She quickly learned the names for the water pump, trellis, and everything else on the way back to the house. When Helen wanted to know Anne's name, she spelled the word 't-e-a-c-h-e-r' on Helen's hand. Soon after this remarkable turn of events, Anne began teaching Helen to read, first with raised letters and later with braille. She also taught Helen to write with regular and braille typewriters.
Michael Anagnos, the director of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, heard about Helen's amazing progress. In promoting her by writing numerous articles, he said that "she is a phenomenon." The articles that he wrote generated much publicity, including pictures of her reading Shakespeare or stroking her dog.
As a result of her fame, Helen visited President Grover Cleveland at the White House. She went back to live at the Perkins Institution, where Anne continued to teach her. In March of 1890 she met Mary Swift Lamson, who would try to teach her to speak over the course of the next year. Unfortunately, her vocal chords had never been properly trained so that her efforts at speech were unsuccessful at this stage of her life. More to come ...
"Death is no more than passing from one room to another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see." - Helen Keller (http://www.brainyquote.com/)
Biographical Information: www.rnib.org.uk/
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