Wipers stopped working? Dad's Malibu needs your wisdom

Ok so this is kinda of a complicated problem on my pop's 2005 malibu maxx, v6. The wiper controls no longer work

The issue: I guess my pop's battery had been going out, and he had been jump starting it (as opposed to buying a new battery). Anyway.... his mechanic stated that the constant jump starting may have shorted out something in the wiper's electronics.

Soooooooo long story... the mechanic did a mechanical rig of where he attached to the battery to power the wiper motors and that way the wipers moved, however when you try to turn the wiper's on the normal way, it does not work (by the way, he jury-rigged the control using a switch from radio shack and the car nearly burned down, I guess he wires that could not handle the current so that's besides the point). Needless to say, the car no longer has functioning wipers.

No, there are no blown fuses... Does anyone know what I should look for? Perhaps buying a wiper control arm (the one on the steering wheel)? I think we are at this point where we are going to try swapping out parts and see if that fixes it. Maybe the relays (where is that located for the wiper if anyone knows).

I'm pretty comfortable working on cars (at turbo-ed my old eclipse w/ electronics and guages, mods for my 350z, etc...). So I'll do the work, but can anyone help me see what needs to be check? Thank you in advance!