Who Is Genie Wiley?

Genie Wiley is a 13 year old young girl who was found and rescued after experiencing a lifetime of isolation and neglect. Genie’s upbringing came without proper socialization or language exposure, impacting her development across the span of her life. Although many efforts were made to rehabilitate Genie, she could only learn so much, underscoring the impact of extreme social isolation. This can be seen through Genie’s restricted language skills and ongoing challenges despite rehabilitation efforts, which both contributed to developments in psychology’s critical period hypothesis emphasizing the effects of early childhood trauma. When you look at Genie Wiley’s case, it is claimed that the social isolation she faced directly impacted her from developing normal …show more content…
Her limited exposure during critical developmental stages hindered her ability to gain language skills later in life. Another claim that Genie’s case stated was that although she received intensive care and rehabilitation efforts, her recovery was limited, and she faced ongoing challenges throughout life because she faced isolation at such a critical developmental stage of her life. Despite efforts to help Genie integrate into society and develop language skills, her progress was slow and incomplete especially when it came to basic grammar (Genie Wiley - TLC Documentary). Even after years of therapy, Genie continued to struggle with language and social interactions, causing her to end up in a long-term care facility. Although Genie made some progress and was very curious to learn new things when she was first rescued, the long-term effects are evident in her cognitive abilities showing the lasting impacts of neglect and abuse on human development. Lastly, Genie’s case provided valuable information about the critical period theory, which claimed that Genie had missed her critical period to learn