Language acquisition: Nature or Nurture?
             'Genie, a scientific tragedy'
             The story of Genie is undoubtedly one of the saddest ones one can imagine. What has been done to her is something no one would ever wish to anyone, not even to their worst enemies.
             Her story begins on November 4th, 1970, when she and her blind mother walk into the general social services office early in the morning. Her mother had not been seeking help for Genie, but for herself. Three weeks before that she had finally been able to flee from an abusive marriage, and that morning she did not have the intention to go to the general social services office. Instead she had wanted to go to the services for the blind. By fate or simply by luck for Genie she stumbled into this office. The eligibility worker noticed Genie, and thought he had found an unreported case of autism: this girl had a manner of walking and standing to her that was very unnatural. He alerted his supervisor, he noticed the girl was not autistic, but that there was something unmistakenly wrong. A social worker visited her home, and had her transferred to the Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles.
             Genie, the daughter of Clark and Irene was the victim of an abusive father. Her parents had already had two babies die in their early years: one baby died after having been locked up in a garage because she cried, the second one died of Rh-blood poisoning soon after birth. Genie had an older brother, who had also suffered from severe neglect. However, his grandmother put him back on track. With Genie, there was no one to put her back on track. She had developmental problems, just like her brother. She was lagging behind in her physical stature and habits. When the family moved after Clark's mom had died in a car accident, Genie was confined to a small bedroom, harnessed to an infant's potty seat. She was tied-up there during the day; during the night she was placed in a restraining ...