Feral children are defined as adolescents often kept in captivity and separate from normal human interaction, and often are found living in the wild among animals like wolves.

The most popular case, and the one that captured the hearts of Americans nationally, is the story of Genie Wiley. Discovered at the age of nearly 13 in 1970, she walked on all fours due to often being immobilized in a crib and had extremely poor communication skills. The select amount of words or phrases she knew and was able to say were absorbed from her interactions with her parents, Clark and Dorothy Wiley, who only interacted with her the bare minimum amount in order to keep her alive; “stopit”, “nomore” and “no”.

Living in captivity for her entire life as a result of an abusive environment, she was practically a prisoner in her own home. She had been extremely neglected and barely received any human contact. While her case shocked the nation, it also fascinated psychologists as well as linguists. She never officially learned to speak a language, and communicated mainly through nonverbal cues. Once she was discovered and developmental psychologists worked with her she seemed to quickly pick up on basic communication and social skills, making remarkable strides.

However, since she lacked the vital communication and socialization necessary in early development, she was never able to fully assimilate into society. She is still alive at the age of 58/59, but is far from the public eye, living in a mental facility that specializes in underdeveloped individuals like her in Los Angeles. She has learned to speak a bit more and can effectively display her emotions, and is fairly fluent in sign language.