Question

When identifying some of the common aspects of the A and B cases of feral children one trait identified is "Acute Hearing". Explain why having "acute hearing" would have been a benefit to Victor when he was in the wilderness but would have been a negative to his learning once at the deaf school.

Answer 1

Victor was a feral child, feral children are those that grow up without any connect with human socialization. Hence they are a topic of great study to understand development.

Acute hearing is the sense of being able to pick remote sounds well. In the wilderness, this attribute would have been extremely beneficial to Victor, as it would help him in survival tactics. But it would have posed a negative setback in his learning at deaf school, as the language in deaf school is predominantly based on sign language that does not utilize speech but hands and signs as basis for communion. Hearing and speaking are interconnected and due to that it wouldn't have enabled him to pick up sign language as he was not deaf.