The importance of having a medium to communicate

Helen Keller became deaf, blind and speechless after a stroke at the age of 19 months. Deprived from a mean to express herself, she underwent anxiety attacks her parents had difficulties dealing with until her educator, Anne Sullivan arrived. She will indeed re-teach her language via the sense of touch. The citation below from Helen Keller's auto-biography shows how she rediscovered language: "We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honey-suckle with which it was covered. Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten, a thrill of returning thought, and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that "w-a- t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. (...) Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought." Keller (1902), p.15-16.