From the critical analysis of Genie’s case, some factors increased or facilitated the mistreatment, which resulted in her retarded growth and inability to speak. Firstly, the risk factor that can be identified is the psychological trauma of her father.
Her father, Clark Wiley, was traumatized after the incident in which his mother was killed in a hit-and-run accident. Therefore, he turned to an isolationist kind of life, and he also made her daughter undergo isolation. Secondly, the risk factor that also enabled the mistreatment of Genie to be easy was the blindness of her mother, Irene, who was suffering from a cataract. Irene Wiley was too scared to resist the maltreatment that her husband was doing to their daughter because of her blindness.
Evidently, the risk factors that are associated with the condition that Genie underwent were entirely dependent on the two parents’ well-being. Of the two risk factors that are associated with Genie’s maltreatment at her younger age, trauma impacted more heavily on her development of Genie as compared to her mother’s blindness. As a matter of fact, Genie was still traumatized by her upbringing. This can be illustrated by how she stopped making progress in her linguistic learning endeavors.
She learned a lot of words and had an enormous vocabulary, but after the learning period, her progress stalled. She was not able to apply grammatical rules and use the words she had known coherently. Indeed, Genie’s case was a complex one because of traumatic events in her life on two fronts. Not only did she miss a critical period to develop linguistically, but she was also disgustingly abused. Distinctly, Genie’s case was compounded by trauma which inhibited her language development.
Sourse: Genie Wiley – TLC Documentary.