What amazing things could Helen Keller do despite being Blind & Deaf?

Who Smarted? - Educational Podcast for Kids

This educational podcast episode explores the remarkable life of Helen Keller, beginning with her early childhood illness that left her blind and deaf at nineteen months old. The narrative

Key takeaways

• Helen Keller lost her sight and hearing at 19 months old due to a likely case of bacterial meningitis in 1881.
• Teacher Anne Sullivan pioneered Helen's education by using finger-spelling, famously triggering a breakthrough at an outdoor water pump.

Main topics

• Early childhood illness & sensory loss
• Anne Sullivan's teaching methods & home education

Notable quotes

Being able to sign words by spelling them with my fingers was life-changing.

Conclusion

The episode delivers an uplifting, age-appropriate historical biography that emphasizes

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) Hey, Smarty Pants, what do you do when you want to wake up at a certain time? Did you say set an alarm clock? Great answer. But what if you were corn growing in a field? I guess you could just check a different corn each day until you get lucky. Or you could just ask an expert. Oh my gosh, it's my friend Elmer from one of my favorite podcasts, The Super Smart Farm Show. What are you doing here? Speaker 3 (0:24) I heard you talking about corn. And you know that I know a whole lot about corn. Speaker 4 (0:30) I do. So what do you say, Elmer? Can you help solve the mystery of how farmers know their corn is ripe? Well, for Speaker 3 (0:37) one thing, you look at the color. You also check if the husk is dried out. And last but not least, you do the thumbnail test. The Speaker 4 (0:45) thumbnail test? What's that? You press a Speaker 3 (0:47) kernel of corn with your thumbnail. If it squirts out something milky and white, that corn is sweet and ready to eat. If it feels more like dough in there, then you need to wait. Next time I visit a farm, you know I'm going to be poking some corn. Just don't do it at the supermarket. That corn is all ripe and ready to go. Got any more kernels for me? Yep, and not just corn. We talk about pretty much anything that's farm-related on the Super Smart Farm Show. Follow the Super Smart Farm Show wherever you're listening to us now. Say, what other foods do you poke? Tomatoes? Lettuce? Spinach? Yeah, just listen and find out. See you on the farm, trusty. Speaker 4 (1:30) And now, it's time for Who Smarted? Speaker 4 (1:37) Today, I'm coming to you from the Emancipation Hall inside the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. As you might know, this is an important place. For one thing, the Capitol is where Congress passes Speaker 3 (1:52) laws Speaker 4 (1:52) affecting the entire country. For another, the Emancipation Hall, located in the Visitor Center, contains statues of great Americans. In order to have a statue here, you have to have done something that had a profound impact on society. True or false, smarty pants? All of the statues in the Emancipation Hall are of adults. If you said true, sorry, you're wrong. In fact, right now, I'm standing before a statue of a seven-year-old girl named... Speaker 2 (2:24) Hello, trustee. Nice to meet you. I'm Helen Keller. Speaker 4 (2:28) Uh... Hi, I didn't realize the statues here talked. Speaker 2 (2:31) Normally they don't. Speaker 4 (2:33) Right, on this podcast, we can make anything talk. Smarty Pants, if you ever go to Emancipation Hall, do not expect the statues to talk to you. But since this is Who Smarted, let's just roll with it. Speaker 2 (2:45) So what were you and the Smarty Pants talking about? Speaker 4 (2:48) Oh, I was telling everyone how impressive it is that someone around their age has a statue at the U.S. Capitol. Speaker 2 (2:55) Not to brag, but my statue is in fact the first statue of a child to be on permanent display in the Capitol. Speaker 4 (3:02) Wow, even more impressive. Now, I know some smarty pants might be wondering, who was Helen Keller? What is she famous for and how did she change the world for the better? To find out the answers to those questions and a whole lot more, join me for another big whiff of science and history on... Who's smarter? Speaker 1 (3:24) Who smarted? Speaker 1 (3:26) Who's smart? Is it you? Is it me? Is it science? Or history? Listen up, everyone. Speaker 4 (3:36) We make smarting Speaker 1 (3:37) lots Speaker 3 (3:38) of fun. Speaker 4 (3:38) Who's smart? Speaker 4 (3:41) We'll be back with more smarting after this quick ad break. Speaker 4 (3:45) Now back to Who Sparted. So Helen, tell us, what was your early life like? Speaker 2 (3:51) When I was really little, I was like many other children. I started walking on my first birthday. Speaker 2 (3:59) But when I was 19 months old, I got very sick. And the sickness I had made me blind. Speaker 4 (4:07) Smarty Pants, as I'm sure you know or remember from our episode on blindness, being blind means you can't see. Speaker 2 (4:14) But that's not all. The sickness also made me deaf. Speaker 4 (4:18) Oh, wow. Smarty Pants, being deaf means you can't what? Did you say here? That's right. So, just like that, at a very young age, you suddenly lost the ability to see and hear? Speaker 2 (4:33) Yeah. It was really scary to not be able to see or hear anymore, since these were the ways I was experiencing the world. Speaker 4 (4:39) And I guess there was nothing that doctors could do to help you? Speaker 2 (4:43) Nope. This was back