Every year, World Hearing Day and International Ear Care Day are commemorated on March 3 and held under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO). The day is dedicated to people who suffer from hearing impairments, have lost the gift of hearing, and also the topic of healthy hearing. On this occasion, we have decided to introduce you to a person known to many deaf people, some of whom have met him in person, the younger ones only by hearing.
Pavol Sabadoš (* June 19, 1922, Trebišov – October 8, 2003, Prešov), speech therapist, a specialist teacher in institutions for deaf in Slovakia, later director of the school for deaf in Prešov, founder of the first speech therapy clinic in Slovakia – in Prešov, participated on the conception and creation of curricula and many textbooks.
He grew up in a large family. He graduated from the Teachers’ Academy in Michalovce in the middle of the war. In 1942 he received his first teaching position in Dubnice nad Váhom. He left for Kremnica after a very short tenure, and under the leadership of the then director Pavel Bysterský. He taught in Kremnica until June 1943. He worked in a 33-member teaching team; headed by Viliam Gaňo. In this environment, he developed a deep relationship with hearing-impaired children.
In 1943 he returned to the east, unfortunately, not as a teacher, but as a soldier, who later took part in the liberation struggles in the area of Žilina – Makov – Kojetín. In 1950 he founded and provided the activities of the first speech therapy clinic in Slovakia. The clinic was at the Institute of National Health for the needs of young people with hearing impairments. He later graduated from the Higher Pedagogical School. In 1960 he graduated from the University of Education in Bratislava, and in 1967 he received a doctorate in philosophy from Charles University in Prague.
Pavol Sabadoš is the author of the Grammatical Construction of the Speech of Deaf Children (1955). He elaborated in detail the teacher’s educational procedure for teaching speech to the deaf and using his own practical experience with deaf students. The State Pedagogical Institute in Bratislava recommended the thesis for all primary schools educating deaf children in Slovakia. He became the director of the State Institute for the Deaf in Prešov after the deaf of Pavel Bysterský (1958).
Pavol Sabadoš has a share in the construction of a special-purpose boarding school for the deaf on Duklianská Street, which began operating after the approval on December 18, 1963. This created the conditions for the systematic work of pupils, teachers, and the school principal. At that time, the nursery school began to use the finger alphabet – dactylotics, as a basis incorporated into a comprehensive education in preparation for the development of speech in the youngest deaf. He developed and deepened the issue of creating and developing speech of deaf students, comprehensive care for hearing-impaired preschool children, and a full-day boarding school.
Speech therapy was a great love of P. Sabadoš. His contribution in this area was mainly working with curious children, for whom he organized holiday courses in Prešov for 18 years. He actively worked in the speech therapy section of the Society for Special and Therapeutic Education.
Pavol Sabadoš collaborated with the SAV (Slovak Academy of Sciences) on the conception of curricula for primary schools for the deaf. He was the author and co-author of monographs, professional studies, articles, compilers, and author of many textbooks. The Museum of Special Education in Levoča has the following publications in its historical, special-pedagogical library fund: Reader for the 3rd year of schools for the deaf (1961), Learning to Speak (1961), Reader for the 7th year of the Secondary School for the Deaf (1967), Practice speech therapy assistant (1971), Proceedings of Speech Therapy in Comprehensive Child Care (1977), Comprehensive Care for a Deaf Child in Preschool Age (1979) and others.
Pavol Sabadoš is the holder of the awards: Exemplary Teacher (1956) and For Excellent Work (1979).
Prepared by: Štefánia Petreková
Sources:
– archive of the Museum of Special Education in Levoča
– https://spojenaskola.info/o-skole/historia-skoly/
– Efeta no. 2/2004, volume XIV., p. 23, ISSN 1335 – 13.