Summary
Highlights
Officials in Arcadia, Los Angeles, took custody of a 13-year-old girl named Genie Wiley, who had been kept in isolation by her parents, preventing her from learning to talk. She wore diapers and uttered infantile noises. Detective Sergeant Franklin Lee, one of the first responders, described her as severely mistreated, unable to walk or speak, and the size of a seven-year-old.
Genie's childhood home, owned by her reclusive father Clark Wiley, was described as dark with drawn blinds. Her bedroom windows were mostly covered, allowing only three inches of natural light. Her room contained a cage with a chicken wire lid and a potty chair with straps, where she spent her days and nights for 13 years. Her father forbade his wife and son from speaking to her, leading to her near-total isolation, unbeknownst to even close neighbors.
Genie's mother, Irene, who was nearly blind and subjugated by Clark, seized an opportunity to flee while Clark was grocery shopping. This escape led to the discovery of Genie. Clark and Irene were arrested, but Clark refused to speak during questioning. Unable to face the charges, Clark Wiley, 70, committed suicide before his arraignment, leaving Genie finally free.
Genie's case became a significant scientific opportunity, attracting government funding for a team of scientists, including child psychologist James Kent and linguist Susan Curtis. They treated her as a 'newborn' despite her 13 years of traumatic memories. Genie made initial progress, delighting in the world and eager to learn words. Scientists hoped she would challenge the 'critical period' hypothesis, which suggests certain skills, like language, can only be learned within specific developmental windows, which Genie, as a teenager, had supposedly missed.
Despite learning hundreds of words, Genie struggled with grammar and forming sentences, indicating a cognitive deficiency in the mental faculty of grammar. Modern brain science explains this by showing that in cases of extreme neglect, like Genie's, the brain's language centers (left cortex) become underdeveloped, smaller, less functional, and disconnected due to a lack of stimulation. This physical change meant that by her teenage years, Genie's brain had lost the capacity for full language acquisition.
Despite her challenges, Genie remained a significant part of the lives of those trying to help her. On her 18th birthday, she briefly moved back with her mother, Irene, but Irene could not cope. Genie was then placed in state care, leading to a series of moves between homes, sometimes with her own therapists. This created a 'tug-of-war' among those involved, and Irene eventually sued, alleging that the academics became too close to Genie. Susan Curtis was prevented from having any further contact with Genie. Today, Genie, a ward of the court, lives in an adult care home in Los Angeles, isolated from the people who once played crucial roles in her life.