The story of the "twins who made their own language" made the national newspapers in 1978 and was included in an edition of the "People's Almanac". Many speech and hearing experts and psychiatrists offered speculation as to why, in contrast to most idioglossic twins, the girls had failed to pick up English. Alexa Kratze pointed out that the girls had had very little contact with anyone outside their family and that contact within the family had been minimal at best, factors that contributed to the girls' developmental disability.