“We must climb a long ladder of gradual goals, each of which leads to victory over your speech problem.” Van Riper
Today, July 5, 2023, 21 years have passed since the death of the leading Slovak speech therapist Želmíra Kontúrová. The memory of this charismatic lady and mother of 3 children is still alive. As she herself said: “Maybe it was the children who inspired me to further expand my pedagogical education.”
She was born on January 24, 1924 in Dolná Štubňa, Martin district and died on July 5, 2002 in Žilina.
”Why did Želmíra Kontúrová decide to devote her entire life to speech therapy? She wanted to help develop proper speech development, eliminate speech disorders and errors that had already occurred, but especially to methodically guide teachers, speech therapist assistants, and especially people with impaired communication skills and hearing impairments.
Želmíra Kontúrová, a graduated district and regional speech therapist, was one of those rare individuals who found meaning in her work and dedicated her life to speech therapy care.
After graduating from the Real Gymnasium in Martin, she attended the Teachers’ Academy in Turčianske Teplice and the Faculty of Pedagogy at Comenius University in Bratislava. She then continued her studies at the Faculty of Pedagogy at Comenius University in Trnava, where she earned her degree in defectology with a focus on speech therapy. Her connection to this field was further enhanced by her work with renowned special educators in Slovakia, including J. Tinka, the regional speech therapist in Žilina, and Professor Miloš Sovák in Prague. She completed a several-month internship at the Phoniatric Clinic under their guidance.
She began her active career in speech therapy in 1957 in Žilina. From that point on, speech therapy became her passion until the end of her professional journey. In the Žilina district, she organized and managed speech therapy services, provided professional and methodological guidance to speech therapy assistants, and established speech therapy clinics. Notably, she played a pivotal role in founding the first speech therapy clinic in the Central Slovak Region, one of the first in all of Slovakia. Her professional activities in speech therapy included a focus on:
- Preventive care – screenings in kindergartens and elementary schools, educational activities of health workers;
- Outpatient and exercise therapy, combined with psychotherapy in speech therapy clinics;
- Exercise therapy combined with psychotherapy in hospitalized patients.
She utilized her knowledge to assist elementary students preparing for positions as speech therapy assistants. She lectured at speech therapy courses for students in the Faculty of Education at Banská Bystrica, specifically within the Department of Otorhinolaryngology. Additionally, she participated in national congresses of the Slovak Medical Society and various speech therapy conferences. She prepared practical demonstrations for sound correction, made methodologies available, and conducted seminars for psychologists, principals, and teachers in special education. Moreover, she delivered preventive lectures for parents, engaged in professional research, and presented her findings at Phoniatric Congresses and speech therapy conferences. Her methods were adopted as exemplary in many districts across Slovakia.
Želmíra Kontúrová was an active member of the Slovak Committee of the Phoniatric Section, one of the founding members of the Speech Therapy Section of the Slovak ENT Society, and a member of the Advisory Board for Children Requiring Special Care. She actively helped organize treatment and educational courses for stuttering pupils and students from all over Slovakia under the auspices of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic.
May 12, 1965 was particularly special for her, when she won the 2nd prize in the Slovak round of the 12th grade of pedagogical reading for her work: Speech therapy – a preventive component of health care in elementary schools, primary schools, kindergartens.
Želmíra Kontúrová’s publishing activities:
In the years 1960 – 1990, she wrote more than 63 professional articles, studies, and papers published in Slovak professional periodicals. I will mention at least some: Special Pedagogy, Issues of Defectology, Health, Psychology, Comenius, EuroRehab, and others. The most important undoubtedly include Concepts of Speech Therapy Care in Healthcare in 1979 (co-author), then Review of the work of J. Dvončová, V. Nádvorníková: Phonetics and Methodology of Mispronunciation, 1976; Speech Therapy Proceedings – Lack of Emotional Education – a Hindering Factor in Speech Development, Specific Factors of Delayed Speech Development in the Žilina District, 20 Years of Speech Therapy Development in the Žilina District, etc.
In 1978, she received Honorable Mention for her dedicated work in speech therapy in Slovakia.
She was, and always will be, a kind, gentle, and modest person. This is evident in her own statement in the autobiography. She said, “You made me very embarrassed. I never had time to record when, where, and what was done or written because, in this fast-paced life filled with work and worries about a large family, a person often does not have time to take care of themselves. Throughout my practical work, I trained dozens of speech therapy assistants and a significant number of speech therapists, whose work I am proud of. I am pleased to know that when I leave, they will take my place and continue the good traditions I established at the Primary School of Speech Therapy in Žilina.”
An active balance will always remain after a person for whom work becomes not a job, but a calling, who ignites others, and passes on practical skills of the field she fell in love with.
Mgr. Želmíra Kontúrová is true proof of this. She thought and felt with her heart.
References:
Documentary materials of the Museum of Special Education in Levoča
Baláž, Jozef: After speech therapist Mgr. Želmíra Kontúrová. Magazine Efeta, otvor sa, no. 2, year 2005, volume XV, ISSN 1335–1397.
Tinajová, Oľga: On the path to knowledge (on the occasion of Želmíra Kontúrová’s unlived 85th birthday) – archive of the Museum of Special Education in Levoča.
Author: Mgr. Štefánia Petreková