Genie Wiley Case
Student’s Name
Institution
Introduction
The case of the Genie represents a child who is severely abused and neglected. Genie is not the real name for the child. She was given the name to protect her privacy. Genie was born in a family characterized by domestic violence. They were four children, but two of them died. Genie, and his brother, John survived childhood. Her parents were Clark and Irene Wiley. Her father, Clark, did not like children. He disliked the noise the kids brought in the family. Even though Genie’s brother was subjected to the abuse, it was not severe, as in the case of the Genie. She was locked in a room without light for many days. She was not supposed to show any emotion. She could not cry or even speak about herself. Once she did, she could receive her beatings of life. Her mother and brother also did not talk to her. This implies that she was in her world. The only person who spoke to her was her father (Carroll, 2016). The interaction was not pleasant since her father talked to her when he was beating her or silencing her. Therefore the child was starved, neglected, and abused. As a result, her condition and neglect left her scarred for life.
When she was 13-years, her mother was seeking help when authorities noticed that there was something wrong with Genie. Even though she was thirteen years old, she looked too light for her age. This was a result of starving and neglect. Therefore, many researchers had an interest in her case. They received incredible revelations that shocked them. Due to neglect and abuse of the Genie, there are psychological issues identified in the case of the Genie. They include social isolation and a lack of language development. The problems are further discussed through the theories of child development. Therefore, possible interventions are outlined that will help a child to have positive growth.
Social isolation
Genie was isolated from the world. She was living in her world. She did not speak with anyone, and this affected her development. Interacting with individuals is essential since it is one of the approaches through which individuals learn. Children could learn from the people they interact with. Kids could interact with their parents, siblings, and peers. In this scenario, Genie did not have anybody to interact with. She was locked in a room, in a chair. She did not have an opportunity to talk to anyone, and this affected her development. Also, social interaction is essential for children since it helps them understand language. They learn language through imitating what others are saying .A kid who has an opportunity to interact with other people is considered to have high self-esteem. They could also have high learning ability. Social interaction importance among children could be analyzed appropriately by the use of the Lev Vygotsky theory.
Vygotsky theory
Vygotsky’s concept is one of the social development concepts that illustrate the social behavior of a child in the world (Veraksa et al., 2018). The theory highlights more on the pivotal role of social interaction in cognition development. Moreover, the approach also outlines that there is a difference in what a child can achieve while learning or working independently and when with an instructor, working with an instructor produces better results. The concept claims that a kid learns best through social interaction with skilled instructors who will give instructions to the kid to follow. Instructors are individuals with more knowledge as well as experience. In this case, the instructors could be parents, siblings, and peers.
For the case of Genies, she did not have an instructor to guide her. She was all alone. As a result, she did not learn. Her parents and brother could be her instructors. They could help her to speak, as well as guide her on how to do a thing. As a girl, being locked in a room did not do her any good. Neither could she speak or eat solid food. If her instructors were there, they could have helped her to understand how to speak. Instructors always provide a guideline on how to do something. For instance, a small child will be taught how to talk by asking the kid to repeat what you have said. After imitating the instructor, the kid will then be told to do it independently.
Social interaction is essential for children to acquire language skills. Through a child interacting with siblings and brothers, they could learn language skills. Vygotsky’s theory is mostly used in the school environment to help kids understand. Teachers are the instructors. They, therefore, give instruction as well as show the kids how to do a different thing. By interacting with the kids, it results in better learning.
Intervention for social isolation
As discussed earlier, social interaction is essential for any person. From the case of the Genie, it is clear that she was isolated. Therefore, possible interventions should be implemented to help Genie. First, coaching the child in social skills will be an essential intervention. The child will understand how to socialize with the different individuals. Vygotsky’s theory suggests that kids learn best through being guided by instructors. In this case, social skills could be taught by parents, teachers, or even health workers. Through this, the kid will understand the social skills properly.
Secondly, fostering peer interaction could also be an approach that could be used to help the child. For instance, allowing a child to interact with her age mates could be essential. Since the kid has social skills, it will be easy to communicate with her peers. As a result, the child will have enhanced her interaction with others. Another intervention is by recognizing the strength of the child. It could be through positive reinforcement. It involves rewarding a child after doing an excellent thing. In this scenario, the instructor could give gifts to the child for mastering some social skills. For instance, if the child could remember how to greet someone in the morning, you could buy her a toy.
Language development
After Genie was taken to the hospital, the only word she knew was sorry (Lia Winters, 2017). Therefore, it implies that Genie did not have any language skills. She did not know how to speak. This was because she was locked in the room, and nobody bothered to talk to her. Language acquisition is not easy for an isolated child. Also, introvert kids tend to have slow language development. The environment in which a child also grows, determine the language acquisition of a kid. For instance, Genie was brought up in a family characterized by domestic violence. Her father did not like kids because of the noise they brought in the family. This implies that Genie was experiencing emotional turmoil. The sentimental crisis could hinder the learning ability of any child. The kid could not understand anything around her. In the case of Genie, isolation was the core reason why she did not have language development. Everyone was born to learn. The learning could be through peers, social media, parents, and siblings. Genie was isolated, and she did not come into contact with all these individuals (Harasim, 2017). She was alone in the world. It could be the same case as being in a place where you do not know, and there is nobody to ask. The two theories could analyze language development. They include Piaget and the behaviorist theory.
Piaget theory
Piaget’s theory is a cognitive theory that deals with the processes of the thoughts of individual development (McLeod, 2018). Moreover, the approach looks at how the operations of the view influence how people think and interact. Piaget’s theory describes, as well as explain the development of the thought process and the state of mind. According to Piaget, children think differently from how an adult does. Also, there are steps in which a child takes to develop. The measure should be sequential. They include the sensorimotor, the preoperational, the concrete operational, and the formal operational stage.
The stage of the sensorimotor is a time when a kid is born to two years old (Kazi & Galanaki, 2019). During this period, the knowledge of the infant is based on sensory perception, as well as motor activities. The behavior of the child is limited to the simple motor response in which sensory stimuli cause. As per Piaget, the sensorimotor stage has six sub-stages. Genie seems to have not experienced some of the three steps. In her seven months of instruction, she could identify hundreds of new words, and therefore she began to speak. Finally, Genie started to use two-word phrases. This is common among the eighteen months kids. Genie had the referential language style because most of the words she used were those referring to an object.
Moreover, Genie did not ask questions in her lifetime. Also, she did not understand an excellent deal of grammar. Genie did not have a speech explosion like other kids after attaining the stage of the two-words. Genie’s language was not fully developed (Cherry, 2016). Genie could comprehend language relating to the object. This is because she passed the sensorimotor stage.
The second stage for the child’s cognitive development is preoperational. In this stage, children learn to use the language. According to the theory of the Noam Chomsky, all individuals are born to understand language (Greenberg, 2019). However, the environment in which the child grows could inhibit them from learning a language. For instance, Genies was brought up in a family environment that was not conducive (Gray, 2019). She did not interact with anyone. Therefore, learning the language was challenging. Interacting with others could motivate her to learn to use the language. As a result, social interaction is essential in the acquisition of the language.
The only stage that Genie experienced was the sensorimotor. She passed other stages. This is the reason behind her inability to speak fluently. The single word she knew after being taken to the hospital was sorry. She could have passed other stages. She could be fully developed.
Behaviorist theory of learning
The behaviorist concept is pivotal to explain on the language acquisition. The theory suggests that kids understand oral language through other individuals (Cohen & Waite-Stupiansky, 2017). They could learn through imitating, practice, as well as rewards. Children learn the language from parents, siblings, social media, and peers (Arnett et al., 2020). A child could imitate what her/his parent is saying. Through this, the child will understand the language (Escobar, 2017). Also, a child could learn language from the elder sibling. The kid could try to say what the sibling is saying, thus influencing the learning of the language.
Moreover, social media play an essential in language acquisition among children. They could hear a sound from a television, and thus try to pronounce the words. This reinforces understanding.
Furthermore, the rewards are essential in helping a child to have language development. When a child can remember to imitate the parent, rewarding her will be a positive reinforcer. Usually, positive reinforcers motivate good behavior. Therefore, the child will tend to pronounce words correctly.
As per Genie, there was nobody who she could learn from. She was locked, and she did not communicate with anyone. There was no television in which she could hear sounds and learn. The environment was not conducive for her to learn the language. As a result, she had problems with language development. At 13 years, the only word she knew was sorry. She could not express herself, as well as she was not to show emotion. This means that the situation left her traumatized. Having someone to learn from is essential. Emotional support also strengthens learning. It is, therefore, necessary to praise and reward a kid. The praise could be informed of using words such as well done, good boy/girl, among others. The rewards could be in the form of toys, sweets, chocolates, among other gifts.
Intervention for the language acquisition
There are two interventions for helping a child in language acquisition. They include speech, as well as language development (Clarà, 2017). Speech development is essential for language acquisition. Different strategies could be used to enhance speech development. One of the plans could be the use of songs. A parent should sing a song with repetitive lyrics, and ask the child to sing along. By so doing, the child will be able to produce sound. Therefore the development of the speech. A parent should also imitate the sound of the kids. It could be their coos, gurgles, as well as the sighs.
Furthermore, providing toys that produce sound to the kids could be a strategy to enhance speech development. Bath time is a pivotal time in which one could improve speech development. This is because one is at eye level with the kid. One could record the sounds of a child and play it back.
Language development is also an intervention for the child’s language acquisition. One need to talk to the child may be while taking a walk. You should then tell the child to imitate you. Imitation leads to enhance learning. Also, pictures could be used to help a child learn the language. One should name the image and ask the child to identify them. Through this, they will learn. The story reading is also a strategy to enhance language acquisition. A parent should read a story with the child. The reading time could be increased every day. Therefore, the child would know a lot of the vocabulary. They are thus enhancing language acquisition.
Conclusion
Genie was living under severe conditions. She was isolated and never interacted with anyone. Therefore, it implies that she was living a pathetic life. She was traumatized. At 13 years old and he did know how to speak was a sign that she had delayed development. She did not pass all cognitive stages of the development. The behaviorist, Piaget, and Vygotsky’s theory analyze critically the situation of the Genie. Learning could be influenced by imitation, practice, and rewards. Peers, parents, social media, and siblings influence the learning of the child. Also, for a child to learn, there are four different stages that one should pass. Otherwise, the child will have problems with the development.
References
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