Helen Keller is an example of a well-known member of the Deaf community, though she was also blind. As a child, Helen developed her own version of home signing that allowed her to communicate a little bit with her family, but eventually her parents hired a teacher (Annie Sullivan) to teach her sign language. Conduct 5-10 minutes of research about how Sullivan was able to successfully teach Keller to sign. What obstacles do you think they faced as Keller was learning to sign without the benefit of being able to see what Sullivan was teaching her
ANSWER
Annie Sullivan was able to teach Helen Keller by spelling out the words that was pronounced in the hands of Keller.
- Helen Keller lost her sight when she was only nineteen months old. She used home sign in communicating till she eventually met with with Sullivan when she was seven years old.
- Sullivan was appointed as her teacher. Sullivan helped her as she taught her the alphabets and vocabulary by spelling out the words in her palms and relating the words spelt to the objects that were around them.
- This worked for Helen Keller as she was able to learn some words, Braille system and the multiplication table.
