Breakthroughs: The Case Study Of Genie

The author of this book explained the remarkable breakthrough that came from the case study of Genie. She was a 13 year old girl who was rescued after being emotionally and physically abused. She was held hostage in one room for her whole life and was strapped to an infant potty chair. As seen, overtime she must have grown and gotten too big for the chair making her bone structure grow inaccurately and messing up her critical period. The main breakthrough from this study is that Genie barely could speak. She only said certain phrases which she probably acquired from hearing them over and over again. Just like infants who repeat what an adult says, she learned that way. The main characters of the story were Genie, her father Clark, her mother

Genie tried to learn language but it is a phenomenon that is extremely hard to conquer especially when she is the age of 18. The theme that stood out is the concept of neuroplasticity. The brain can mold itself to work in different ways in order to function. Such as stroke patients and helping them adapt to different tactics in order to communicate. But in Genie’s instance, the damage was too serious to have her speaking at the age level she was. The brain was able to progress a little such as forming simple sentences and repeating certain words. But Genie needed a miracle and that miracle was the fact that she survived. It shows that language is something that is extremely hard to revive and children’s brains have to be taught language early on and structurally taught. Personally, I feel that the main idea of this work was to compare the nature verse nurture concept that has been going on for years. It took the subject of language and Genie’s case study and made me really think about how you can relate it to each side. For the nature side it shows how language is not something you are given but instead you acquire. Genie was able to make certain phrases because she heard that repetitively making her remember them. The doctors also tried helping her establish sentencings by having her identify objects and things verbally. This all is “nurturing”

I could not imagine trying to communicate with others in any way other than language. It gives you a sense of individuality whether it is an accent or how you word certain phrases. There is one quote that stuck out to me throughout the book, it is "He quit his job and moved his family into his mother 's two-bedroom house on Golden West Avenue, where he would live out the last decade of his life as a recluse, with his family as virtual prisoners." Chapter 1, Found, pg. 16. This is a very morbid quote because it shows how Genie’s life changed all by moving into a different home. It also uses the word prisoner showing that they were not kept in a comforting environment where they were treated well but instead a prison full of abuse both mentally and physically. It portrays a picture of Clark depicting him as a loser, he quit his job and how he isolated himself from the world just to abuse his daughter. This book as a total is one of the most vital case studies ever since it gave us so much insight inside language and how we learn