Helen Keller was also the daughter of a very wealthy family who was able to provide her private tutors. She was not educated in a classroom where the teacher is responsible for many children. And, if you have watched anyold vidoes of Ms. Keller speaking as an adult, you will learn that her speech was very much unintelligible. She normally only made an opening comment or two when making a speach, with the rest being delivered by her interpreter.
Helen Keller was an amazing individual, and she certainly deserves everyone's admiration for her courage and perserverence, but we can't use her as a comparison for the education of deaf students as a group.
I brought up Helen Keller (my post #66) to make a point. Rockdrummer was asking if everyone knows sign language then what is the point of speech? I was trying to show that there was a deaf (and blind) person who want to learn to speak as a challenge. There will be some deaf people who want to see if they can speak as there are some who likes to take on challenges. I didn't want to speak at first because it was forced on me and I was angry about being in no-signs situation. Helen Keller wasn't forced to learn to speak at all. She got the signing right in the beginning although she got her education late.