This article talks about kids who have been isolated from society for long periods of time, with no human interaction and socialization. In the 1940s a girl named Anna had been deprived of normal contact and had been given little human care for most of her first six years. Her death caused by hemorrhagic jaundice (bacterial disease caused by being exposed to water, food, or soil with the urine of infected animals. If left untreated it can turn into meningitis and cause death) occured on August 6, 1942. She was about ten and a half at death.
Two weeks after being born in a nurse's private home, Anna was taken to teh family farm. The grandfather's antagonism caused her to be moved to the house of her mother's friend shortly after. The local minister became interested and took her to his house thinking of adoption. Decided against it when he found that she had vaginitis. Anna was then taken to a child's home in the nearest large city. She spent eight weeks there until the agency told her mother to come get her. Her mom wanted to give her to a couple who got denied by the agency so she came and got Anna herself and gave her to the couple anyway. Social worker went to the mother's home and pleaded with Anna's grandfather to allow the mother to bring the child home. He refused. More than four months old, she was taken to another children's home in a near-by town. A medical exam revealed that she had impetigo, vaginitis, umbilical hernia, and a skin rash.
She stayed in the second child home for 3 weeks. Later she was transferred to a private foster-home. Since the grandfather would not, and the mother could not, pay for the child's care, she was finally taken back as a last resort to the grandfathers' house at the age of five and a half months. Anna was kept on the second floor in an attic like room. She received only enough care to keep her barely alive. She rarely moved from one place to another. At the age of six she could not talk, walk, or do anything that showed intelligence.
In 1936, two years after being discovered, Anna had progressed but still did not speak. On August 30, 1939 she was taken to a private home for retarded children. She eventually attained an adult mental level of six or seven years. A final and last report made from the school on June 22, 1942 stated that Anna could follow directions, string beads, identify a few colors, build with blocks, and differentiate between attractive and unattractive pictures. She talked mainly in phrases but would repeat words and try to carry on a conversation. At her death her capacities did not amount to much more than a two and a half year old. Her isolation prevented a considerable amount of mental development.
"It is almost impossible for any child to learn to speak, think, act like a normal person after a long period of early isolation."
Anna represented a marginal case, because she was discovered before she had reached age six.
Another case similar to Anna's is one of a young girl who was given the name Isabelle. She was born one month later than Anna, and discovered November, 1938, nine months after Anna was discovered. At the time she was found she was about six and a half years of age. She was an illegitimate child and had been kept in seclusion for that reason. Mother was a deat mute, and it appears they had spent most of their time together in a dark room shut off from the rest of the mother's family. Isabelle had no chance to develope speech; when she communicated with her mother. Lack of sunshine and inadequacy of diet had caused Isabelle to become rachitic.
Her behavior towards strangers was almost like a wild animal, showing much fear and hostility. In lieu to speech she made only a strong croaking sound. Isabelle acted like an infant. Many of her actions resembled deaf children. The individuals incharged of Isabelle launched a systematic and skillful program of training. One week of intensive effort before she even made her first attempt at vocalization. In a little over two months after her first vocalization she was putting sentences together. Nine months after that she could identify words and sentences on the printed pages, could write well, could add to ten, and could retell a story after hearing it. Seven months beyond that point she had a vocabulary of 1,500 - 2,000 words and was asking complicated questions. She reached a normal level by eight and a half years of age. Isabelle covered in two years the stages of learning that oridinarily require six.
Today she is over 14 years old and has passed teh sixth grade in a public school.
In both cases of Anna and Isabelle there was exceedingly low, or rather blank, intellectual level to begin with. In both a considerably higher level was reached later on. But the Ohio girl (Isabelle) achieved a normal mentality within two years whereas Anna was still markedly inadequate at teh end of four and half years.
