Book Review

Secret of the Wild Child

N Engl J Med 1994; 331:1030-1031October 13, 1994

Article

Secret of the Wild Child
VHS Videocassette, Running Time 60 Min. Boston, NOVA Star of Science Television/WGBH, 1994. $19.95. This video will be broadcast on public television on October 18 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

In 1970, a girl who had been literally imprisoned in a 10-ft-by-14-ft room from the age of 2 years to the age of 13 came to the attention of Southern California authorities. The reasons for her cruel treatment are unclear. Her father committed suicide the day after she was found; her mother thought her to be mentally impaired. When she was found her height and weight were at the 10th percentile for her age, she had little speech, she walked in a stooped position, and she had permanent calluses on her buttocks from having been strapped to a potty seat for hours at a time. There was no radio or television in the room, and the only magazines had all the pictures torn out. Given this history, one might have expected the child to be ravingly psychotic. She was not. Rather, she was a lovely, charmingly innocent child, who responded readily to warmth and attention. At the hospital to which she was taken, they called her Genie.

This Nova documentary chronicles Genie's life for the first five years after she left her home prison. Incorporating amateur videos, commentary, and scenes from Francois Truffaut's movie The Wild Child, the documentary tells several interrelated stories that raise many human, ethical, and scientific questions. This unique child elicited a variety of reactions in those about her, and their reactions tell us as much about health professionals and researchers as they do about Genie.

Of the several narratives in this tapestry, Genie's is certainly the most poignant and heart-rending. Despite her thinness, bent-over stance, loping gait, and guttural vocalizations, Genie was a lovely child whose sweetness of expression and eager response to kindness and attention evoked compassion and caring, even in those who met her casually on an outing to the park or to the store. Although she made progress over the five years, her fate was not unlike that of Victor, the “wild child” of Truffaut's film, who was discovered in a French forest over 150 years ago. This child, found at about the same age as Genie and trained for six years by the physician Jean Itard, ended his life in a foster home.

A second story is that of one of Genie's teachers at the Los Angeles Children's Hospital, where Genie was placed after first being discovered. Genie elicited megalomaniacal fantasies in this woman, who believed she was an extraordinary teacher. She saw herself as a “miracle worker” who would do for Genie what Annie Sullivan had done for Helen Keller. She attempted to adopt the child. Fortunately, the extent of the woman's disturbance was recognized, and she was not awarded custody of Genie.

Shortly after Genie returned to the hospital, an arrangement was made for her to live with the psychologist assigned to the case, David Rigler, and his family. Thus began another story. The Riglers served as surrogate parents, tutors, therapists, and researchers. These mixed roles were not easy, and Genie was not always a passive child. She had fits of temper and often hid food that was not discovered until it had spoiled. Genie made some progress under the Riglers' care and even attended a nursery school for a while. She also began to deal with her past, at least a little, and was able to express some anger about the treatment she had received.

While she was at the Riglers' home, Genie was also the subject of an ongoing program of language training and assessment. This is the scientific story. Genie came on the scene just at the time when Noam Chomsky's work on inborn generative grammars was becoming influential. B.F. Skinner's contrasting description of “verbal behavior” as entirely learned was also gathering attention from researchers, as was Eric H. Lenneberg's theory that brain growth was such that it was difficult, if not impossible, to acquire language after the age of 12 or 13. Language acquisition was thus a very hot field when Genie appeared, and many linguistic researchers saw her as the “forbidden experiment” that would allow them to test their competing theories.

A graduate student in linguistics, Susan Curtiss, was assigned to teach Genie to speak and to assess her progress. There are many moving scenes of Curtiss interacting with Genie and evidence of the child's growing vocabulary. Although Genie did learn many words and could correctly label many objects, she was never able to organize words into meaningful sentences. In this regard, she resembled Itard's pupil Victor, who also had learned words but was never able to assemble them grammatically.

After four years, the National Institute of Mental Health, which had supported Genie's stay at the Riglers' and their efforts to study her progress, withdrew its support. The agency was unhappy with the lack of research direction and the absence of systematic data collection. The Riglers, who had made a limited commitment, decided to give Genie up. Thus began a new story, that of Genie's sad adventures in foster care. After a brief stay with her mother, Genie was placed in a number of foster homes, in some of which she was abused. Today she lives in a foster home for adults.

This well-made, visually engrossing documentary engages the heart as well as the head. For all health professionals, this Nova production raises important questions regarding the complex interrelations between the personal needs of professionals, the care of patients, and the demands of science.

David Elkind, Ph.D.
Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155

Citing Articles (1)

Citing Articles

1. 1

   Ruth E. Harper, Lawrence E. Rogers. (1999) Using Feature Films to Teach Human Development Concepts. The Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development 38:2, 89-97
   CrossRef