Spotlight on Recent SLHS Graduate: Maria Castillo’s Trailblazing Clinical Career Goals for Expanding Speech-Language Pathology in Guatemala

Maria Castillo

We are excited to spotlight a 2024-2025 graduate of SLHS, Maria Castillo, who is studying to become a speech-language pathologist. Born and raised in Guatemala, she came to CU Boulder to pursue a degree in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences given that there are limited opportunities to study speech-language pathology in Guatemala. The field of speech-language pathology is a growing but small field in Guatemala. So how did Maria come to know about the field in Guatemala? Maria’s younger sister, Valeria (now 21), was born with an unknown congenital condition. Determined to find a diagnosis and services for Valeria, the family moved to Houston, Texas when Maria was just 4 years old. While there, Valeria received occupational, physical and speech therapy. However, Valeria’s congenital condition remained undiagnosed. During this period, Valeria made several strides and even learned how to walk; however, she has never learned how to talk. Seven years later, Maria and her family moved back to Guatemala where her mother felt inspired to develop a program to help Valeria and other children like her. Centro Therapia Infatil en Guatemala was founded to provide physical, occupational, and speech therapy for children with disabilities in Guatemala.

Maria Castillo with her sister, Valeria,

Valeria is not only Maria’s little sister but her inspiration. With a total word vocabulary of 20 words, Maria hopes that she can one day have a conversation with her sister, regardless of how brief it may be, either verbally or with an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device.  “I just want to hear her say ‘I love you’ either verbally or through AAC assisted speech,” says Maria. 

Despite the challenges that her family and parents have faced in finding treatment programs for Valeria, her parents have managed to stand by each other for 25 years. Maria admires her parents for their strength, given the challenges that parents of children with special needs face. After receiving her undergraduate degree in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Maria has taken a gap year before continuing to graduate school in the United States to obtain a master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology. Maria currently works as a patient services coordinator at the Voz Institute in Washington, DC. After her master’s degree, Maria plans to return to Guatemala to take over her mother’s clinic. Her goal is to expand the clinic and open various therapy centers around Guatemala to provide much-needed services to children. She hopes to make these services affordable so that barriers to accessing these services are lower. Overall, Maria is a trailblazer for the field of speech-language pathology in Guatemala. Because of her and her family’s work, access to needed therapies is going to be drastically improved for children with disabilities in Guatemala.