More and more people are going to the speech therapist. In the words of the speech therapist Maider Egino Sagasta, the awareness of people, the denomination of diseases or problems and the awareness about the profession are some of the reasons: “We no longer say ‘my daughter is lazy and nothing else’. Now we name the fact and try to solve it.”

Speech therapy mainly works in two areas. Educational: pronunciation, linguistic delay, bad pronunciation of letters, reading, writing... And clinical: voice, tongue location, brain damage, stroke, Alzheimer's, embolism... If in all these situations there was a linguistic problem, we would work with a speech therapist. He added that problems can be detected by oneself or any other: “Neurologists, pediatricians, dentists, otorrins, teachers, counselors and parents play a fundamental role in this. Fortunately, more and more account is taken of it.”

Awareness and work

He has also explained to us that they are fighting for recognition and for work in the face of ignorance, because when the origins of the problems are “inadequate”, the solution will not be known. “Wearing the dental apparatus for three years is of no use, because if the placement of the tongue is not correct and you do not work, the teeth would move again; the problem would not be solved,” says Arrasate’s speech therapist. “The origin of pronouncing evil can be mucus. Mocos close their ears and worsen the quality of listening. As we say what we hear, it will lead us to pronounce badly. Washing your nose is very important.” To do this, he recommends diving.

He has acknowledged that other pronunciation problems can be purely aesthetic and that each one decides to work or not: “If by speaking we mix the letters and it only influences the pronunciation, we can decide not to work them, but if we write as we have said, a second problem arises: that of writing.” As Egino explains, there are people who turn to him to correct the letter ‘R’ and there are those who want to learn to say ‘R bad’”.

Need to work at home

Sometimes the problem is completely solved, in others communication skills can be developed, but sometimes, Egino has recognized that it will be impossible to completely overcome it, as in the case of Alzheimer's: “In the long run, we know you’ll forget to talk, but it’s something that will work along the way.” He added that, on many occasions, when it is taken for granted, it is not given importance.

In the field of education, on the other hand, there are many who approach the speech therapist to overcome the course, directed by their parents. However, Egino states that the problems are not only solved in the two weekly hours of speech therapy. “Everyone has to work at home. The day is 24 hours, breathing 24 hours.”