Case of Genie Essay

1.Describe the case of Genie. What happened to her? Why is this case important? Genie was left in extreme isolation. She was kept in a back bedroom,tied to a toilet. She received little stimulation of any kind and was fed baby food.She was given no visual or other sensory stimulation.This case shows that infancy and childhood are critical times for brain development. 2.What have scientists learned about the way that the brain develops in children? Describe how this development happens. They have learned that there are critical periods for brain development. They discovered that parents fill a vital role in the development of their child’s brain through their interactions with the child.Parents and caregivers must provide proper stimulation to help develop connections. Scientists believed that children’s brains were predetermined to a great extent in terms of how they would develop. However, scientists now know that an infant’s experiences help determine how connections are formed and which pathways will develop in the brain. Thus, rather than being predetermined, an infant’s brain is a work in progress, influenced not only by his or her genetics, but also the surrounding world. 3.Describe how speech generating devices work. Explain the importance of augmentive communication. Speech generating devices are electronic devices that help individuals communicate verbally. Augmentive communication is important because it helps individuals produce or comprehend written or spoken language.These communication devices can be important tools to help children with speech difficulties communicate with parents, teachers, friends, and others in their lives Critical Thinking Questions 1.What do scientists mean when they say that there are critical periods for brain development? Why are these periods important? When scientist say that there are critical periods for brain development they  mean that if a child misses that period they’ll be noticeably different from others in the same age group. These periods are important because they’ll need them all throughout life.