Dysarthria

Dysarthria is primarily a medical term. It is used to describe speech that is difficult to produce and/or difficult to understand as the result of lesions or damage to the nerves that send messages to the muscles involved in speech production. This includes the muscles for articulation or pronunciation (such as lips, tongue, jaw) as well as the muscles controlling nasality, phonation, and respiration. The muscles may be weak, be uncoordinated, move slowly, or not move at all. People with dysarthria may also have difficulty swallowing.

People may be born with dysarthria (such as individuals with cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy). It may also result from a stroke, brain injury, tumor, infection, or a progressive neuromotor disease, such as Lou Gehrig's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; ALS), multiple sclerosis, or Parkinson's disease.

Dysarthria can be characterized in many different ways depending on the extent and location of the lesion. It may be localized, affecting only one muscle or muscle group (such as only respiration) or it may be generalized affecting many components, respiration, nasality, and phonation as well as articulation. People with dysarthria may experience limited lip, tongue, and jaw movement, slurred speech, slow [Page 526]speech or rapid mumbled speech, soft or inaudible speech, breathiness, hoarseness, and drooling.

People with dysarthria (primarily adults with cerebral palsy) report that they are often mistaken for “retarded” or deaf. If someone is unable to understand them, they may walk away, talk loudly, or talk to others about them.

Some people with dysarthria choose therapy to learn compensatory strategies for improving swallowing, improving the functionality, intelligibility of their speech or to learn augmentative, alternative methods of communication. To improve the functionality, intelligibility of their speech, someone may learn to talk slower and more deliberately. Also, communication partners may learn listening strategies (e.g., choose a quiet place, let the person know what part of the message you understood and parts you need clarified). Some people choose to use communication aids. If someone has difficulty producing adequate volume for speech, he or she may benefit from a speech amplifier. To clarify speech, people may learn to use letter or word boards to introduce the topic they want to talk about and/or to point to the initial letter of each word they say as they speak. People unable to produce speech may also consider an electronic augmentative communication device with voice output so that they can communicate on the phone and talk to unfamiliar people.