ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF SPEECH THERAPY SUPPORT: FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE BEGINNING OF INSTITUTIONALIZATION IN UKRAINE (UP TO THE 1960S)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the historical and scientific analysis of the origins and development of speech therapy support for individuals with special educational needs. The author examines the evolution of ideas about speech and its disorders in ancient, medieval, and European traditions, with particular attention paid to the contributions of prominent thinkers of those times — Hippocrates, Claudius Galen, Plutarch, Demosthenes, J. A. Comenius, J.-J. Rousseau, and Pestalozzi. Special focus is placed on the early stages of the development of speech therapy education in Ukraine, which emerged through the research and activities of I. Sikorsky, A. Goldman, R. Krajewsky, and other scholars, as well as through the establishment of special educational institutions. The article aims to analyze the philosophical, medical, psychological, pedagogical, and other prerequisites for forming speech therapy as a scientific field and to clarify the initial stages of its institutionalization in Ukraine up to the mid-20th century. To achieve this aim, the following research methods were employed: historical-analytical, comparative, biographical, and contextual, which made it possible to reconstruct the chronology of the origins and development of speech therapy support for individuals with special educational needs — from ancient times to the early 1960s — and to highlight the contribution of key figures to the formation of the scientific foundations of speech therapy. Results. The study substantiates the interdisciplinary nature of speech therapy, identifies key ideas that laid the groundwork for this field of knowledge, and reveals the trends and conditions of its institutionalization in Ukraine. The influence of European intellectual traditions on the Ukrainian speech therapy tradition is also emphasized. The study's conclusions highlight the need to examine and preserve the historical and scientific heritage to develop speech therapy education further, improve professional training, and rethink the national experience in the context of current transformations.