Kaspar Hauser's recovery and autopsy: A perspective on neurological and sociological requirements for language development

Simon, Nicole

doi:10.1007/bf01537870

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Normally, either can be expected to be very damaging. Lenneberg (1967), for example, who postulated a sensitive period for learning language, argued that normal language acquisition depends on normal language experience between approximately 2 and 14 years of age; yet startling contradictory examples, such as Kaspar Hauser in Nuremberg, Germany, who acquired language after the age of 17 years (Simon, 1979) and Genie in California who began to acquire language after the age of approximately 14 years (Curtiss, 1977), cast genuine doubt on the strong form of Lenneberg's hypothesis (see Snow, 1987). That effects of a sensitive period are not fixed need not, however, undermine the notion of the sensitive period, so long as something special for development from that period remains.…”

Section: Modifiabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitive periods in development: Structural characteristics and causal interpretations.

Bornstein

1989

Psychological Bulletin

323

165

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The presence or absence of a particular experience at a particular time in the life cycle may exert an extraordinary and dramatic influence over structure or function well beyond that point in development. Such sensitive periods are thought to be widespread in animal and in human neurobiology and psychology. A comprehensive treatment of the sensitive period needs minimally to include information about its structural characteristics as well as an interpretation of its causes, including why the sensitive period arises in terms of the natural history of the species and how the sensitive period is regulated in terms of physical, physiological, and psychological processes. This article provides a framework for research and theory concerning specific sensitive periods and the sensitive period generally conceived. The framework delimits four sets of parameters, which encompass 14 structural characteristics that define sensitive periods, and two levels of causal interpretation that guide research and theory into sensitive periods however they may be manifested.

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Section: Modifiabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitive periods in development: Structural characteristics and causal interpretations.

Bornstein

1989

Psychological Bulletin

323

165

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“…Instead, they participate as recipients in reading events, then they read aloud with someone else being recipient, and finally they read silently and for themselves‖ (Roth & Jornet, 2017). Tarzan, Kaspar Hauser and similar cases never learned to read on their own (Simon, 1978) In fragment 1, we see the appearance of many turns of reading aloud (turn 02, turn 03, turn 05) from both the student and the teacher. Yet these turns are not understood as individual and separate turns from the teacher or the student alone.…”

Section: Reading Aloudmentioning

confidence: 93%

The social nature of reading poetry: The case of reading haiku for content

Nguyen

2020

JPR

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It is commonly assumed that skills involved in reading poetry, such as decoding and assessing the poem, scanning for details arise in social relations with others, which makes reading social. However, this is social in a weak sense because these new accomplishments result from people working together. Using an alternative theoretical framework based on Vygotsky's later work, in this paper I defend the strong social nature of reading poetry for content through an example of how students (K-4) read haiku, a Japanese form of poetry. I illustrate that this sense of social is not constructed in the minds of individuals in a social setting, but it refers to a relation-a visible and irreducible joint production that develops as transactional features of the organization of turns in the haiku reading event. I demonstrate how reading haiku transforms itself as a what-where-when poem in this community. Understanding that reading poetry is social in this sense, through and through, helps us recognize how this socio-cultural practice keeps (re)producing itself in different cultures.

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“…He was 17 years old, but had the mentality of a child of three, Hauser was re-educated over the next five years, regaining many of the faculties that have been stunted by extreme social and sensory deprivation, to the point where he could communicate verbally although his speech was substandard. 8 The critical period Many feral children are found to be mentally retarded and physically small for their age depending on how young they were when originally abandoned. The nervous system of young children is malleable and depends on experience to shape the behaviour and skills needed for life.…”

Section: Feral Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

A feral family on our doorstep

Loffstadt

Nichol²,

Klerk³

2006

Afr. J. Psych

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A family was discovered living in isolation in the Free State region of South Africa. Certain members of this family, (the mother and three sons and a daughter) displayed primitive and ape-like behaviour, prompting the local and international press to refer to them as a feral family. The affected members of the family are presented as a case study describing how the family became isolated, their response to outside intervention and eventually how the family was "discovered". Clinical presentations are also documented as well as the therapeutic interventions used. After evaluation, the affected members of the family were shown to have various degrees of mental retardation. The words 'feral' and 'neglect' are defined and certain similar documented cases of feral children discovered previously in other regions are mentioned. The etiology of the condition is explored, discussing the effects of the environment on various aspects of neural development in children, especially referring to the lack of neuro-stimulation and other insults to the brain during the critical phase of brain plasticity. Cognitive deficits, poor mastery of language and decrease in brain size are often found in feral children. The role of a child's genetic predisposition and a paucity of environmental stimulation is also explained in the article.

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Kaspar Hauser's recovery and autopsy: A perspective on neurological and sociological requirements for language development

Cited by 8 publications

References 5 publications

Sensitive periods in development: Structural characteristics and causal interpretations.

Sensitive periods in development: Structural characteristics and causal interpretations.

The social nature of reading poetry: The case of reading haiku for content

A feral family on our doorstep

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