0:00:00.560,0:00:02.240
We need to talk about Jeannie because the

0:00:02.240,0:00:04.720
really awful, terrifying things that

0:00:04.720,0:00:06.720
happened to that poor little girl taught

0:00:06.720,0:00:09.280
us so incredibly much about

0:00:09.280,0:00:11.320
language development in humans. So

0:00:11.360,0:00:14.080
Jeannie was a little girl born to a very

0:00:14.080,0:00:17.040
unwell family. She was the fourth

0:00:17.040,0:00:19.920
child, but only the second living.

0:00:20.320,0:00:23.200
So her mother was legally blind

0:00:23.840,0:00:25.840
from neurological damage, and her father

0:00:26.160,0:00:28.800
had a lot of mental issues. He.

0:00:29.360,0:00:32.080
Didn't like noise. He didn't like

0:00:32.080,0:00:34.080
hearing noise. So when the couple had

0:00:34.080,0:00:36.760
their first child and it cried, he put it

0:00:36.760,0:00:38.200
in the trash and it died of pneumonia at

0:00:38.200,0:00:41.040
10 weeks old. This sets the stage

0:00:41.600,0:00:44.240
for the life that Ginny would lead. She

0:00:44.240,0:00:46.360
has an older brother and then another

0:00:46.360,0:00:48.320
child that died of some kind of blood

0:00:48.320,0:00:50.600
incapability at birth. But the older

0:00:50.600,0:00:53.360
brother still survived and he was lucky

0:00:53.600,0:00:56.200
because his grandmother took him for a

0:00:56.200,0:00:58.960
little while. And

0:00:59.120,0:01:01.680
yeah, that is probably what saved his

0:01:01.680,0:01:03.160
life, even though he was eventually given

0:01:03.160,0:01:05.600
back to his family. Now the father was

0:01:05.600,0:01:08.120
super abusive. Beat his wife, beat his

0:01:08.120,0:01:10.720
son, beat his his daughter Jeannie. Beat

0:01:10.720,0:01:12.920
them all. But when Jeannie was about 1

0:01:12.920,0:01:15.600
1/2 years old, her father started to get

0:01:15.600,0:01:18.080
incredibly unhinged and he

0:01:18.080,0:01:20.720
started locking Jeannie in a dark

0:01:20.720,0:01:23.560
room all day, strapping her in a

0:01:23.560,0:01:25.600
straight jacket to a child toilet

0:01:26.760,0:01:28.920
for the entire day. He would only feed

0:01:28.920,0:01:31.160
her baby purees and baby cereal and

0:01:31.160,0:01:32.560
things like that, and would do so

0:01:32.560,0:01:33.760
intermittently. She was very

0:01:33.760,0:01:36.720
malnourished. And then at night he

0:01:36.720,0:01:38.280
would take her off the child's toilet and

0:01:38.280,0:01:39.880
strap her to a sleeping bag in a cot with

0:01:39.880,0:01:42.120
a metal grate over the top. He didn't

0:01:42.120,0:01:44.480
allow anyone to make noises

0:01:45.120,0:01:48.000
in the house, so no one ever spoke

0:01:48.000,0:01:50.200
to Jeannie. She never heard any

0:01:50.200,0:01:52.120
linguistic input. She never heard

0:01:52.120,0:01:55.040
anything. And if she made noises, she was

0:01:55.040,0:01:57.960
beaten viciously eventually. At the

0:01:57.960,0:02:00.720
age of 13 1/2, after being locked in a

0:02:00.720,0:02:02.080
room for 12 years,

0:02:03.360,0:02:05.480
Jeannie's mother was finally able to

0:02:05.480,0:02:08.120
leave the house with her child, and

0:02:08.120,0:02:09.520
social services figured out that there

0:02:09.520,0:02:11.640
was something up and they rescued

0:02:11.640,0:02:13.680
Jeannie. By the time doctors got to her,

0:02:14.480,0:02:17.040
they tried to help her learn language,

0:02:17.120,0:02:19.680
and unfortunately it was near

0:02:19.680,0:02:22.160
impossible to get Jeannie to learn

0:02:22.160,0:02:24.320
language the way that you and I speak it,

0:02:25.200,0:02:28.160
the way that a child speaks it. She

0:02:28.160,0:02:30.560
never quite acquired any kind of

0:02:30.560,0:02:33.280
sophisticated language. She can say a

0:02:33.280,0:02:35.920
couple of words, but not many, and she

0:02:35.920,0:02:38.640
can't put them together in a very formal

0:02:38.640,0:02:41.360
sentence. What this taught

0:02:41.400,0:02:44.040
us, what Jeannie and this horrible

0:02:44.040,0:02:46.400
experience taught us, was that there is a

0:02:46.400,0:02:48.400
critical period of acquisition for

0:02:48.400,0:02:50.880
language where a child's brain is

0:02:50.880,0:02:52.920
open to the reception of language, but if

0:02:52.920,0:02:55.760
it doesn't get it, the child will never

0:02:56.440,0:02:59.160
learn. Formal language in their life. So

0:02:59.160,0:03:01.120
there you have it, folks. Children

0:03:01.120,0:03:03.840
require linguistic input, language,

0:03:04.080,0:03:07.040
someone to talk to them before the age

0:03:07.080,0:03:09.600
of seven at the very latest. But

0:03:10.040,0:03:11.920
those early years are incredibly crucial.

0:03:12.360,0:03:13.680
And the best way to teach your child

0:03:13.680,0:03:16.320
language is to speak to them, is to have

0:03:16.320,0:03:17.880
a conversation with them, even if you

0:03:17.880,0:03:19.920
don't think they understand, and even if

0:03:19.920,0:03:22.320
their response is to you is babble.

0:03:22.720,0:03:25.680
Do Genie a favour and talk to your kids.

0:03:26.480,0:03:28.880
as much as you can, all the time.