Genie

Life of Genie

By alexvill146

  • Genie's Birth

  • Eric Lenneberg Forms the Critical Period Hypothesis

  • Genie and Her Mother Escape

  • Genie Reaches the Media

  • Genie's Father Commits Suicide

  • Genie is Considered as a Case Study Subject

  • Genie Begins to Understand

    Genie begins to understand her name, names of a few others, and about 15-20 words; her active vocabulary has two phrases: "stop it" and "no more."

  • Genie Issued a Gesell Developmental Evaluation

    Scored at the developmental level of a 1- to 3- year old.

  • Genie Issued a Leiter International Performance Test

    Her scores increased significantly, now at the level of a 4-year-9-month old.

  • Genie Receives a 3 Year Grant from NIMH

  • Susan Curtiss Joins Genie's Case

    Susan Curtiss is a linguistics graduate who met with Genie in the hospital almost every day.

  • Jean Butler Gets Permission to Take Genie to Her Home on Day Trips

    Butler later becomes her first foster parent. Shortly after the move-in, Genie begins to show signs of puberty.

  • Genie is Able to Accurately Identify Most Objects

  • Butler's Application for Foster Custody is Rejected

    This was preceded by Butler's frequent rejection of the "Genie team" arriving at her house to study Genie, which Butler thought to be overtaxing on Genie. Genie was reportedly upset when she heard Butler was rejected for custody.

  • The Riglers Take Custody of Genie

  • Curtiss Begins Thorough, Active Testing of Genie's Language

  • Genie Begins to Pay Attention/Respond to Other People

  • Genie Attends Nursery School

  • John Miner Becomes Genie's Legal Guardian

  • Genie Begins to Recall Past Events

    She expresses her past even before learning language. The Riglers overheard her talking about her father. Before she understood the concept of death, she would often ask where her father was because she feared he would come back to get her.

  • Genie's Fear of Dogs/Cats is Understood

    Genie was sent into a terror after seeing a picture of a wolf in a magazine. Researchers asked her mother why, and it was revealed that her father would act like a dog to intimidate Genie. This underlying reason for Genie's irrational fear became apparent for the first time.

  • Genie Shares with Other People for the First Time

  • Genie Begins to Show Sensitivity to Temperature

  • Genie Begins to Learn Sign Language

  • Genie Was Able to Recognize Her Location and Could Navigate Accurately

  • NIMH Ceased Funding Genie

  • Mother Wishes To Regain Custody of Genie

  • Riglers End Foster Parenting of Genie

    Genie returns to her mother in her childhood home.

  • Reported that Genie Continues to Make Significant Strides in Every Field

    Despite her progress, most interactions were still abnormal in quality.

  • Genie's Mother Cannot Care for Her & Sends Her to Other Foster Homes

    Genie's mother found her daughter's habits to be too distressing. This was without the knowledge of the Riglers.

  • Genie Finally Removed From Abusive Foster Home

    Genie was severely abused, both physically and emotionally, in her foster home. The worst instance was when she was beaten for vomiting and told that she would never see her mother again if she continued to vomit. After this bout of abuse, Genie had reverted to silence and refused to open her mouth.

  • Genie Changes Foster Homes

  • Curtiss Publishes Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study of a Modern-Day "Wild Child"

    Genie's mother writes that she is offended by the title, under the notion that Genie and Curtiss were friends.
  • Period: to

    Genie Lives in a Temporary Setting

  • Genie's Research Ends

    Genie's mother refuses the research team to visit her daughter.

  • Genie Moves Again Into Another Foster Home

    Genie did not understand why she kept being moved around, causing her to believe she wasn't good enough and further traumatizing her mentally.
  • Period: to

    Genie Moves Through A Series Of Abusive Foster Homes

  • Curtiss's Dissertation Sparks a Lawsuit

    Outraged by the work of Curtiss, Genie's mother sues Children's Hospital and everyone involved with Genie's treatment for giving testing priority over Genie's welfare, invading Genie's privacy, and severely overworking Genie.

  • Genie's Guardianship Is Transferred to Her Mother

    Miner had not updated his legal status to being the guardian of a dependent adult when Genie turned 18, so social services transferred guardianship.

  • The Lawsuit Against the Genie Team is Settled

  • Russ Rymer Publishes Genie: A Scientific Tragedy

  • Rigler Makes His First Public Statement About Genie

    He comments on Genie's current condition and their relationship.
  • Period: to

    Genie Today

    Genie is a ward of the state of California, and is living in an undisclosed location in Los Angeles. She lives a simple lifestyle in a small private facility for mentally underdeveloped adults and appears to be happy. She can still speak few words, yet communicates well enough in sign language.