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Genie's Birth
Genie was born in Arcadia, California as the fourth (and the second surviving) child in the family. -
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Genie's father started isolating her
Genie's father began keeping her in a locked room. He strapped her into a child's toilet or bound her in a crib with her arms and legs immobilized and forbidden everyone to interact with her so that she was unable to talk or walk properly. -
Genie was discovered
Genie's parents had an argument and Genie's mother walked out of the house. She accidentally entered the general social services office and exposed Genie's condition to social workers. -
Genie was sent to children's hospital
Genie was sent to Children's Hospital after she was rescued from her family. The psychologists David Rigler and Howard Hansen took direct control of Genie's care in the hospital. -
Genie's father committed suicide
Genie's father killed himself by gunshot, leaving to notes: "Be a good boy, I love you" for his son, and "The world will never understand." directed at the police. -
Genie Got Neurolinguistic Tests
Scientists conducted a series of neurolinguistic tests on Genie. The tests monitored the extent of her mental development, discovering how Genie's brain was extremely right-hemisphere dominant and was at the developmental level of a 1- to 3-year-old. -
First Research on Genie began
David Rigler led a team of scientists who obtained a three-year grant from the NIMH to study Genie. Their aim was to investigate the theories proposed by Noam Chomsky, who suggested that language was innate to humans, and Eric Lenneberg, who suggested that humans have a critical period for language acquisition. -
Genie works with Susan Curtiss
Curtiss discovered that Genie has learned a significant amount of language but that it was not yet at a usefully testable level. Doctors placed her estimated mental age between a 5- and 8-year-old with a very high degree of scatter and observed that she was in concrete operational stage of development. -
Jean Butler Fostered Genie
Genie was taken by Jean Butler. She stopped attacking herself, learned to express her anger, and made improvement in language acquisition. However, Butler did not allow scientists to study Genie and lost her foster custody eventually. -
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David Rigler and his wife Marilyn fostered Genie
David Rigler and his wife Marilyn fostered Genie. During this time, Genie's behavior and social skills improved and stopped socially inappropriate masturbation. She kept doing language tests and other tests. -
Genie's Funding Withdrawn
NIMH stopped funding Genie's research due to lack of scientific findings. -
Genie Returned to Her Mother
Genie's mother let her move back in at her childhood home. The Riglers offered to continue assisting with Genie's care, and Curtiss continued to conduct regular testing and observations. -
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Genie was Sent to Several Foster Homes
Genie's mother felt overwhelmed, so authorities transferred Genie to the first of what would become a succession of foster homes, where she is further abused. During this time Curtiss was the only person who had worked with her. -
Genie's Study Published
Curtiss finished and presented her dissertation, entitled Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study of a Modern-Day "Wild Child". -
Genie's Research Stopped
Genie's mother sued Children's Hospital, her therapists, their supervisors, and several of the researchers and decided to stop all further research on her.
