A “Feral Child” Found in Florida?
August 4, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
In 2005, a girl named Danielle was found amid the most literal squalor and neglect. She weighed 46 pounds and was malnourished and anemic, and was taken from the rented house where she lived with her mother, her mother’s boyfriend, and older brothers. She was first placed in a group home, and then–8 years old and non-verbal and needing a lot of care—adopted by Bernie and Diane Lierow. An extensive report by the St. Petersburg Time describes Danielle as a “feral child,” a term once used to describe children in previous centuries who may, or may not have been, autistic. Danielle has been diagnosed with “environmental autism” and is making slow progress living her new family. Here is more coverage of her story which, in its account of shocking abuse and neglect, adoption and hope, recalls the sometimes harrowing and passionate account of adopting an abused, autistic, and non-verbal boy in Reasonable People by Ralph Savarese.
Hoping that there’s much learning and much love ahead for Danielle.
Amazing. Thank you for posting this.
xo
what is considered “environmental autism”?
I completely understand that autism is not something you grow out of and that progress can be made, but for the rest of your life, you more or less still have whatever degree of autism.
I’m asking about this environmental autism because my daughter seems to be slowly progressing and growing out of the emotional, social and communication delays that brought on an autism diagnosis. We are currently doing nothing – no ot, speech, physical therapy, medications, etc. There are still quite a bit of sensory issues, hypotonia and some lingering communication, emotional and social challenges, but they are getting so minor that I am even having a hard time really noticing them for the most part. I’ve been starting to question myself and what we have observed in our daughter this first few years of her life and wondering “can/will she grow out of this?”
Can you have sensory (w/ severe eating/sleeping issues), emotional, social and communication delays/differences and NOT have it be autism?
I swear I’m not in denial but so many people question me about my daughter and whether or not she “truly” has autism because they just don’t see it. Granted, it’s only after a few minutes of observation, but still…
About your post and this story of Danielle – it’s wonderful to hear how well she’s doing and so glad she’s found a family that will love her in every way she deserves!
@Laura,
I think (I think) that the article is referring to something different from “Kanner’s autism”—-environmental autism being caused by a child being in a human/social environment that does not exactly nurture her development (understatement; really made me pause to read about the condition she was found in). The example of Romanian orphans who are diagnosed with “institutional autism” comes to mind—-their symptoms are traceable to being in an “environment” lacking in social and human contact, and much more.
Thanks for raising this questions—
Can you have sensory (w/ severe eating/sleeping issues), emotional, social and communication delays/differences and NOT have it be autism?
—I think one can—-I’ve heard from many people about a child with but (as they say) definitely not autism. Sensory issues do seem to be something that many people report in their children and that I’ve autistic adults describing, but they are not part of the diagnostic criteria for autism.
Social deprivation does produce physiological changes and behavioral changes that mimic the behaviors and physiology of autism. This can’t be done in humans, but in monkeys that were deprived of social contact from birth they exhibited behaviors that the experimenters called “autistic”, including rocking, self-injury, profound withdrawal, profound vulnerability to abuse by socially adapted monkeys (NTs if you will), so much so that the NT monkeys would have killed the socially deprived monkeys had the experimenters not intervened.
This was Harlow’s work in the late 1950s and 1960s.
These socially deprived monkeys exhibited superior cognitive abilities in some non-social tasks.
I think this is the normal trade-off along the autism spectrum, theory of mind for theory of reality. If you have no social interaction, the brain develops along a theory of reality trajectory. It makes sense, why let that brain space and neural tissue go to waste. Use it for something.
I will be blogging about this soon.
Slightly tangential but might be of interest
THIS AMERICAN LIFE
Episode 317: Unconditional Love
08.31.2007
Prologue:
Hard as it is to believe, during the early Twentieth Century, a whole school of mental health professionals decided that unconditional love was a terrible thing to give a child. The government printed pamphlets warning mothers against the dangers of holding their kids. The head of the American Psychological Association and even a mothers’ organization endorsed the position that mothers were dangerous—until psychologist Harry Harlow set out to prove them wrong, through a series of experiments with monkeys. Host Ira Glass talks with Deborah Blum, author of Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection. (10 minutes)
Act 1: Act One. Love Is a Battlefield.
Alix Spiegel tells the story of a couple, Heidi and Rick Solomon, who adopt a son who was raised in terrible circumstances in a Romanian orphanage, unable to feel attachments to anyone…and what they do about it. (27 minutes)
Act Two. Hit Me with Your Best Shot.
Dave Royko talks about the decision he and his wife faced recently about his autistic son’s future, and whether he should continue to live with the family. (19 minutes)
Ok. I just finished reading the story of Danielle you linked to – oh my goodness. That poor child. I couldn’t even read through all of the descriptions of the condition in which she was found as it was making me physically sick.
I thought it was interesting (sadly so) to read the part of the interview where her birth mother speaks about Danielle’s background. It made me think about the cycle of child abuse. As a child of abuse, I had a choice to make with my own children about how to stop that cycle. But I had resources, education, an understanding and support system. I wonder how much of that Michelle had and also, Danielle’s birth family has a history of disabilities or learning challenges. If a typically developing child can perpetuate the cycle of abuse, I wonder what happens if a child with special needs is neglected to a point where as an adult they have no understanding of how to truly take care of themselves (self help/life skills) or anyone else, thus the neglect like you see with Danielle. I’m not blaming this on special needs at all. However, it did make me wonder what happens to children with disabilities who are abused and then go on to have kids of their own. They would be just as likely to perpetuate the abuse/lack of life skills understanding as a typical child would (minus – usually – the lack of life/self help skills). I wonder what kind of parents Michelle had and what kind of environment she was raised in.
My daughter certainly doesn’t have this same type of “environmental autism” now that I’ve read through the newspaper story. We used to say though that her behavior made it seem like she was adopted from an orphanage and how hard it seemed we had to work at growing a connection between us (at 3.5, it’s finally there – though she still doesn’t say I love you or offer any affection).
Is there any harm in my daughter carrying an autism diagnosis if that’s not truly what she has? Should she carry a sensory diagnosis, with a hypotonia diagnosis and a sleeping disorder and a speech disorder and some kind of social and emotional disorder with an anxiety disorder? I get frustrated by not knowing whether the “label” is a good thing or a bad thing – any of the labels. Autism sums it up well and quickly for me and it helps guide my direction in knowing how to understand my daughter. But I wonder a lot lately if it really is autism or something else (maybe something along the lines of what all these “recovered” kids have/had and the treatment the parents did only acted along side the progress the child would have naturally made?) Does any of this matter really in the long run or do people care deeply about the labels or diagnosis one carries around if they aren’t appropriate or accurate? She isn’t in therapy either way (as therapy seems to either not help or make things worse – is that weird?) I know this is a side topic to your post and I didn’t mean to hijack it – sorry!!
@Regan, I’m putting in a vote for unconditional love!
@Laura,
Thanks for sharing all that, about your own past and about your daughter—–and none of this is off topic or a side topic, really! You wrote—
Autism sums it up well and quickly for me and it helps guide my direction in knowing how to understand my daughter
I think if the label is, at this time, helping you understand your daughter and also figure out how to best help her, it’s (at this time) good and the right thing. I tend to veer on the pragmatic side and see a label as a means to help my son get the services available for that label; as time has passed, diagnoses like “autism” and “autism spectrum” have not seemed the overarching, defining words they did at the beginning. I used to see a term such as “sensory processing” as, sometimes, things to say my son didn’t have—as if the autism diagnosis was “enough” and why worry about more—but now I think that it’s more helpful to think about emotional disorder, speech disorder, and see how these might help explain my son (if that makes sense).
Sounds like daughter is doing well, despite all the talk (or not!) of disorders and diagnoses?
@Kristina,
We know it’s more than “just” sensory challenges – there are some definite social/anxiety and communication challenges with some delay in emotional expression. Is it autism? I guess there’s plenty of people that will debate that to my face, behind my back, etc. I feel as you do, as long as my daughter is thriving – if she’s healthy and happy and what we’re doing is working and helping us help her, I guess I don’t mind what it’s called (or not called) by other people. She is doing very, very well. She’s been out of all therapies and treatment for seven months and she’s done nothing but grow and learn and progress. She’s a brave and persistent child and her stubborn, fiercely independent nature certainly helps her along.
Thanks for letting me veer a little off topic.
“I think (I think) that the article is referring to something different from “Kanner’s autism”—-environmental autism being caused by a child being in a human/social environment that does not exactly nurture her development”
The romanian orphans who suffered severe emotional neglect are not different than ‘Kanner autism’ as you implied. These children were all diagnosed using ‘Gold Standard’ diagnostic tools including ARI-R and ADOS-R all of which are based on DSM-IV and ICD-10 diagnostic criteria. The authors state that while they obviously meet all diagnostic criteria for ‘autism’ there must be something undefineably different about these children since they do not fit the widespread belief in behavioral genetics as the sole answer for understanding the mechanics of autism etiolgy.
In fact, what should be questioned is the validity of the so-called Gold Standard diagnostic tools that would confer an ASD label on children as diverse as Romanian orphans and mentally retarded Fragile X boys, or adults who were diagnosed with a pragmatic language disorder decades ago but who now meet diagnostic criteria using the same Gold Standard diagnostic tools eg ADOS-G.
One has to seriously question whether the ‘Gold Standard’ diagnostic tools currently in place should be more accurately described as ‘Fool’s Gold’ diagnostic tools.
This is very reminiscent of the story of Genie, who was discovered in 1970
http://www.feralchildren.com/en/showchild.php?ch=genie
“Genie (not Jeanie, Geanie, Jeannie or Geannie and, in any case, not her real name) is a modern-day “wild child” who, until discovery at the age of 13, had lived in a state of severe sensory and social deprivation. Strapped to a potty-chair in her home in Temple City, Los Angeles, California, Genie wasn’t taught to speak, and was denied normal human interaction. “
The one thing the story doesn’t talk about much is that the adult(s) in the house were also living in subhuman conditions. They were living in a garbage fill basically. I wonder if they were also examined psychologically because it is different from other cases of neglect where the parents are living somewhat of a normal life while the child is locked away or unattended.
Laura,
I can relate to what you’re expressing about your daughter. My son is autistic and has progressed very well with limited therapy. He’s improving because, in my opinon, he’s growing up. All children grow and learn. I believe that even if he does grow to the point of being ‘normal acting’ he will still be autistic. But instead of being an autistic child he’ll be an autistic adult. Autism is a diagnosis of developmental delay, not developmental stasis. ( I really can’t remember who said that first, it was a great blog I read sporatically, was it Prometheus??? anybody know??)
Danielle is safe…at last. May she continue to receive the love and safety that is every child’s due.
Okay, I haven’t finished all the comments… Laura, many people, including my son’s pediatrician, didn’t think he looked autistic. My son’s pediatrician said this as he was hugging him. At the time, the pediatrician saw a severely ADHD child with language difficulties; as my son’s gotten older (and the pediatrician has refreshed his knowledge) he’s realized my son is autistic, especially after a quite calm visit. Often they are basing this judgment on a stereotypical view of autism, or a 20yr old view of autism, or a classic/Kanners or Aspergers view of autism. My son falls under PDD-NOS. Which is NOT a ’slight’ case of autism, as some news reports would have you think, nor is it a ’severe’ case of autism, as some informational paperwork I received from one of my son’s schools would have me think (that piece of paperwork was very depressing). PDD-NOS means ‘is autistic, but can’t really be categorized’. Which means it means a lot of things. However, they often don’t provide a PDD-NOS diagnosis as some insurances won’t cover services for that while they will cover if it just says autism spectrum disorder. So just because your daughter doesn’t look autistic to some people, doesn’t mean she isn’t.
That said, if she isn’t autistic, but the label gets her the services she needs through the schools? It’s a good thing.
One thing that bugs me about this feral child thing… I took a linguistics class. The instructor explained there are whole cultures that do not converse with children until the children can hold a conversation. Those children learn language. I’m inclined to think this ‘feral’ child had special needs before she was grossly abused and neglected and the abuse and neglect made them worse. I also agree with the comment that the mother has her own issues and was probably once a victim herself. The fact that she had no idea of any services her daughter should have been able to get, is a strong, strong indicator. She could have been flat out lying about schools not taking her, though. But schools HAVE to.
It also kind of pisses me off though, because it’s stories like this that make people think my son is neglected on first glance. With exception to her aversion to touch, and the fact that he does smile, an awful lot, actually, he does a lot of the same things she does… (it doesn’t help though, that he’s tall for his age and they tend to think he’s older than his 5 years, especially because I’m not tall, and he’s got a horrible callous on his hand from biting it… that looks like a burn… and I tend not to freak out about him mouthing things that aren’t going to hurt him… because I’ve given up on that battle, it wasn’t worth the stress…).