Genie (feral Child) - Loss of Funding and Research Interest

Loss of Funding and Research Interest

Despite Genie's progress, after three years the National Institute of Mental Health, which had been funding the research, grew concerned about the lack of scientific data generated and the disorganized state of project records. A huge amount of data was being collected, but apart from the linguistics data Curtiss and Fromkin produced much of it was of very limited use. In 1973 Rigler asked for and received a one year extension on the grant, but the NIMH said it wanted more hard data and more coherent categorization of the researchers' work. Rigler said he and the other scientists tried to comply, but found the case was not conducive to producing the raw statistics requested of him; he argued the NIMH did not fully understand the nature of Genie's case, and pointed out that in the only study which could be looked to for comparison, that of Victor of Aveyron, there had been similar difficulties in producing hard scientific evidence of anything besides his progress with language.

When the year-long extension neared its end and the scientists were preparing to request an extension Jean Butler Ruch, who had continually attacked the scientists since her application to become Genie's foster parent was rejected, began vociferously arguing against it. She obtained David Rigler's proposal for an additional three-year extension—which, due to a processing mistake, she managed to do before Rigler presented it to the NIMH—and began lobbying for its rejection, disputing the progress Genie had made with Curtiss and the Riglers. When the NIMH's grants committee met to consider Rigler's proposal they concluded that, although the research was considerably and demonstrably beneficial to Genie and would not cause active harm to her, there had been minimal overall progress and, "the research goals projected probably will not be realized". Funding for the study was cut off and the following year the Riglers—who had been compensated by the grant money while caring for Genie and indicated in the proposal that they would need continued compensation to sustain their guardianship—decided to end their foster parenting. Despite the NIMH grant ending, Curtiss continued to spend time with Genie, and in 1977 she and Fromkin obtained year-long grants from the National Science Foundation to continue their work.

Now 18, Genie still spoke only in phrases such as, "Ball belong hospital". Her progress remained considerably slower than had initially been expected, and she never displayed the rapid grammar and syntax acquisition seen in most children after the two-word-sentence stage. Her comprehension, however, was well ahead of her speech—a similar dichotomy, albeit usually not quite as wide as hers, is typically found in young children—and she would occasionally produce longer sentences if her initial utterance was misunderstood. Evaluation was further complicated by Genie's psychological and emotional difficulties. In particular, scientists noted the negative associations with vocalizing from her childhood would have had a profound effect on her speech, making it very difficult to properly assess.