1) The document discusses several cases of "wild" or isolated children who were discovered and attempts were made to teach them language, including Victor, Genie, Isabelle, Helen Keller, Oxana, and Edik. 2) It analyzes factors like the age of first language exposure, extent of trauma, and availability of social support that affected each child's ability to learn and develop language skills. 3) While Isabelle and Helen learned language relatively well despite early deprivations, others like Victor, Genie and Chelsea made limited progress, sparking debates around whether there is a critical period for acquiring first language abilities.

2. WHO ARE
THEY?
CPH
WILD OR
FERAL
CHILDREN
OTHER
CASES
THE
RESULT

3. VICTOR : THE WILD BOY
OF AVEYRON
CAPTURED IN JANUARY
1800 NEAR THE WOODS
OF SERNIN, AVEYRON,
FRANCE
AGED 11 – 12 YEARS OLD
WHEN AND WHOM?

4. JEAN-MARC-GASPARD ITARD
TRIES TEACHING SPEECH BUT TRIES READING AND
FAILS
WRITING WITH SUCCESS
- Set up an ambitious program
- Named him as Victor
- Focuses on sharpening
perceptual abilities
- Started the lesson with variety - Started to expose to letters
of games and activities that was of the alphabets
responded dramatically
- Victor’s progress and
difficulties faced
- Imposed drilling method
- Exposed to speech organs and
sounds
- Victor’s responses
- Concludes that communication
is language and not mere
recognition of environment
context
ANOTHER ATTEMPT ON
TEACHING SPEECH
- End of fifth year
- Failed and gives up
- Arranged a place for Victor to
live in a house with Madam
Guerin
- Victor lived for 18 years as a
mute
- Died at the age of 38

5. Discovered in the
early 1970’s at the
LA, California
Was locked away by
her father for 12
years who had beaten
her frequently
Discovered at the
age of 13 in a
pitiful state and
no knowledge of
language when her
mother escaped
with her
GENIE : RAISED IN ISOLATION
(A PSEUDONYM)
Just started to
acquire language
around 20
months of age
Brutally
tormented by
her father who
eventually
committed
suicide on the
day of trial for
mistreating his
child

6. GIVEN FREEDOM
AND CARE
- During first few
weeks, she was alert
and curious
- Had little
understanding of
grammatical structures
- Responded only to
gestures and intonation
of words
- Later, changed
considerably
- Acquired words for a
hundreds of objects
out of curiosity
RESPONDS
LINGUISTICALLY AND
SOCIALLY
- After a year, evaluated
again on her language
ability
- Tested on a variety of
syntactic structures
- Tested on her
understanding of
adjectives and
prepositions
- Improved quite rapidly
in understanding speech
but slow in speech
production
A PEAK IN LANGUAGE
LEARNING
- Progressed a little
after eight years of
being studied
- Language ability
remained below normal
and continued to be
ungrammatical
- Placed in a home for
retarded adults

7. Mason’s
opinion on
Isabelle while
attending her
at the
Children’s
Hospital,
Columbus,
Ohio
(11/ 1938)
Started
gaining
language at
six and a half
years after
freedom
through her
mother
Sustained
a brain
injury at
two years
old

8. HER PROGRESSION?
LESS THAN THREE
MONTHS
FIRST ONE WEEK
Produce sentence
utterances
First attempt of
vocalization
ONE YEAR
Listens attentively
to and retells a story
in own words
A YEAR AND HALF
Complex structures
20 MONTHS LATER
Produce full
sentence

9. CHELSEA : BEGAN TO LEARN LANGUAGE AT THE AGE 32
Mistaken for being deaf at birth
(a pseudonym)
Not given any form of language training/ instruction
WHY?
At 32, discovered is only partially hearing- impaired and later, with
hearing aids, she was able to hear speech relatively normal

11. Became
deaf &
blind at
the age of
19 months
due to
illness
Became an
acclaimed
lecturer and
writer in the
service of
handicapped
people
Had some
exposure
on learning
language
before
illness
At the age
of 7,
introduced to
ANNE
SULLIVAN
MACY
Who was
she?
HELEN KELLER
: THE
RENOWNED
DEAF AND
BLIND GIRL
Macy’s
efforts to
teach
language via
touching
sense
succeeded
Learned to
read &
produce
Braille and
graduated
from
Radcliff
Able to
produce
somewhat
strange
speech
Why?
Helen
learned via
touching
speech
articulators
and even
learned to
speak

12. Discovered in 1991 living in a kennel
after abandoned by alcoholics parents
during the age of 3
OXANA: RAISED BY
DOGS
Given shelter by a dog family for the
next 5 years who eventually behaved
like a ‘dog’ when discovered
Last reported 2 years back, she was living in a home for the
mentally ill where her speech has improved though had difficulties
in relating to people
Her doctor, Vladimir Nagorny, stated that her development
seem to come to a limit and though they have been trying
to find her a job, she will never be considered as a normal
person

13. Discovered in 1999
when 4 years old by
social workers in a
deserted apartment
Survived by stray
dogs since 2 years
old after abandoned
by an alcoholic
mother
Language skills and
grammar slowly
improved where at
the age of 6, speech
production was
equivalent to a 3
years old
Was living in a
foster home after
two years of his
discovery
James Law studied
Edik and remains
optimistic abut his
language progress

15. EXPOSURE TO
LANGUAGE
WHY DID ONLY
ISABELLE AND
HELEN FULLY
LEARN
LANGUAGE?

16. EXTENT OF ANY
PHYSICAL,
PSYCHOLOGICAL
& SOCIAL
TRAUMA PRIOR
EXPOSURE
AGE OF EXPOSURE
FACTORS
GOVERNING
LANGUAGE
LEARNING

17. WHY DID GENIE NOT PROGRESS MORE THAN SHE DID?
Curtiss concludes that
Genie had a clear
semantic ability but
could not learn syntax
WHY?
Factors contributing
to her faulty in speech
production in terms of
pronunciation

18. Crucial data for critical
age lie in syntactic
understanding and not
production
CHELSEA :
INSUFFICIENT
EVIDENCE
Chelsea’s abilities in
this scope was not
sufficiently assessed
Curtiss debated that
Chelsea’s case proves
that beyond a critical
period, other aspects
of language can be
learned but not syntax
(not substantiated)

19. THE ACHIEVEMENTS
ISABELLE
Performed well despite received no
language exposure until the age of
six and a half
Gained a benefit from mother’s
affection and social support
Gestures shared between her mom
may have helped to understand the
relationship between object & symbol
crucial for language learning
HELEN
Was exposed to language during the
first 19 months old
Had a loving family
Was supported by family throughout
her language deprivation period

20. Isabelle & Helen
started to learn
language at an
early age
following a
relatively short
period of
deprivation
Clearly, the idea
experimental
situation to
study this has
not yet
presented itself
Victor, Genie,
Chelsea did not
learn much
language
IS THERE A
CRITICAL
AGE FOR
FIRST
LANGUAGE
LEARNING ?
Lenneberg
suggested this
may be due to
biological
maturation of
brain
Certainly,
critical age
could not be
below six or
seven