Anne Sullivan begins teaching Helen Keller

Background. Helen Keller was born in West Tuscumbia, Alabama, and lost her sight and hearing after an illness at 19 months old. She communicated primarily through home signs until age seven. In 1886, Keller's mother, inspired by Charles Dickens's account of Laura Bridgman's education in American Notes, dispatched Keller and her father to consult physician J. Julian Chisholm in Baltimore. Chisholm referred the family to Alexander Graham Bell, who advised contacting the Perkins Institute for the Blind. Its director, Michael Anagnos, asked Anne Sullivan, a 20-year-old visually impaired alumna, to become Keller's instructor.

Arrival and Commencement. The Sullivan article states that Sullivan began her work at the Kellers' home in Alabama on March 3, 1887. The Keller article states that she arrived at Keller's house on March 5, 1887, a day Keller remembered as "my soul's birthday." The two passages describe related but distinct dates: the start of work and the arrival. Upon arrival, Sullivan immediately began teaching Keller to communicate by spelling words into her hand, beginning with "d-o-l-l" for a doll she had brought as a present. This marked the start of a nearly 50-year relationship.

Early Communication. Prior to Sullivan's arrival, Keller communicated primarily through home signs until age seven. Sullivan's method involved spelling words into Keller's hand. The text notes that Keller later realized the motions on her palm symbolized 'water' when cool water was run over her other hand, though this specific breakthrough occurred the following month.