Human Growth and Development / Unit 3 HGD 0372 review, 2 to 3 minutes
The Romanian Orphans
The idea
Under Nicolae Ceauşescu, Romania's orphanages held many children in conditions of severe neglect. The consequences showed in language: many children could not produce intelligible words by two and a half. When some of the children were moved into foster care that used evidence-based intervention, their language improved substantially. The case bears directly on sensitive periods. It shows how profoundly early deprivation can restrict development, and it also shows recovery once care improves. The same pattern appears in vision: infants born with cataracts see detail much better if the cataracts are removed soon after birth, because early visual input shapes the developing visual system. Deprivation of the senses or of social interaction, early in life, is the kind of extreme and specific adversity that earlier entries described as able to restrict development severely.
In practice
Two columns for the same children: at two and a half, few intelligible words in the orphanage; after placement with trained foster families, substantial gains. Beside them, an infant whose cataracts are removed early and one whose are removed late.
Where people slip
Two readings pull in opposite directions, and each has something right. The first treats early deprivation as permanent damage, a door closed for good; it ignores the substantial gains the children made after they were moved. The second treats recovery as complete, as if the early years did not matter; it ignores how far behind the children were at the start. The course holds both halves: early neglect restricts development severely, and improved care produces real recovery. That combination, severe early harm and real later gains, fits a sensitive period better than a critical one. The exam lists this topic under sensory deprivation.
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