The Story of My Life: With her letters (1887-1901) and a supplementary account of her education, including passages from the reports and letters of her teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, by John Albert MacyKeller, Helen
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The Story of My Life: With her letters (1887-1901) and a supplementary account of her education, including passages from the reports and letters of her teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, by John Albert Macy
Keller, Helen
Deafblind women -- United States -- Biography; Keller, Helen, 1880-1968
She continues to make rapid progress in the acquisition of language
as her experiences increase. While these were few and elementary, her
vocabulary was necessarily limited; but, as she learns more of the world
about her, her judgment grows more accurate, her reasoning powers
grow stronger, more active and subtle, and the language by which she
expresses this intellectual activity gains in fluency and logic.
When traveling she drinks in thought and language. Sitting beside her
in the car, I describe what I see from the window--hills and valleys and
the rivers; cotton-fields and gardens in which strawberries, peaches,
pears, melons, and vegetables are growing; herds of cows and horses
feeding in broad meadows, and flocks of sheep on the hillside; the
cities with their churches and schools, hotels and warehouses, and the
occupations of the busy people. While I am communicating these things,
Helen manifests intense interest; and, in default of words, she
indicates by gestures and pantomime her desire to learn more of her
surroundings and of the great forces which are operating everywhere.
In this way, she learns countless new expressions without any apparent
effort.
From the day when Helen first grasped the idea that all objects have
names, and that these can be communicated by certain movements of the
fingers, I have talked to her exactly as I should have done had she been
able to hear, with only this exception, that I have addressed the words
to her fingers instead of to her ears. Naturally, there was at first
a strong tendency on her part to use only the important words in a
sentence. She would say: "Helen milk." I got the milk to show her that
she had used the correct word; but I did not let her drink it until she
had, with my assistance, made a complete sentence, as "Give Helen some
milk to drink." In these early lessons I encouraged her in the use of
different forms of expression for conveying the same idea. If she was
eating some candy, I said: "Will Helen please give teacher some candy?"
or, "Teacher would like to eat some of Helen's candy," emphasizing the
's. She very soon perceived that the same idea could be expressed in a
great many ways. In two or three months after I began to teach her she
would say: "Helen wants to go to bed," or, "Helen is sleepy, and Helen
will go to bed."
I am constantly asked the question, "How did you teach her the meaning
of words expressive of intellectual and moral qualities?" I believe it
was more through association and repetition than through any explanation
of mine. This is especially true of her earlier lessons, when her
knowledge of language was so slight as to make explanation impossible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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