Amazing Helen

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
Helen Keller

We have been studying Helen Keller lately. We are all fascinated by her story and all that she accomplished in her life. What an inspiration she is to me!!

Here are some things that really impressed us:

• She became deaf and blind at the age of nineteen months after an illness.
• As a baby, she could recognize people by feeling their clothes.
• In typical toddler fashion, she would explore her world while hanging on to the hem of her mothers skirt.
• The first word she learned was "water" after Anne Sullivan took her to the water pump over and over again, then signing the word in her hand.
• She could understand what people were saying by placing her hand on their lips as they spoke.
• She learned to knead bread dough and milk a cow.
• When she went to college, (can you believe she went to college?) her teacher Anne went with her and tapped the words of the instructors into her hand.
• She learned to speak by placing her thumb on Annes larynx, her index finger on her lips and her middle finger on her nose. See the video HERE. Absolutely astonishing!!!

In our studies about Helen, we decided to learn Braille. So I picked up this little Braille printer at our local educators resource library and the adventure began. Lundi was the first to pick it up. So far she has learned how to read and write about half the alphabet. (Expect a letter in braille, dear sweet niece, M.R.H.) Amazing!!!

KKS