How did helen communicate when she was a child
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Probably the question you're asking is how did Helen Keller learn to communicate in a socially acceptable way. She communicated just fine prior to being able to sign. Unfortunately, it was not socially acceptable.
Her family hired a teacher, Annie Sullivan to help control her. Annie would sign words into her hand when they would encounter various objects. For instance, she would put Helen's hand on grass and sign the letters for grass.
You should read Helen Keller's own description of what it was like when she initially came to the understanding that the signed letters W-A-T-E-R meant the wet stuff flowing on her hand. Helen Keller was one of the most articulate writers of the 20th Century. She can describe it way better than I can
"We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Some one was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten — a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.
I left the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life. That was because I saw everything with the strange, new sight that had come to me."
Her family hired a teacher, Annie Sullivan to help control her. Annie would sign words into her hand when they would encounter various objects. For instance, she would put Helen's hand on grass and sign the letters for grass.
You should read Helen Keller's own description of what it was like when she initially came to the understanding that the signed letters W-A-T-E-R meant the wet stuff flowing on her hand. Helen Keller was one of the most articulate writers of the 20th Century. She can describe it way better than I can
"We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Some one was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten — a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.
I left the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life. That was because I saw everything with the strange, new sight that had come to me."
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