Dysarthria-Information on Dysarthria

Dysarthria is a speech disorder that is due to a weakness or incoordination of the speech muscles. Speech is slow, weak, imprecise or uncoordinated. It can affect both children and adults. "Childhood dysarthria" can be congenital or acquired.

Dysarthria is a speech disorder that is due to a weakness or incoordination of the speech muscles. Speech is slow, weak, imprecise or uncoordinated. It can affect both children and adults. "Childhood dysarthria" can be congenital or acquired. It is often a symptom of a disease, such as cerebral palsy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, myotonic dystrophy, Bell palsy. In both adults and children, it can result from head injury.

All types of dysarthria affect the articulation of consonants, causing the slurring of speech. In very severe cases, vowels may also be distorted. Intelligibility varies greatly depending on the extent of neurological damage. Hypernasality is frequently present as are problems with respiration, phonation and resonance.

Dysarthria is most often the result of a stroke, traumatic brain injury, brain tumour, or degenerative diseases such as Parkinson''s disease or multiple sclerosis. These can all adversely affect the part of the brain that controls the muscles used in making speech (facial muscles, mouth muscles, etc.) and result in their weakening, paralysis or leave them unable to be control or coordinated. Abusing alcohol and some medications can also produce dysarthria, though in the case of slurred speech produced in this manner dysarthria may disappear when the effects of these substances has worn off.

Dysarthria can vary greatly in severity. For some children, it is very mild and has little effect on the understandability of speech. Some children may be difficult to understand and will need therapy to improve their speech. Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder, associated with the production of speech. Dysarthria is due to a weakness or in coordination of the speech muscles. Speech is slow, weak, imprecise or uncoordinated. It can affect both children and adults.

Dysarthria is commonly caused by neurological conditions such as Parkinson''s disease, Cerebral Palsy, Lou Gehrig''s disease, or late stages of multiple sclerosis. It may also occur after a cerebral vascular accident, head trauma, tumor, or infection. Existing at birth or occurring over time, dysarthria is considered a disorder of movement.

Treatment of dysarthria is directed at the underlying cause when possible, which may improve speech. Speech therapy often helps people with dysarthria regain normal speech. If dysarthria is caused by prescription medications, talk to your doctor about the possibility of changing or discontinuing such medications. Therapy for the person with dysarthria will vary depending on the severity and extent of the dysarthria. A speech-language pathologist can assess the dysarthric person''s abilities and provide therapy suggestions at the appropriate level.

Dysphasia can be receptive or expressive. Receptive dysphasia is difficulty in comprehension whilst expressive dysphasia is difficulty in putting words together to make meaning. In reality there is usually considerable overlap of all these conditions but a person who has pure dysarthria without dysphasia would be able to read and write as normal and to make meaningful gesture provided that the necessary motor pathways are intact. Inability to write is agraphia or dysgraphia if incomplete. Inability to manipulate numbers is acalculia or dyscalculia if incomplete. Difficulty reading is dyslexia.

The name of each dysarthria subtype is partially derived from the basic characteristics of the overlying movement disturbances. Notably, normal speech production involves the integration and coordination of five primary physiological subsystems: respiration (breath support); phonation (voice production); articulation (pronunciation of words); resonation (nasal versus oral voice quality); and prosody (rate, rhythm, and inflection patterns of speech).

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