Dysarthria, Ataxia, Dysphasia, Aphasia
A condition which I, in the early days, referred to as dyslexia of the mouth. It used to make my GP laugh but it is completely inaccurate. The correct terminology is dysarthria.
I was of the opinion that the correct name was Ataxia but my GP disagreed. However, researching on the Web would suggest that Speech Ataxia, Dysphasia, Aphasia, and Dysarthria are all speech impairments that can be brought about by multiple sclerosis, and they all exhibit traits that are not dissimilar.
There are four main types of dysartria:
- Dyskinetic dysarthria poor articulation or slurred speech.
- Spastic Dysarthria weakness of the muscles invlolved with speech.
- Peripheral Dysarthria caused by poor airflow in the throat and through the larynx.
- Mixed Dysarthria see above.
A person with dysarthria may experience any or all of the following symptoms:
- Slurred Speech
- Speaking softly, barely audible
- slow rate of speech
- rapid rate of mumbling speech
- limited tongue, lip, and jaw movement
- abnormal intonation
- hoarseness
- breathiness
- drooling or poor control of saliva
- chewing or swallowing difficulty
There are number of neurological conditions that could result in the onset of speech problems such as dysarthria:
- Stroke
- Brain Injury
- Tumours
- Cerebral Palsy
- Parkinson’s Disease
- ALS
- Huntington’s Disease
- Multiple Sclerosis
Treatments
The main course of treatment is likely to be therapy to try and improve the speech quality. Possibly involving a speech-language pathologist.
References:
Multiple
Sclerosis Encyclopaedia
American
Speech-Language-Hearing Association
