Introduction:

         Communicating with the people around you both quickly and/or thoroughly is crucial for cognitive and social development throughout your life. However, what if your parents never communicated with you as a baby? What if they never taught you the proper skills to function as a member in society? Well, this is the case for many children that are stuck in abusive households with neglectful, abusive parents. Many of these children, who are psychologically wounded, have trouble developing speech and struggle with being able to fit into the general population as they missed their critical period of learning certain skills. Studies on the brains of children found in abusive environments truly highlight the need for a loving environment and a healthy education in young children’s lives. In this paper, we will deep dive into the psychological effects and consequences of abusive households and what responsible parents must provide for their child.

 

Case Study: 1970 The “Wild Child”:

         Genie, also known as the “Wild Child,” was a 13-year-old girl who captivated the minds of welfare officers. They first assumed her to have autism until it they discovered that she could not talk along with being incontinent, salivating, and unable to chew or swallow food properly. After being taken into protective custody, researchers uncovered that for most of her life, Genie suffered physical and social restriction, nutritional neglect, and extreme experiential deprivation (The Development of Language in Genie: a Case of Language Acquisition beyond the “Critical Period”). This corresponds to evidence that she was secluded to small, cramped rooms and isolated from human interaction (The Development of Language in Genie: a Case of Language Acquisition beyond the “Critical Period”). Even with all this, there was no reliable evidence on whether she could ever or ever did talk. But one thing was certain; when Genie was found, she did not speak. Researchers saw this as an opportunity to uncover the mysteries behind speech development so they could better help Genie and others like her (The Guardian). Taught to be entirely silent by her father’s partiality to acoustic stimuli and harsh punishments, Genie was never able to truly verbally encode her thoughts even when slightly picking up words and phrases. This goes to say, she was certainly not dumb and unable to learn, she could still think for herself, sketch pictures, and even showcased that lexicon (vocabulary or branch of knowledge) seemed to have no age limit (The Guardian). However, things that most children would learn quickly, like grammar and sentence form, proved to be far above her linguistic capability. As a result of her entirely missing her critical period of proper language development due to the reinforced silence from her father, Genie never was able to clearly communicate with the average person. This goes to show that the effects of households that don’t allow proper communication or learning skills, show up as traits like being mute or being unable to encode true language.

 

Similarities and Differences:

         We already seem to know that lack of specific skills learned during critical periods can have negative effects on the brain, but are all children that have similar stories to Genie the same? One similar story to Genie’s is the case of Danielle Lierow (2005), sometimes known as “the girl in the window,” who was found in a small, dark room in Florida, lying on a filthy mattress. When she was found, she was malnourished and anemic and similarly to Genie, not able to chew or swallow solid food (St. Petersburg Times). Even more similarly to Genie, Danielle couldn’t talk. Dr. Kathleen Armstrong, pediatric psychologist, University of South Florida medical school, called the girl’s condition “environmental autism” as she had been deprived of interaction so long that she seemed to have withdrawn into herself (Dr. Kathleen Armstrong, St. Petersburg Times). To the researchers, Danielle had the most unusual thing: a lack of engagement. She had no light in her eye with any sign of a response or recognition and didn’t have a response to affection. Dr. Armstrong states that Danielle’s case was “the most outrageous case of neglect [she’d] ever seen” (Dr. Kathleen Armstrong, St. Petersburg Times). This case, along with Genie’s, illustrate the sheer and critical need to have early contact and linguistic development for children. It proves to be crucial in helping hardwire the brain and allow children to develop language and learn to trust and relate to the world around them.

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         When it comes to specific cases like Genie and Danielle, researchers struggled to build the proper communication skills to allow them to live independently. At first glance, things might not be so different in the case of Isabelle (1938). Isabelle had a very similar upbringing to Genie and Danielle; she was an illegitimate child whose family chose to keep her hidden under the social stigma at the time (Isabelle: The Story of a Child Kept in Extreme Isolation). Her mother, who had become deaf and mute after an accident, was given little education and was, along with Isabelle, secluded from the rest of the family, and not allowed to leave. It wasn’t until Isabelle’s mother escaped with her that Isabelle was able to be examined properly and what they found was severe. She was malnourished and in a rachitic condition not unlike rickets after all the years without sunlight and fresh air. At six and a half years old, researchers tested her intelligence, and her mental age appeared to be around nineteen months, and instead of speech, she could only make a croaking sound (Isabelle: The Story of a Child Kept in Extreme Isolation). To the researchers, Isabelle seemed to be almost unteachable, but the remarkable thing is how quickly she improved! Once placed in a stimulating environment supported by teachers and psychologists, Isabelle’s intensive training began to catch her up at a breakneck pace. Soon she was learning words and by the time she was eight years old, she was considered a child of average age; now being able to use between 1,500 and 2,000 words (Isabelle: The Story of a Child Kept in Extreme Isolation). Researchers were pleased to see that by age eight, Isabelle was able to walk, speak, and so much more. This stands in contrast to many others, like Genie, and showcases that if children are found in abusive homes early, then rehabilitation is entirely possible.

 

Controlled Environment:

         Many neglectful and abusive environments are seen out in everyday life, but few studies have truly explored how different types of abuse and neglect impact children’s development. In one study, the researchers hypothesized that behavior problems would be associated with parental stress, and that a longer time in a non-neglectful environment would account for any differences in externalizing and internalizing symptoms between the two neglect groups (PubMed). To test this, they used a cohort of 60 children divided into three groups: a) U.S. children with a history of physical or emotional neglect as defined by the Barnett Child Maltreatment Classification Scheme (MCS)26 (USN); b) children adopted from international institutions (IA); and, c) U.S. children with no history of neglect, abuse, or adoption (Control)…(PubMed). By comparing these children using the Differential Abilities Scale, Test of Early Language Development, Child Behavior Checklist, and Parenting Stress Index, researchers found that neglect is the type of maltreatment most strongly associated with delays in expressive, receptive, and overall language development (PubMed). They also discovered that children who have a history of neglect have a much higher risk for impaired language develop if not provided with personal interactions and linguistic input. This goes to show that creating a positive and healthy environment for children to build strong linguistic bonds and social skills is incredibly crucial for social functioning.

 

Conclusion:

         The reason you can read this article is that you were taught how to verbally encode thoughts and read this language; however, there are many children who get no say in how their parents teach them. While there might not be a solution to fix abusive and neglectful parenting, there is still hope that we can save and rehabilitate children psychologically and physically condemned by their abusive environment. Society’s goal should be to rescue, rehabilitate, and revive the minds of these children in hopes that a new, healthy environment can aid them in breaking free of their neglect and lead a role in everyday society.