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Speech Disorders
Slurred or garbled speech is often referred to as “dysarthria” or a motor speech disorder. With most adults, this is an acquired condition caused by muscle weakness, most commonly after a neurologic event, like a stroke or brain injury, or a progressive neurologic condition.
In order to speak the way we do - which is typically sharp and precise, we use many different muscles in our throat, tongue, lips, and face. If the neurologic signal to any of these muscles is disrupted, our speech becomes less precise. Sometimes, this affects individual sounds. Most often, it affects a number of sounds and sound combinations, and results in a slurred quality to our speech.
Other times, people may notice that their speech has begun to lack the intonation and prosody it once had, and their speech is becoming robotic-sounding. This is a speech quality called monotone/monopitch.
Many people with dysarthria also complain that their breathing and speaking coordination has changed. People will complain of shorter sentences, needing to take breathing breaks more frequently, or feeling out of breath when having a conversation. Some people even complain that air seems to be coming out of their nose when they speak. These are all commonly associated aspects of dysarthria.
Occasionally, after a neurologic event, someone may have what is known as apraxia, which is a disruption in motor planning. This may sound like dysarthria, but may be characterized by the mouth “groping” for the right sounds to produce the word. Often, patients with dysarthria will make multiple attempts at a word they are trying to produce, each time producing the targeted word in a different way. Speech Language Pathologists are trained to be able to discern the difference between dysarthria and apraxia, and know that each condition requires a different treatment plan.
Treating Dysarthria
After addressing this with your physician, he or she will mostly likely recommend you seek the services of a speech language pathologist. An SLP’s expertise in this area will help your speech sound more precise and bring you more confidence with speaking, which will allow people to understand you better.
Treatment may consist of:
Breath work, to improve respiratory support for more natural speech
Reducing or increasing your rate of speech
Improving tongue, lip, and face movement
Addressing dynamics to improve pitch and tone variability
If you’re looking for a Saratoga Speech Pathologist to help you or your loved one with their speech, contact us now.