Feral Children- Discuss

[PWNED]

Ok, In Psychology recently I have been learning about early childhood development and one of the things that I'm currently looking at is Feral Children. They're children that have lived on their own for many years after being going missing/ being abandoned as a child.

For more info just click [URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_children]here[/URL]

Personally I find it a really interesting topic to cover and I started this topic to ask about your thoughts and opinions on Feral Children.

[Retribution]

[size=1]Well, I read a short story on them, and I've heard things about them. I believe (if I'm not mistaken) they become feral when they don't have human interaction that others have. It goes to show how primal and animalistic humans really are beneath the facade of civilization.

And of course feral children are absolutely tragic -- they can never become functioning members of society. They missed out of essential human interaction during their formative years and cannot express themselves through language. They had no one to discipline them, to say that "Biting is bad!" or whatever.

Annnd... that's about it...[/size]

[The13thMan]

[FONT=Century Gothic] [COLOR=DarkOrange]I betya you would never guess that i'm feral.

Well, if you would guess that then i'd say you're absolutely crazy.

I've never heard of a feral child but after reading Retribution's post i got the idea of the man raised by wolves. All i can say to that is that it really is sad and interesting.

I've always thought that environment is what ultimately determines who the person will grow up to be. This only further proves my point.

Later.
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[PWNED]

Well, personally the whole Feral Child buisness gives rise to the Nature vs Nurture argument. I'm not absolutely sure since i'm only in year 11 Psych but Speech is a function that we must learn when we are young, otherwise we may never master it for years to come. The thing is, I have no idea whether acting like an animal is within our nature or if we have to be taught it also.

Quite an interesting conversation piece though, wouldn't you say.

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[color=#9933ff][font=lucida handwriting]That's actually very interesting.

I've been considering taking child psychology off and on recently. Though I think I lack the funds and the time to actually persue it as a career.

This article is both interesting and disturbing, it makes me wonder where child welfare services are in the US that allow guardians to do that to children and as for the rest of the world how this can suddenly happen.

I saw that the article gave links to both real and fictional cases as well.

And now I can't think of anything else intelligent to say.[/color][/font]

[kalon]

I have seen a little about this subject before. There was a little kid, about eight, who had been abandoned and taken in by a pack of dogs. The kid communicated with the dogs, and the dogs brought him food. When they found him, it was too late for the brain to properly develop. You need to be introduced to human speech patterns for a long time when you are very young to have a fully functioning mind. You learn from example. The brain can shrink if you are deprived of stimulation. On a side note, babies that are deprived of touch, cuddling, and holding can't develop properly, either.

[Retribution]

[quote name='PWNED']Quite an interesting conversation piece though, wouldn't you say.[/quote]
[size=1]I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. If you're not, you must be crazy. There's really not too much to say on the subject except "Oh, how terrible" and then list off some relatively pointless information about brain development.

Does anyone have any like ... stories involving feral children? I think that'd be more interesting.[/size]

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[quote name='silver_blade']On a side note, babies that are deprived of touch, cuddling, and holding can't develop properly, either.[/quote]

[color=#9933ff][font=lucida handwriting]Yeah, I heard about that. If I'm remembering correctly they did a study on that in Nazi Germany. Big surprise there.

Also my pediatrician- the first one Abby had (So she wasn't really mine) mentioned that to both my ex husband and I. Guess who listened.[/color][/font]