While examples that reinforces a statement can be a powerful tool, a negative example where a reverse example shows how a lack will cause a failure can be an equally powerful tool.  If we theorize that a battery causes a light bulb to light up, a negative example would be the lack of battery resulting in the light bulb not lighting up.  In this section, we will explore the reverse case study of “The Girl in the Window” where the social interactions that Vygotsky argues is essential to a child’s development is, much like the battery, removed.

The debate of whether a child’s development is internal or environmental can be difficult to determine in most children.  This is because it is almost impossible to clearly delineate exactly which factors are influencing the child’s development as they are often intricately intermingled.  However, in the heartbreaking case of Danielle “Dani” Lierow, the principles that Vygotsky argues are fundamental to a child’s development are removed.  In their absence, it is obvious that the lack of a nurturing environment and social interactions in general will indeed impact development.

Dani first came to media notice in 2005 when she was discovered by social services and police living in extreme neglect in a Texas house.  The media named her “The Girl in the Window” because her neighbours saw her face looking out of the window in her house one day.  This was strange because the neighbours knew that a woman lived there with her boyfriend and two adult sons, but no one had ever seen or even realized that a little girl lived in that house until the day she was seen at the window.  When the girl didn’t appear again for months, a call was made to the police reporting potential neglect.   At this time, Dani was 6 years old but developmentally was like a 2 year old.  She was found naked except for a leaking diaper, severely malnourished and appeared to have had no social interactions.

She had no linguistic skills and could not communicate at all, not even through nodding or shaking her head.  She did not have any social skills and she didn’t even know how to play.  Holding a doll or playing peek-a-boo were foreign concepts to her.  As Vygotsky argues, language acquisition and play are both important components for children development and to move their Zone of Proximal Development.

“She had a lot of episodes of great agitation, yelling, flailing her arms, rolling into a fetal position. She’d curl up in a closet, just to be away from everyone. She didn’t know how to climb a slide or swing on a swing. She didn’t want to be touched.”
– Kevin O’Keefe, Dani’s first teacher

Unlike the funny video of the little boy who self-talked after eating too much, lack of language acquisition also prevented Dani from learning how to self-regulate.   Between this lack of self-regulation and her early experience with malnutrition, Dani was extremely food aggressive, eating to the point of vomiting, and forcing her adopted family to lock up any food sources as a means to regulate her food intake.

After Dani was found she was thoroughly examined through medical tests, brain scans, and vision, hearing and genetics checks.  Dr. Kathleen Armstrong, director of pediatric psychology at the University of South Florida medical school, and the first psychologist to examine Danielle said that she found nothing wrong with the child. She wasn’t deaf, wasn’t autistic, had no physical ailments such as cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy.  Armstrong termed Dani’s condition “environmental autism”.

Dani is a poignant negative example of the impact to what could happen to a health, normal child’s development when malnutrition and severe neglect caused the removed important elements of Vygotsky’s social-cultural theory of development from Dani’s early life such as social interactions, guidance of a More Knowledgeable Other (MKO), the importance of play for young children, and opportunities for language acquisition and learning to self-regulate.

 

Watch the video below if you would like to hear more about Dani’s story and how she is nine years after she was rescued from her horrific beginning that forever stunt her development.