BLOG #1 - Impaired Cognitive Development in Severely Neglected Childen

In Tomasello’s book, “The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition”, we learn that all species are designed to function within a particular environment. More specifically, human infants and young children require exposure to a particular kind of social environment or culture to support their social and cognitive development. Parents need to raise their children in a nurturing environment in order to facilitate their cultural learning. Human infants and young children are born completely dependent on their parents. A child’s experiences will be based solely on the practices of the family they are born into.

Tomasello (1999) looks at the way in which these human cultural environments shape our children’s cognitive development:

       The particular habitus into which a child is born determines the kinds of social innteractions she will have, the kinds of physical objects she will have available, the kinds of learning experiences and opportunities she will encounter, and the kinds of inferences she will draw about the way of life of those around her. The habitus thus has direct effects on cognitive development in terms of the “raw material” with which the child has to work. (p.79)

This concept led me to think about the children who are deprived of these “raw materials” and not raised in a nurturing environment conducive to their cultural learning. I was curious to learn more about the severe cases if neglect seen in feral or isolated children. I was baffled that these children could survive in such horrific conditions and in disbelief that their own parents were the ones who not only denied their own babies the basic necessities of life but the love and affection every child deserves. What impact did this social isolation have on their cognitive development and what was their capacity for learning after they were found and introduced to a world they have not had the opportunity to learn from?

During my research, I came across a very interesting concept proposed by Eric Lenneberg (1967) called the “Critical Period Hypothesis”. This hypothesis states “there are maturational constraints on the time a first language can be acquired. First language acquisition relies on neuroplasticity. If language acquisition does not occur by puberty (around age 12), some aspects of language can be learnt but full mastery cannot be achieved” (p. 180).  Because this hypothesis cannot be ethically tested on humans and animals lack the capacity to acquire language, cases of feral or isolated children have been studied to support or refute this hypothesis

I would like to introduce you to two of the most well-known and documented cases of feral/isolated children.                                                   

GENIE

Genie was born Susan Wiley in Arcadia, California in 1957. Her father suffering from depression decided that she was retarded. He felt he needed to “protect” her from the outside world so he kept her locked up in a dark room strapped to a potty chair until for most of her life. She was discovered at the age of 13 in diapers barely able to walk or talk, and unable to chew or swallow food.   She was found to have a vocabulary of about 20 words, most of which were negative, leading scientists to believe she was abused for making noise but despite making some progress in acquiring some new words she was never able to function as a “normal” adult.                                                     

Genie and her mother at her foster home in California in 1989

       

Video: "Secret of the Wild Child" Part 1                                                                                                                                                                                                            DANI

Dani was born Danielle Crockett in 1998 and lived with her mother in Florida. Despite numerous attempts from neighbours calling the child abuse hotline to report about the “The Girl in the Window” who has never been seen              outside     of her home, it took three years before a case worker and police officer came to the house. In July of 2005, Danielle was found locked in a filthy, roach infested room curled up on a soiled mattress in an overflowing diaper, her body full of insect bites and sores. She was severely malnourished, unable to speak or make eye contact, and was found to have the mental and physical capacities of an infant. Danielle was taken to hospital and put in foster care and adopted by a loving family 2 years later. Her new adoptive family called her Dani. With an incredible amount of love and support from her family and workers she continues to show progress. While it has been reported that Danielle will never be a “normal child” she is now responsive to affection, riding horses, swimming, walking, communicating with non-verbal cues, and doing Pre-K work in school.

Article printed in 2005 when she was discovered:       

http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/article750838.ece    

                                            “The Girl in the Window” You tube video

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  



 

 

 

Dani with her new adoptive parents, Bernie and Diane Lierow, and her stepbrother, William 



This is a recent picture of Dani in her new home.

Check out Dani's Blog to see the progress she has made:

http://www.danisstory.org/

While it is unclear the extent to which their abusive upbringing might have contributed to their severely impaired cognitive function, I still think these cases support the “critical period hypothesis” through their inability to learn the language skills considered “normal” for their age group. Aside from their ability to learn language, I found it very interesting to compare their overall progress based on their environments they were exposed to after they were found. I think Dani’s adoption into a loving, supportive, and culturally rich learning environment definitely contributed to her progress while Genie was the object of experiments for years and lived in adult foster homes. Genie was making some

progress but her environment caused her to regress again when she was abused in one of the foster homes and she never found her way back. It is amazing to see the progress Dani is making and I will continue beyond this post to stay tuned into her own blog site I posted earlier.

References Tomasello, M. (1999). The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Lenneberg, E. H. (1967). Biological Foundations of Language. New York: Wiley.