As of: March 12, 2024, 7:00 p.m
By: Andrea Beschorner
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Learning through play: Brigitte Braun with a young patient who suffers from a language development disorder.
© LEHMANN
Brigitte Braun is a speech therapist.
This means that she is not only a therapist for people with very different clinical pictures.
She is often also a confidante and reference person who meets people where they are.
Fahrenzhausen
– Natalie storms into the treatment room in stocking socks with a pink folder in her hand.
The little girl is very familiar with Brigitte Braun's speech therapy practice from Fahrenzhausen.
Because part of the class is held sitting on the cozy carpeted floor, everyone who enters the room has to take off their shoes.
When the K becomes a T
There is a homely, inviting atmosphere here.
The four-year-old comes once a week to practice with the experienced speech therapist.
Natalie mixes up the letters K and T. For the girl, a trampoline is a “krampoline”, the tractor is a “kraktor”.
She learns to speak correctly from Brigitte Braun in a playful way.
At the beginning of the lesson, the girl proudly shows off her homework.
There is a stamp as a reward.
Natalie picks a polar bear.
Then it starts: The little one is ambitious and focused on the matter.
She really wants to win the holistic game, which also involves fine motor skills, counting and understanding quantities.
“Language is just one aspect of development,” says Brigitte Braun, explaining the background of the game.
Natalie starts the lesson motivated.
However, how strenuous the practice is becomes apparent after just 15 minutes.
Concentration wanes.
Now the speech therapist needs even more tact and empathy so that the child can last until the end of the 45-minute therapy session.
Experiences of success are important for this.
Natalie hugs her therapist with joy, whenever she does something right and is praised for it.
Calls in tears
For Brigitte Braun, being a speech therapist is more than just a job.
A calling at all?
She thinks for a moment.
A few years ago, she would have answered yes to this question immediately and without hesitation.
She still does that today, although she has to think about it for a few moments.
In recent years it is not just complex disorders and children who come to her with trauma that have increased.
The people who call her in desperation, sometimes in tears, because they can't find anywhere to stay or can't find a place for therapy are now part of everyday life (see box).
And it is precisely the fact that Brigitte Braun is receiving more and more requests that she cannot meet in this flood that is putting a strain on her.
However, this has nothing to do with their passion for their job.
Because she couldn't imagine a nicer, more fulfilling job.
On the one hand, there is the versatility.
As a speech therapist, Brigitte Braun is always a caregiver and confidante for her patients and, if they are children, for their families.
She needs a lot of medical knowledge for her work, but a person's psyche also plays a big role.
And this applies to all age groups who come to her practice or who she visits at home.
“I look after children from infancy through to old age.” Some even until their death.
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Treatment spectrum
People with swallowing problems after a stroke or due to a neurological disease are also part of the patient base, as are children with autism or an autism spectrum disorder.
People with voice disorders or a hearing impairment also need speech therapy treatments.
“Transsexual people also come to me for voice therapy,” says Braun.
As do children with articulation and language development or phonological disorders.
For example, the therapist reports about a four-year-old who could only communicate using throat sounds when he came to her.
Today the little one is speaking.
The best thing about her job is at the same time challenging: “I have to meet the children where they are.” It is important to build trust - because only as a confidant will she be accepted as a communication partner in such a way that the therapy can really bear fruit.
(By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)
What is fulfilling is the sometimes unbridled joy and enthusiasm about learning progress in children as well as adults - for example with neurological, degenerative diseases, where the aim is often to stop the progression of the symptoms.
A speech therapist is usually much more than a speech therapist.
“We often get a deep insight into the families.” Parents would actually always blame themselves if their child has speech problems.
Seeing how a burden is lifted off their shoulders when Brigitte Braun explains to them that they are not to blame is clearly one of the many beautiful sides of her calling.
“People with acute treatment needs often wait a year for their therapy.”
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Central contact point:
Brigitte Braun would like to have a central telephone number for patients who are desperately looking for a speech therapist.
According to their request, places for emergency patients must be available in a central pool so that people in a medical emergency can receive quick and reliable help.
People with acute treatment needs often wait a year to see a therapist.
“The question of who to contact in emergencies needs to be clarified urgently,” says Brigitte Braun.
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Reliable compensation for work performed:
The new medicinal product guidelines have caused many additional problems in billing.
“If the doctor accidentally ticks the wrong box, that often means that we will not receive any compensation from the health insurance company for the work we have done.” A general reduction in bureaucracy would be an enormous relief for everyone involved.
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Payment for all services:
To ensure that the therapy has the greatest possible success, Brigitte Braun's work often goes beyond the actual prescription.
Discussions take place with the school or kindergarten, and long, intensive consultations are often held with the parents.
However, speech therapists cannot bill for this often immense amount of time.
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Make the profession more attractive:
The acute shortage of skilled workers also applies to this professional group.
Brigitte Braun urgently appeals to those responsible to make the profession more attractive for young people and experienced speech therapists - including through better pay.
The financial pressure for self-employed speech therapists is so great that many throw in the towel.
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Training paths to become a speech therapist
The training can take place through state or private vocational schools for speech therapy and lasts three years.
The prerequisite for vocational school training is a secondary school leaving certificate or vocational training completed after completing secondary school.
Undergraduate university courses have also been available for several years.
In Bavaria, there is initially the option to study speech therapy as a model course at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Regensburg or Würzburg for a limited period until 2024.
The prerequisite for this is the general or subject-specific university entrance qualification (source: Bavarian State Ministry for Health, Care and Prevention).
You can find even more current news from the Freising district at Merkur.de/Freising.