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How Exactly Did Anne

Sullivan Teach Helen
Keller To
Communicate? fp@

Melissa Sartore
3.4k views13 itemsFollowEmbed

The relationship between Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller went

beyond pupil and teacher. It was based in Sullivan's ability to open
up the world for Keller. Deaf, blind, and mute due to a childhood
illness, Helen Keller learned to read, write, and speak through the
tireless efforts of her instructor, friend, and companion, Anne
Sullivan.
Anne Sullivan's teaching philosophy was based on making learning
active, enjoyable, and on going. Through finger-spelling, gestures,
Braille, and vocal training, Sullivan gave Keller the gifts of language,
expression, and liberation. She made the world available to Helen
through her compassion, tireless efforts, and innovative pedagogy.
How exactly did Anne Sullivan bring the previously unavailable
outside world in to Helen Keller? Read on to find out.

Sullivan Knew Education Could

Be A Battle And She Knew
What Being Blind Was Like Too
Photo: TheExplorographer.com/flickr/CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0
Anne Sullivan had to fight for her own education. Born in 1866, Sullivan was
the child of poor, illiterate Irish immigrants in Massachusetts. One of two
children out of five children to make it to adulthood, Sullivan lost her mother
to tuberculosis at the age of 9. Her father was an alcoholic, and, shortly after
her mother's death, Sullivan went to live in Tewksbury Almshouse, a nearby
poorhouse.
In the midst of all this, Sullivan suffered from trachoma, a bacterial infection
of the eyes, and lost most of her sight at age 5. While at Tewksbury with her
brother Jimmie, Sullivan met a disabled woman named Maggie Carroll. When
Jimmie died, Carroll advised Sullivan to accept her station in life, but Sullivan
resolved to find a way out of her circumstances. She had several surgeries
on her eyes, many done at Tewksbury but some done at charitable hospitals,
which similarly increased Sullivan's desire to leave the almshouse.
In the 1870s and 1880s, the state of Massachusetts began investigating
conditions at Tewskbury. When state officials visited the almshouse in 1880s,
Sullivan begged them to let her go to the school for the blind she had heard
about from other tenants. She had never had any schooling, couldn't read or
write, and was desperate to learn. Her pleas were successful and, in 1880,
she was sent to the Perkins School for the Blind.
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Sullivan Learned From Her Own
Disability
Photo: Unknown/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
When Sullivan got to the Perkins School for the Blind in 1880, she had no
educational background, and she was so poor that she'd never had any real
possessions of her own. Most of the other pupils at the school were from
affluent families and teased Sullivan, but she focused on learning and
established close relationships with several of her teachers. Sullivan was
smart and soon caught up intellectually, learning how to communicate as a
blind person, as well as with other students at the school that were both
blind and deaf. She learned finger spelling and palm writing, the latter of
which was an essential tool for Helen Keller.
During her time at Perkins, Anne had several more surgeries and slowly
regained her sight. By the end of 1882, she was able to read print off of a
page. Anne continued to study at Perkins and
graduated as valedictorian of her class in 1886.

Sullivan Worked With Laura

Bridgman, Another Deaf-Blind
Woman, Before Keller
Photo: National Library of Medicine /Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0
Who was Laura Bridgman? Bridgman was Helen Keller before there even was
a Helen Keller.
Laura Bridgman was the first blind and deaf English speaker to learn to
communicate using finger spelling and writing. Bridgman, who lost not only
her sight and hearing but also her sense of smell and most of her sense of
taste due to a childhood case of scarlet fever, went to the school that would
later be the Perkins for the Blind in 1837. Prior to that, she had developed
her own method of using movements to communicate with her family. When
she got to Perkins, she was taught through a series of gestures, hand signs,
and block-writing exercises.
Bridgman learned words as well as spelling through raised print on pages
and, by 1850, had expanded her knowledge to history, philosophy,
mathematics, writing, and geography. She acquired international fame when
her teacher, Samuel Gridley Howe, published a paper on his methods. Howe
and Bridgman caught the attention of intellectuals like Charles Dickens.
When Sullivan went to Perkins in 1880, Bridgman had been there for almost
50 years, with only summer visits to her family home in New Hampshire.
Sullivan and Bridgman became friends, spending a lot of their time together.
Sullivan learned how to communicate with Bridgman, read to her often, and
probably developed a large amount of patience dealing with her demanding
companion.
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Alexander Graham Bell
Recommended Keller To
Sullivan, Kind Of
Photo: Unknown/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0
When Helen Keller took ill with an unknown illness at 19 months, she lost her
hearing and sight. Keller had been an inquisitive and intelligent child and
now, with the inability to communicate, turned into a frustrated and angry
toddler. She tried to grunt, gesture, and make her desires and thoughts
known to her parents through her other senses but often just threw a
tantrum. Keller's parents, Arthur and Kate, were educated, well off, and
desperate to find a way to control Helen, as well as to help her.
Observers told the Kellers that Helen was a lost cause. Family members
encouraged them to institutionalize her. They resisted, and, after Helen's
mother read Charles Dickens's description of Laura Bridgman in his
work American Notes, they were inspired by Bridgman's ability to learn and
had hope for Helen's prospects.
The couple reached out to an doctors, none of whom could help, and they
were eventually referred to Alexander Graham Bell. Bell, who had been
working with deaf children in Washington, D.C., recommended they contact
the Perkins School for the Blind. Arthur Keller wrote to the school, and
they, in turn, sent their star pupil, Anne Sullivan, to work with Helen. Helen
and Bell, whom she considered her benefactor, remained lifelong friends.

Sullivan Didn't Take Any Guff

From Keller
Photo: lovelornpoets/flickr/CC-BY 2.0
Anne Sullivan arrived at the Keller home in Alabama on March 3, 1887,
ushering in what Keller later called her "soul's birthday." The 21-year-old
Sullivan met a defiant, violent, and often abusive seven-year-old child that
day. From the first, Sullivan began spelling words into Keller's hand to identify
them and try to help her understand. Keller, for her part, kicked, screamed,
and threw things because she was frustrated. Additionally, Keller had
become so unruly she had no manners, especially when it came to meals.
In a famous mealtime incident, Keller tried to grab food off Sullivan's plate, a
common occurrence. Sullivan smacked Keller's hand with a spoon
Keller wasn't a fan of utensils, either repeatedly, until Keller stopped trying.
The tantrum that followed was fierce, but Sullivan simply ignored it,
continued with her meal, and outlasted Keller's will.
Sullivan was no stranger to being stubborn, and she used her stubbornness
well. When she was at Perkins, Sullivan had a short temper, didn't conform,
and challenged her peers and teachers alike. This made Keller and Sullivan a
good match. The irony of Sullivan's own defiance was in the obedience she
demanded from Keller.
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Dolls And Water Started The
Whole Educational Progression
Photo: Thaxter P. Spencer/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0
Sullivan employed the methods Laura Bridgman had used along with other
techniques she learned at Perkins. For example, spelled the names of items
into Keller's hand, but Keller remained confused.
Keller recounted her own progression when it came to Sullivan's methods.
Sullivan spelled d-o-l-l into Keller's hand one morning. Keller pretended to
understand, imitating Sullivan and spelling the word back without any
comprehension. When Sullivan tried to spell d-o-l-l with a different toy in
Helen's hand, Helen was furious. She didn't understand how more than one
object could be a doll, threw the toy to the ground, and broke it.

It was water that changed everything. Sullivan spelled w-a-t-e-r into Keller's
hand one day and then placed that same hand into water. Keller immediately
realized that all things had names; she grasped the basics of language and
had a true eureka moment! She wanted to know the names for everything,
and according to Sullivan:

"[by] March 31st I found Helen knew eighteen nouns and three verbs. Here is
a list of the words. Those with a cross after them are words she asked for
herself: Doll, mug, pin, key, dog, hat, cup, box, water, milk, candy, eye (x),
finger (x), toe (x), head (x), cake, baby, mother, sit, stand, walk. On April 1st
she learned the nouns knife, fork, spoon, saucer, tea, papa; bed, and the
verb run."

When Your Eyes And Ears Don't

Work, Use Your Hands
Photo: Blomstrom/flickr/CC-BY 2.0
Keller soaked up words for over 100 objects as well as actions and concepts
within a matter of weeks after Sullivan's breakthrough with water.
Keller wanted to touch everything and to know names. She also wanted to
spell for other people.

According to Keller:
"I did nothing but explore with my hands and learn the name of every object
that I touched; and the more I handled things and learned their names and
uses, the more joyous and confident grew my sense of kinship with the rest
of the world."

As Sullivan continued to work with Keller, the use of hands remained

important for reading, writing, and speaking. Keller used her fingers to learn
Braille and the shapes of letters as well as to touch lips and throats as people
spoke.

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As Part Of The Educational
Process, Sullivan And Keller
Played Outside
Photo: Neal3K/flickr/CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0
Keller's curiosity and desire to learn led Sullivan to abandon the traditional
idea of structured lessons, and the two spent as much time outside as
possible. Keller responded to the sunlight on her face and smelled and
touched flowers, trees, and whatever else she could find.

Keller wrote that she and Sullivan:

"read and studied out of doors, preferring the sunlit woods to the house. All
my early lessons have in them the breath of the woodsthe fine, resinous
odour of pine needles, blended with the perfume of wild grapes. Seated in
the gracious shade of a wild tulip tree, I learned to think that everything has
a lesson and a suggestion."
Keller learned about the struggles of nature as well. One day, she and
Sullivan got stuck in a thunderstorm. Keller, who had climbed a tree, was
trapped as the wind howled and the rain pelted her. Once the storm passed,
Sullivan helped her down, but Keller remained afraid of trees for some time.
She conquered that fear, however, and soon began climbing and playing in
the branches and leaves. According to Keller, through these experiences, she
"learned from life itself."

They Went One Skill And One

Sense At A Time

Photo: OuadiO/flickr/CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0

Keller learned language quickly and was able to take in information well.
Sullivan taught Keller the basics of arithmetic, which Keller didn't particularly
enjoy, as well as botany and zoology.
Keller also began to write. She wrote to the director of the Perkins School, to
family members, and struck up a correspondence with Alexander Graham
Bell. Sullivan had Keller write letters to the students at Perkins, which
demonstrate the rapid progression of her communication skills. The first
letter, written in September 1887, contained passages like "Helen will write
little blind girls a letter Helen and teacher will come to see little blind girls";
while another letter the next month showed dramatic advancement in
sentence construction and comprehension. In October, Keller wrote "I will
write you a letter" and "I and teacher will come to boston and see you."
By 1890, Keller was learning the fundamentals of speech at the Perkins
School. She was determined to practice the sounds she learned by touching
the lips, cheeks, and throats of her instructor, Sarah Fuller. With repetition
and determination, Keller was able to talk to her family on her next visit
home, rendering them silent in awe and pride.
"My eyes fill with tears now as I think how my mother pressed me close to
her, speechless and trembling with delight, taking in every syllable that I
spoke, while little Mildred seized my free hand and kissed it and danced, and
my father expressed his pride and affection in a big silence."

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Sullivan Encouraged Keller To
Talk To Herself
Photo: Unknown/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0
Sullivan couldn't keep up with Keller and, when Keller couldn't find anyone to
talk to, she talked to herself. According to Sullivan,
"she begins to spell the minute she wakes up in the morning, and continues
all day long. If I refuse to talk to her, she spells into her own hand, and
apparently carries on the liveliest conversation with herself."

Sullivan was careful to not let Keller withdraw into herself, but the practice
became so ingrained in Keller that she grew to do it without even realizing it.

Sullivan And Keller Took Trips

And Made Friends
Photo: Wellcome Images/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0
Sullivan and Keller made their first trip to the Perkins School in Boston in
1888, but they had already gone on numerous visits to see members of
Keller's family in Tennessee before that because Sullivan encouraged
Keller's parents to allow her to experience the world. The visit to the Perkins
School enabled Keller to interact with other blind and deaf children, and
Keller began to spend her winters at the school. This lasted until 1892 when
the poem "The Frost King" that Keller wrote came under scrutiny for
plagiarism. She and Sullivan left Perkins, never to return as student or
teacher.
At the time, Sullivan and Keller were becoming well known thanks to a
newspaper article by Alexander Graham Bell and were invited to Washington,
D.C., for the opening of his Volta Bureau for deaf research in 1887. They
returned the following year, and Bell accompanied them when they
met President Grover Cleveland in May 1888.
Keller soon began to receive the majority of the attention but both she and
Sullivan met Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, who later
described the latter as "the miracle worker." Much like her relationship with
Bell, Keller and Twain struck up a friendship that lasted years.
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Sullivan Was Extremely Patient

And In It For The Long Haul
Photo: Whitman, Chelsea, Mass./WikiMedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0
Sullivan used repetition, made learning fun, kept Keller in line, and was
dedicated to her pupil. She worked with Keller for years, even accompanying
her to Radcliffe College in 1900. Sullivan attended all of Keller's classes,
spelling to her through lectures and translating her textbooks that were not
in Braille for her, too. Keller explained the difficulties for both her and
Sullivan, especially when it came to the study of Latin, German, and
history. It was exhausting for Sulliver, and her own vision suffered, but Keller
graduated with a Bachelor's degree in 1904.
After Kellers graduation, she and Sullivan moved to a farm in Wrentham,
Massachusetts, where Sullivan met John Albert Macy. She and Macy were
married in 1905 and continued to work with Keller despite her failing health.
In 1914, Polly Thompson was hired as Keller's secretary, and, after Sullivan's
death in 1936, Thompson became Helen's companion.

Sullivan Gave Keller The Tools To

Keep Learning And Sharing
Photo: U.S. Embassy New Delhi/flickr/CC-BY-ND 2.0
Keller never stopped learning thanks to the education Sullivan provided.
Keller's ability to communicate led to worldwide notoriety, as well as a career
as an author, poet, and public speaker. She became an advocate for blind
and deaf individuals and for humanitarianism as a whole.
In her autobiography, Keller attributes her love of learning and life to
Sullivan and describes the two as inseparable.

"It was my teacher's genius, her quick sympathy, her loving tact which made
the first years of my education so beautiful...how much of my delight in all
beautiful things is innate, and how much is due to her influence, I can never
tell...all the best of me belongs to herthere is not a talent, or an aspiration
or a joy in me that has not been awakened by her loving touch."