TLC Documentation: The story of Feral children
Feral children are those kids who, in their entire life, grow with limited human contact hence suffering from little or no social care, behavior, or experience from their young age. The video focused on the life of a girl named Genie in Los Angeles, California, who was a feral child at the age of thirteen years. The girl spent most of her time in a socially isolated environment where her parents locked her in a confiscated, separated room and experienced abuse for over a decade.
For the last thirteen years, Genie had not been taught how to speak due to isolation in the environment. Children should be allowed to interact with people to help them develop clear communication skills. Genie’s parents and brother kept away from her, and she was not allowed to go outside that room by her parents. The girl had no more learning capacity since she hardly interacted with other pupils in school. From the video, I have learned that the environment’s nature has a crucial role in developing a child’s brain. During child development, parents should create a conducive environment that boosts the children’s brain growth to help them feel that they fit in the background.
This girl’s story came into the limelight when her mother sought some social worker services within the house for her health. The security officers noticed that Genie was tied in a potty chair, which was a clear indication that she could not move outside that room. The social worker reported the authorities’ case for more investigations from Los Angeles Temple city detectives. The officer named her Genie to protect her identity and privacy in her files before the law court.
When the authorities reached the room where she had been confined, there were no signs that showed whether somebody is in the place. The neighbors were also unaware of Genie’s whereabouts, where they learned about it when the authority officers reached their home. Her parents were arrested and taken before the court of rule for child abuse to their daughter Genie. Parents should ensure that children are secure from any form of torture that disrupt their brain development. Parents should provide encouragement and moral support to their children in the entire development process.
Genie’s father committed suicide the night before the day of appearing in court. He left a note behind which had written that “the world will never understand” because he could not face the trial. the security officers took Genie to the children’s hospital where the government hired medics to help k in answering her healthy questions. Two of the scientists became pillars to Genie to adapt to her new life in the surrounding. The physicians started a new journey of exposing her to the real world outside her hospital bed to develop her speech. Parents should understand that children mimic what they say to help them grow and understand the language in their environment. Therefore, they must keep close contact and talk freely with their children to develop precise language. Children learn a language faster when they are left in an open environment to interact with people. Speaking loud helps develop the language nerves at the left side of the brain, but in Genie’s case, the nerves were dormant because she had not talked in her entire life.
The learning theories that were used to educate Genie included the theory of Lenneberg stated that young children could learn something at a time known as the critical period. He says that the age of language acquisition last at the age of twelve years when the child is in an open environment. Genie could hardly acquire language at her age since twelve years had passed while she was in an isolation room. Language plays a critical role in this theory, where it is clear that Genie had missed her language chance in life forever. After the medics taught her a little language, she proved this theory wrong since she could respond positively to the things she saw. She grew her interest in understanding everything around her to help in engaging people around her. Genie was able to ask her therapist questions concerning the things she saw while playing outside the new environment.
The theory of Noam Chomsky stated that acquiring language could not be fully explained by learning alone. This was evident by Genie when she walked along the ocean shores identifying the things her psychologists had taught her. Chomsky had a proposal that children are also born with a language acquisition device that aids children in learning a new language quickly. The medics left Genie to play games from the learning experience to help her activate her language brains.
According to the theory of cognitive development by Piaget, Genie is identifying and recognizing things in her new environment. Erickson’s theory of emotional development, Genie experiences emotional torture when she thinks about her past life. She experiences emotions when she goes out alone, which affects her brain functioning—Kohlberg’s theory emphasizes moral development. Genie is at the stage of improving her morals as she learned from her doctors. She is diligent in everything she is doing when left alone in the open environment. Genie Parents are advised to ensure that they give their children under the age of twelve years a free domain to gain their independence skills. The treatment of Genie was ethical because she can learn what to do when she is alone. Genie’s brain grew to an extend of her identifying anybody trying to abuse her.