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Genie Wiley was the name given to a thirteen-year-old girl who had been a victim of severe abuse, neglect, and isolation since her birth. Her father, Clark Wiley, hated children and quickly tired of hearing baby Genie’s cries. As a result, at an early age, he threw her in the basement with nothing but a wire cage and a potty chair with a homemade strapping device. He believed Genie was mentally handicapped, and he used that excuse to keep Genie from both her family and from the outside world. He kept Genie either strapped to her potty chair or in a crib with her arms and legs immobilized. This left Genie severely malnourished. Her isolation made it impossible for her to acquire language during her childhood.1 Genie’s mother, Irene Wiley, who was almost blind from cataracts, and her older brother John Wiley, also suffered from the father’s abuse and lived in fear of him for years. But one day, Irene grew the courage to run off and tell a social worker about her husband’s dark secret. When the social worker found Genie, she was still wearing diapers and was unable to speak. Unable to face the truth of the damage he inflicted upon his family, Clark shot and killed himself. After thirteen years and seven months of unimaginable torture at the hands of her father, Genie was finally given the chance to learn how to live as an average human being. 2

The first publicly released picture of Genie, taken in 1970, just after authorities took control of her care at the age of thirteen | Courtesy of Wikipedia

In the first years after Genie’s liberation, psychologists, linguists, and other scientists became interested in Genie, seeing in her near-total isolation a unique chance to study many aspects of human development. The case was so scientifically important that the government funded a team of scientists to help answer the many questions that her conditions posed. James Kent, a child psychologist, and Susan Curtiss, a linguist, were the two scientists who became extremely close to Genie. Neither one of them had ever encountered a case as extreme as Genie’s. The scientists took advantage of the unheard of opportunity that Genie’s unique conditions provided them. Yet they also used Genie to address specific questions about “critical period theory” and the human mind. While many scientists researched Genie’s conditions, Susan Curtiss and James Kent had Genie stay with them in their own homes.3

The “critical period” theory states that there is a certain window of time when an adolescent can learn a language. The first few years of life is crucial for individuals to acquire their first language.4 If the learning of language occurs after this period of time, then the individual will never acquire the full command of a language. The evidence that supported the “critical period” theory was slim, which is why Genie was so important for proving or disproving the theory. According to the theory, Genie, who was now a teenager, had missed her time to learn words and grammatically put them into sentences. But the scientists wanted to try and see what repetitive teaching could accomplish. Susan Curtiss spent hours per week working with Genie to help her learn how to express herself in language.5

The Salk Institute, where researchers analyzed the data from the first of several brain exams on Genie | Courtesy of Wikipedia

Susan Curtiss, a scientist from UCLA, worked with Genie in an attempt to improve her language skills. Genie seemed to have little to no control over any speech organs, and she showed defects in the muscles she used for chewing and swallowing. Susan Curtiss thought that if Genie was able to understand the English language spoken to her, then there was a good chance this would reflect some linguistic knowledge of the language, even though physical and psychological impediments prevented her from using this knowledge to produce speech. Unfortunately, Genie was unable to understand and respond to any form of commands, which meant that a controlled comprehension test would have to wait. Even though Genie scored at the level of a 1-year-old at her initial assessment, she quickly began adding new words to her vocabulary. Genie started by learning single words like “dog” and “run,” and then she began putting two words together, like “a dog house,” which is something young children can do.6 Curtiss began to feel that Genie would be fully capable of acquiring language. She had found that while Genie could use words, she could not produce grammar or even put together sentences. She could not arrange these words in a meaningful way. It started looking as though the “critical period” theory of language development might indeed be correct.7

James Kent, a child psychologist, stated that his first impression of Genie was incredibly surprising. Hers was the worst case of child abuse he had ever encountered, and he became extremely pessimistic about Genie’s prognosis. The restraints that Genie’s father used caused Genie’s wrists to develop extreme bruising, and her bones were unable to grow while she had been forced to sleep inside a crib. Kent found it extremely difficult to test Genie’s mental age, but the two times he did showed that Genie had the same mental ability as a thirteen-month old child.8 Despite tests confirming that she had normal vision in both eyes, she could not focus them on anything more than ten feet away. This was caused by being locked up inside a small room for thirteen years.9

Genie working with Marilyn Rigler at her home in Country Club Park, Los Angeles in June 1971 | Courtesy of Wikipedia

Jay Shurly, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Oklahoma and a specialist in social isolation, took interest in Genie’s case. He started visiting Genie three days a week to conduct a sleep study to see if Genie was autistic, mentally challenged, or if she had sustained any bring damage during the time she was isolated. Shurly’s study concluded that Genie Wiley was not autistic but had high levels of emotional disturbance. Jay Shurly’s sleep study also showed a significantly reduced amount of REM sleep and a large number of sleep spindles. Shurly soon concluded that, based on the unusual amount of sleep spindles, Genie had been mentally retarded since birth. Some of the other scientists were not 100% sure if this information was true due to the substantial progress Genie was making in expressing herself. Much later, for example, Susan Curtiss argued that, even though Genie obviously had serious emotional issues, she could not have been retarded. She pointed out that Genie made a year’s developmental progress for every calendar year after her rescue, which would not be expected if her condition was congenital, and that some aspects of language that Genie acquired were uncharacteristic of mentally retarded individuals.10

>On account of many people fighting over Genie to do their research, Genie was forced to move back in with her biological mother in 1975. Genie’s mother attempted to sue the children hospital and many other scientists for treating her daughter more like a test dummy than a human being. All scientists were shut off from Genie. This caused Genie’s conditions to get worse and her mother found her too difficult to take care of and sent her back into a foster home, where Genie was subject to further abuse. After scientists were no longer allowed to use Genie as a test subject, more questions arose.11 Did research interfere with Genie’s therapeutic treatment? Unfortunately, after leaving Genie alone in foster care, her progress was compromised and she was afraid to open her mouth, which led her back to silence.12

  1. Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Disabilities and Other Exceptional Individuals, 2013, s.v. “Kasper Hauser Syndrome,” by Cecil R. Reynolds, Kimberly J. Vannest, and Elaine Fletcher-Janzen.
  2. Kendra Cherry, “Overview of feral child Genie Wiley,” Very well Mind, November 25, 2018, https://www.verywellmind.com/genie-the-story-of-the-wild-child-2795241.
  3. Loretta Kasper, “The Civilizing of Genie,” In Teaching English through the Disciplines: Psychology, October 8, 2002, http://kccesl.tripod.com/genie.html.
  4. Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, 2008, s.v. “Critical period,” by David Crystal; Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2018, s.v. “Critical Period Hypothesis,” by Janine Ungvarsky.
  5. Loretta Kasper, “The Civilizing of Genie,” In Teaching English through the Disciplines: Psychology, October 8, 2002, http://kccesl.tripod.com/genie.html.
  6. Dictionary of Sociolinguistics, 2004, s.v. “Zone of proximal development (ZPD),” by Joan Swann, Ana Deumert, Theresa Lillis.
  7. Loretta Kasper, “The Civilizing of Genie,” In Teaching English through the Disciplines: Psychology, October 8, 2002, http://kccesl.tripod.com/genie.html.
  8. Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Disabilities and Other Exceptional Individuals, 2013, s.v. “Genie,” by Cecil R. Reynolds, Kimberly J. Vannest, and Elaine Fletcher-Janzen.
  9. Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Disabilities and Other Exceptional Individuals, 2013, s.v. “Kasper Hauser Syndrome,” by Cecil R. Reynolds, Kimberly J. Vannest, and Elaine Fletcher-Janzen.
  10. Roger Shattuck, The Forbidden Experiment (New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1980), 216-218; Kendra Cherry, “Overview of feral child Genie Wiley,” Very well Mind, November 25, 2018, https://www.verywellmind.com/genie-the-story-of-the-wild-child-2795241.
  11. Kendra Cherry, “Overview of feral child Genie Wiley,” Very well Mind, November 25, 2018, https://www.verywellmind.com/genie-the-story-of-the-wild-child-2795241.
  12. Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Disabilities and Other Exceptional Individuals, 2013, s.v. “Feral Children,” by Cecil R. Reynolds, Kimberly J. Vannest, and Elaine Fletcher-Janzen.

Tags from the story

Genie Wiley

James Kent

Susan Curtiss

Recent Comments

Rosa Robledo Martinez

This article was very sad knowing , that Genie suffered a lot of abuse as a child. It just upsets me that her dad, didn’t care for her. Like why would someone want to be a parent if all they want to do is cause harm to their own children. What kind of man treats their own child like if she was nothing, it’s sad that at a young age he basically threw her to their basement and locked her up.

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23/09/2019

9:12 pm

Nicholas Hatch

This article explaining Genie’s life was very sad. The part of the article that makes me think is when it mentioned how Genie’s father Clark hated kids. If he really hated kids, why did he have kids? When I heard the mom finally able to build up the courage to report what the father had been doing to his kids, especially Genie, I got a good feeling. This quickly went away when I heard that the mom had taken Genie out of all the help she was getting and ended up lacing her in foster care, it felt as if it was a selfish decision by the mother.

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24/09/2019

9:12 pm

Ashley Martinez

This article was an extremely sad article to read about. Genie Wiley had a rough childhood and that would eventually affect her for the rest of her life. It is extremely disheartening to hear how many parents physically and mentally abuse their children and significant others, this is absolutely disgusting. It was awful to see the doctors fighting over Genie almost as though she was a guinea pig, she is a human being. It was great that the therapy and things that the doctors were making some progress with Genie. I feel that it was selfish of Genie’s mother to take her away from the studies and doctors because she was receiving help. She then placed her back in foster care which ultimately took Genie back to square one.

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26/09/2019

9:12 pm

Felipe Macias

For centuries, the question on child development on a strict desolate environment had been asked. Unfortunately, I doubt the information gathered from this situation answered all missing knowledge, but it is for sure something that was not had previously. Of course, this is incredibly inhumane, but the data and knowledge which can be exacted is enormous.

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29/09/2019

9:12 pm

Shea Slusser

This article was so interesting to me that I actually watched a documentary on you tube after reading it. Its devastating to hear she was abused for such a long period of time and that she will never have normal life because of it. Id like to know what was going on in her father’s head and what kind of person thinks its okay to treat a new born child, let alone your own child like that for thirteen years, and possibly more if the mother had not escaped and told their story. Sad article but well written.

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13/10/2019

9:12 pm

Hannah Hennon

This story is so shocking. It is sad that Genie ended up back in foster care, and she went through abuse all over again plus not continuing the progress she made of speaking and understanding the language. I can understand why her mother would stop scientists from studying her, and how Genie could have been scared, but from this article it seemed like they were helping her.

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13/10/2019

9:12 pm

Angelina Gonzalez

This article really touched my emotions. How could a father cause this much trauma to his own daughter. This poor young girl does not know how to live. Not only did she miss out on a childhood, but this trauma is something that will affect her future as well. She went back into foster care which made her lose her progress, it is going to be a big challenge to catch up to her age level. This article really brings awareness to help fight off abuse and support foster care.

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18/10/2019

9:12 pm

Victoria Davis

This article really makes me thankful for the life I lived and the parents that raised me. She was never able to live a childhood that every child deserves, and it affected her for the rest of her life. When she was taken away from that situation she was then put into another difficult situation of foster care. She has a lot to overcome and I hope all the help she receives will help her out with her future.

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28/10/2019

9:12 pm

Todd Brauckmiller Jr.

Something like this should not happen to a child, everything about her up bringing is awful. Who would ever think to leave a child tied up and locked away in a basement. Even after she was rescued she was used more like a test subject, as if they were more interested in studying her than actually helping . This is a shame to hear something like this actually happened, may no child ever go through what Genie did.

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30/10/2019

9:12 pm

Glory Turnbull

Genie’s case certainly begs questions about human nature and the necessity of socialization in our development. Much of what makes us into humans as we think of them today are learned behaviors, passed from family and society at large. I understand why scientists would have taken an interest in Genie, but I’m afraid their ethics were far too lacking in this case. A child recovering from abuse deserves stability and care, not a host of different strangers every week conducting tests.

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20/01/2020

9:12 pm

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