Rejected Applicants for Santa's New Reindeer Position

she didn't abuse or starve him, but she sure focking neglected him. if i were the kid, id grow my talons out and gouge out the mother's eyes.

Simply heartbreaking.

She's definitely mother of the year material

So sad...

Jeez...this is just painful to read. :(

Beat that woman profusely about the head and shoulders please.

hehe.

You don't see the beauty in raising the boy as a bird?
It's almost poetic.

I hope he doesn't jump out the window trying to fly. That would be truly heartbreaking.

Someone should stick the mother in the lion cage at the zoo at feeding time - see how she likes being surrounded by animals.

Other than poor parenting, I wonder if he likes crackers?

I am actually oddly fascinated by the fact that he grew up with the language of the birds and learned how to understand and communicate using it.

Sad though it was to have been at the expense of a normal childhood, it's still something very interesting! And I wonder if it's only the language (vocal and body) that he picked up from the birds. How about eating habits, or the way he walks?

And I think it would be very cool if he never forgot how to do this. That when he grows up after living a life with human interaction et al, he still retains his ability to communicate with birds. I wouldn't mind being able to do that..

Although that it is unusual that his mother never spoke to him at all. Pet owners talk to their pets like they can understand what they're saying! And here she is, not saying a word at all? .. Strange.

But then again, raising your son as a pet bird is already lightyears beyond strange.

I know everyone hates the mother, but has anyone stopped for a moment to think that maybe she was mentally unstable and incapable of caring for a child? I mean you guys wouldn't tell a mentally retarded person how shameful it is that he can't do algebra as well as you all can would you?

It seems like it's more unfortunate that it took so long for authorities to uncover this than anything else.

@ Justin

I know what you mean and it's true, however, it's a big deal when it just happens that a human life is affected by it. Sure, she may have been unstable (or not) but the fact is that one persons action has undoubtedly caused a child to grow up like this. And yes...it's sad that the authorities got to this late as they have but maybe through some extensive psychological treatment and some good human contact this boy can regain a childhood he's lost.

There is the case of the girl (can't remember where from) who grew up among dogs who through some steady treatment was able to live in society again.

Woah. I wish I could speak bird.

How come all of the cases of Mowgli Syndrome I have heard about come out of Russia? Maybe I just haven't heard of enough, but I worry for the society there (and I'm being serious here).

At Ali: He is far past the age of ever fully learning human communication or leading a normal human life ever. Psychologically, there is an integral period of time in which we learn communication skills. This reminds me of the story of Jeanie, who was kept in an enclosed room until found by social workers at a late age. But I also wish he could gain some form of normalcy also.
Unfortunately, psychologists are gonna be all over this poor boy when they (and the police) should be all over his mother.
This whole this bothers me on so many levels.

Ali - Oksana was the girl's name from Ukraine I believe who grew up with alcoholic parents that let her live in the yard with dogs. I think they were able to teach her to speak (you could probably find more on wiki)

Also there was another boy who grew up with dogs in Ukraine, as well as a boy found in the forest in France (I think that was the first documented case, too bad I forgot his name), and then there was this girl from Los Angeles that was horribly abused by her parents and kept in a dark room in a diaper etc until she was 10 or 11.

Yea, I wouldn't worry about Russian society Bonnie, all humans are capable of the same thing.

Odds are that the kid will never be function as a normal human being. I saw a special on the discovery channel or something like that. And there was this case of a girl in the 70's whos father had never allowed anyone to talk to her. And her brain just didnt develop at all. Her body developed physically but she kept the brain of a 8 month old or something like that. Scientist were trying to see if a baby who had never learned to communicate could be taught at a later age. And they learned from her that there is a key point in the cognitive and language development of a child where these bridges have to be built. And if they arent built during that certain time they never will be. So I dont think this child will have much luck. Its really sad though. The mom should be put in jail. I hope he can help aid psychologist and scientist who want to better understand this phenomena.

I think they proved that you can teach someone all the words in the world. And they may be able to remember them. But that putting those words together to form language. Thats something we have to develop early on. And cannot go back and teach. Cuz I remember them teaching the girl tons and tons of new words. And she made so much progress. But ultimately she came to a point where all she could do was learn words. Forming speech and sentences it just didnt happen.

I'm saddened to think he's in an asylum now, likely without his family (yes, birds), but rather surrounded by random loons and the typically cold, insensitive employees. Ruinous intervention. Couldn't it have been enough to install a housekeeper and let this linguistic marvel develope?

The girl living among dogs name is Oxana Malaya

The boy will probably be capable of developing relatively normally - granted he has a handicap of a few years. But the 'language expiration date', the point at which people stop being able to acquire language how they should as a child is puberty. He still has a ways to go and will be able to learn at the very least the basics of human communication. Granted, as children get older, their ability to learn new linguistic capabilities becomes less and less radical. A three year-old can learn something like two hundred words per day. He just won't have had all eight years, but still has three or four. I'm just glad they found him before it was too late; and thank god the mother wasn't crazy enough to beat him or anything.