
Angry → attack herself, never anyone else
Would not stop unless diverted attention elsewhere
Understood her name, some other names and words
“Stop it” and “no more”

19. The Hospital Stay
Examined by Jay Shurley→ Professor at University of Oklahoma
Found not autistic
“Mentally retarded” from birth
High levels of emotional disturbance
Susan Curtiss
Genie was born average intelligence
Abuse and isolation left her functionally disabled
James Kent
Small responses from puppets
Genie became fond of puppets
Became most consistent person to Genie

20. The Hospital Stay Cont. Growing and putting on weight
Collected objects
Hoarded objects
Colorful and plastic
Beach pails brought her out of tantrums
Became more responsive
Nonverbal and verbal cues
Paid attention when people talked
Sociable with familiar people
Started showing emotions

21. Potential Case Study December 1970
Rigler obtained a grant for $21,500 from the National Institution of Mental Health to start studies
January 1971→ Genie was developmentally at age 1-3 years old
February 1971→ 2-3 years old and some aspects years old
Started to mimic speech sounds
April 1971→ Genie attacked another girl; first time she took out anger on another person
May 1971→ Mental age of 4 year and 9 months old
Earthquake hit Los Angeles and Genie sought comfort in cooks she befriended

22. Brain Testing
January 1971
Neuro Linguistic testing proved right-handedness
Hearing in both ears, language and non-language 100%
Prefered non-language in left ear ruling out reverse in dominance for language
No linguistic input during childhood
Language function lateralized to the right hemisphere
EEG picked up more activity ove right hemisphere
Later found that high involvement from right anterior cerebral cortex → right hemisphere acquired language
By May 1971 mental age was between 5 and 8 years old

23. Foster Homes Stayed with Jean Butler Moved in with Rigler
Later told people Genie would make her famous
During the stay, overcame fear of dogs, more talkative and took anger out on objects
Started refusing visits with the “Genie Team”
Decided Butler was not a good guardian
Moved in with Rigler
Intended to stay 3 months, stayed 4 years
Met with her mother weekly
Rigler became primary therapist and his wife would become her teacher
John Miner (attorney) was appointed Genie’s legal guardian

24. Observations: Behavior
Redirected anger to verbal expressions
Started paying attention to people talking to her
Also responded
Started nursery school
Public school for mentally retarded
Doing simple chores
Ironing, sewing and meal preparation
Mood significantly improved and seemed content with life

25. Observation: Language
By 1975 Genie could name most objects
Struggled with grammar
Spoke in short and choppy phrases
Deleted sounds in words whenever she could
Called her the great abbreviator
Not able to fully learn a language
Recalled past events
“Father hit big stick” “father is angry”
Did not understand death, asked where father was

26. Non-Verbal Communication
Invented her own gestures
Acted out events she could not express in talking
Communicate using pictures
Draw them or find them in magazines
Researchers became aware of Genie’s fear of dogs
Researchers pushed Genie to learn sign language

27. Loss of Funding Initial grant + one year extension
Asked for 3 year extension→ Denied
Fundings cut completely
Research team did not address their concerns
Research team decided Genie would move back in with her mother
Irene had corrective eye surgery
Moved back into the house she was abused in, Genie was 18

28. Continuing Observations
Despite funding being cut, Rigler continued to assess Genie
Curtiss continued to regularly test and observe Genie
Irene became distressed with Genie’s behaviors: lack of self-control
Irene contacted California Department of Health 1975
New placement
Lead to Genie being severely beaten for puking
Removed from this home in 1977
Placed in another foster home but quickly ended months later
Genie wondered why she kept moving, thought it was her fault
Caused more trauma

29. Lawsuit
Curtiss finished dissertation → Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study of a Modern-Day “Wild Child”
1978 Irene was offended by the title and contents
Sued Children’s Hospital, therapists involved, supervisors
Sued researchers Curtiss, Rigler, Kent and Hansen
Stated violation of patient confidentiality, invading Genie’s privacy and overworking her
Genie’s mother stated Jean Butler was behind the lawsuit
According to Russ Rymer, lawsuit was settled in 1984
“The case never came to trial. It was dismissed by the Supreme Court of California with prejudice, meaning it can never again be re-filed.”

30. After Turning 18 Miner failed to update guardianship
Irene took over without consulting anyone
Butler continued to criticize and spread rumors about Genie’s condition until death
Genie moved between 4 foster homes and institutions - negative impact
Left her uncommunicative and depressed
Saw Irene once a month
Moved to a supportive foster home/adult home
Allowed visitors
Genie seemed happy and more verbal

31. Currently Genie lives in an undisclosed location
Ward of the state of California
Communicates fairly well with sign language
Only spoke a few words
Irene died of natural causes in 1982
Had gone blind again
John only visited once prior to dying in 2011
Gave interview stating he never read anything about Genie and how she was

32. Discussion
Jay Shurley thought Genie was “mentally retarded” from birth but Susan Curtiss thought she was functionally disabled because of abuse and isolation.
What do you think, and why?
What do you think would have been the hardest to teach Genie?
Human interaction OR Language→ Grammar
Why?
Ethically, what could have been done differently with Genie’s case?