Ever feel like you were raised by wolves?

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The story behind this concerns feral children, raised at an early age by animals and subsequently captured and brought to civilization.

The few stories that seem credible describe the impossible (almost?) task of integrating these children into a normal life.

The speculation is these children have passed a certain "learning period" in their lives and now find it impossible to adjust.

Sounds familiar?

I think this "learning period" will eventually be recreated through the use of drugs and electrical synapse stimulation. It will be a while as these experiments are just in their beginning phases.

But the factor I (me personally) worry about is "Desire." Without the desire to change, change will come slow or not at all as any change is rejected as either not needed or as an affront to some other value (survival?) learned during childhood. I hear people say this all the time (each in his/her own words) on WP.

Many have gotten to this point and given up, this seems pretty common and I hate to read it each time, but surprisingly most folks on WP seemed committed to change and learning and won't quit.

Where are you?

I am in the middle of a HUGE change--I started school today as a 3rd year in college at the age of 31. I also moved up to campus yesterday. I was terrified, but every class I have gets a little easier. Still very nervous. I spoke to the dean of students and she is going to help me out because this is a very community-based college.

It took me a very long time to get to this point, not only because of fear of change, but also because I didn't know what I wanted to go to school for and didn't want to throw money away on an unwanted degree. Now I am determined to succeed because I have had it with CS jobs and being other peoples' doormat.

The thing that was the hardest for me was getting support. My husband is wonderful, so do not take my words to mean he is unsupportive, but he was/is worried about money and being away from me for such long periods of time. This meant that for a very long time, we could not talk about his feelings on the subject, which I feel bad about. But him being worried was making me more worried and making me feel like I would fail. Now that I'm actually here and doing it, I think we both are more confident that it will work.

I howl like a wolf in the subways.

Perhaps there is something to your notion

Yes, I was raised by wolves.

I wish I had not "joined civilization."

I wish, profoundly, that I could go back to my "wolf pack."

I was not raised by wolves but I wasn't exactly "raised" by humans either. All I had was a mom and no father and my mom wasn't very social, so it was just the 2 of us. I had to go to after-school care and stuff like that until I was 9, then I just stayed by myself until mom got home.

There was a case a few years back where a little girl was found in a filthy house, she had just been locked away and not allowed to experience the world. She was literally a feral child, the case was called very rare. She was eventually "tamed", sort of, although she never did speak. I don't remember any of the details like names and locations, so I can't google it.

the classical feral children might indeed have been autistic. but i don't buy the "raised by animals" bit; i think that was just speculation from earlier, less informed times.

I was raised by someone with AS. I think I come from an AS family (meaning my extended family are all weird, although NT they behave a lot like aspies). For me, AS is normal and NT is abnormal. I don't think I will ever fully understand "normal" people on more than an intellectual level. Growing up the way I did feels like growing up wild because I don't have any of the normal socialization experiences. I have been isolated most of my life. I have given up. I am waiting for NT's to catch up to me. The way I act will probably be normal when my peers turn 70. They'll be grumpy old curmudgeons like me!

There is a case of a feral child being successfully integrated into society in Africa. The boy went to live in the jungle when he was 3 or 4 because his mom died and his father was abusive. He was adopted by a group of monkeys and survived in the wild for several years. Then he was brought back to civilization and spent the rest of his childhood in orphanages. It took him a long time (years) before he would talk to anybody or interact with others. He is an adult now and makes a living as a musician. He still has some strange mannerisms though, like he sits on all fours using his arms as front legs, kind of like gorillas do. I think I saw a documentary about him on Animal Planet a few months ago.

So, just for conversation's sake, if two people (male and female) were raised in such conditions and had a child, would the child be wild like them?

I actually ask this because of the social education I was unable to give my children when they were growing up; I didn't know I was on the AS until about three years ago (although I knew "something" was there).

People sometimes ask on WP if it would be better to know or not to know. If there will be others in your life I think it would be best to know ASAP.

Just my personal ideas about my particular situation.

I was raised around alot of different people. I'm sure that has helped me in alot of social ways. I was raised by wolves. In sheeps clothing. Trained to be, or put up with a wolf. Only I'm a bear. A bear in wolves clothing. Grrrrrr! .

In response to ZenDen's remarks about growing up with two wild parents, my experience growing up bares out the fact that aspie behavior can be learned by growing up with an AS parent. Although most family members on my mom's side are NT, they learned to act like an aspie from my grandfather (I am assuming). The social rules are different in AS families because aspies communicate differently. I have never seen a family operate like my mom's family. There is no affection, no friends, no socializing outside of one's immediate family. Even relationships within the immediate family are very distant although the bonds are deep. It is hard to explain, but there is a definite pattern of social deficits that come with growing up in an Aspie family, even if you are NT. I wish there were more research on the subject or more people who would come forward and tell their stories.

no affection no friends no small talk distant relationships within the family (like strangers or acquaintances)

I raised by live in babysitters who would lock us in a room and party or whatever. I rarely saw my parents. My father was an abusive alcoholic who beat my mother a lot. For years, they would kidnap us (brothers and sisters) and run away. He actually broke bones. She was an aspie. He was a psychotic jerk. My father isolated us from family members. There were no generations. No grand parents, uncles, cousins. The first time I was with a group of people was when I was suddenly sent to first grade ( did not go to kindergarten). I has a better relationship with my toys than with my parents.

So in my case I was raised by stuffed animals. Maybe one of them was a wolf. I don't remember.