Page 333 - The Story of My Lif

definitions, thinking that, although these may be somewhat vague and

provisional, they will come to one another’s assistance, and that what is obscure
to-day will be plain tomorrow.

I regard my pupil as a free and active being, whose own spontaneous impulses
must be my surest guide. I have always talked to Helen exactly as I would talk to
a seeing and hearing child, and I have insisted that other people should do the

same.

Whenever any one asks me if she will understand this or that word I always
reply: “Never mind whether she understands each separate word of a sentence or

not. She will guess the meanings of the new words from their connection with
others which are already intelligible to her.”

In selecting books for Helen to read, I have never chosen them with reference to
her deafness and blindness. She always reads such books as seeing and hearing
children of her age read and enjoy. Of course, in the beginning it was necessary

that the things described should be familiar and interesting, and the English pure
and simple. I remember distinctly when she first attempted to read a little story.
She had learned the printed letters, and for some time had amused herself by
making simple sentences, using slips on which the words were printed in raised
letters; but these sentences had no special relation to one another. One morning
we caught a mouse, and it occurred to me, with a live mouse and a live cat to
stimulate her interest, that I might arrange some sentences in such a way as to
form a little story, and thus give her a new conception of the use of language.

So I put the following sentences in the frame, and gave it to Helen: “The cat is
on the box. A mouse is in the box. The cat can see the mouse. The cat would like
to eat the mouse. Do not let the cat get the mouse. The cat can have some milk,
and the mouse can have some cake.” The word THE she did not know, and of
course she wished it explained. At that stage of her advancement it would have
been impossible to explain its use, and so I did not try, but moved her finger on
to the next word, which she recognized with a bright smile. Then, as I put her
hand upon puss sitting on the box, she made a little exclamation of surprise, and
the rest of the sentence became perfectly clear to her. When she had read the