imagine a million kids like Genie Wiley, the girl who was kept locked up for years and saw little of the outside world till she was 13 years old.
"Genie (born 1957) is the pseudonym of an American feral child who was a victim of severe abuse, neglect, and social isolation. Her circumstances are prominently recorded in the annals of linguistics and abnormal child psychology.[1][2][3] When she was approximately 20 months old, her father began keeping her in a locked room. During this period he almost always strapped her into a child's toilet or bound her in a crib with her arms and legs immobilized, forbade anyone from interacting with her, provided her with almost no stimulation of any kind, and left her severely malnourished.[4][5][6] The extent of her isolation prevented her from being exposed to any significant amount of speech, and she did not acquire language during her childhood as a result. Her abuse came to the attention of Los Angeles child welfare authorities in November 1970, when she was 13 years and 7 months old.[1][4][7]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_(feral_child)