3. Helen Keller's first attempts at sign language were what she called ""monkey-like imitations."" Explain how her change from mimicking words to understanding them affected her relationship to the world around her.

Answer: As told by Helen Keller herself in "The Story of My Life", her teacher, Anne Sullivan, had given her a doll from the Perkins Institution, and slowly signed the word, "doll". Hellen was able to copy the sign movement, but didn't understand the meaning of it, what she describes as making "monkey-like imitations".

Explanation:

It was only when Anne put Helen's hand into the water while signing the word water that, suddenly, Helen understood the magic of language, and knew that the thing going across her hand, was water. Hellen discovered that everything had a name, she learned many words that day and for the very first time, in her own words, she "longed for a new day to come."