Dysarthria

About: Dysarthria is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2402 publications have been published within this topic receiving 56554 citations.

Exploring interdisciplinary management of Parkinson's disease

Abstract: Speech and/or swallowing impairment occurs in a high percentage of patients with Parkinson's disease. Mutch et al. (1986) report that in a study of 249 Parkinson's disease patients, 65% had speech difficulty and 18.5% of 265 Parkinson's disease patients surveyed reported swallowing impairment. The benefits of speech and language therapy for these patients have been recognised. Clearly, these patients can only benefit if they can access a speech and language therapy service. This pilot interdisciplinary project, between a speech and language therapy service and a general practice unit, set out to audit access to and awareness of the speech and language therapy service for patients with Parkinson's disease in a primary care setting. All the Parkinson's disease patients in one general practice unit were identified and invited to a speech and language therapy assessment. A survey of these patients and their carers was completed by interview investigating their awareness of their communication/swallowing difficulties and perceived need for speech and language therapy. A postal survey of all general practitioners in the Trust area was carried, out examining attitudes and past practice of general practitioners concerning referral of adult patients to the speech and language therapy service. Past referrals of Parkinson's disease patients to the service were analysed to establish historic access routes to the service. Speech and language therapy assessment and patient interviews were completed for 13 Parksinson's disease patients. Interviews were carried out with 10 carers. Questionnaires were sent to 69 general practitioners and 37 responses (54%) were received. Results of the general practitioner survey indicated poor awareness of the role of speech and language therapy for this client group. Patient and carer survey findings highlighted accurate perceptions regarding patient dysarthria symptoms. Speech and language assessment identified four of 13 patients requiring direct therapy and a further eight patients who could benefit from advice and information. Only one patient had no dysarthria symptoms. Referral analysis indicated that of 18 patients referred with Parkinson's disease to speech and language therapy, one had been referred by a general practitioner. The findings highlight the need for increased awareness among patients, carers and members of the primary healthcare team about the role of speech and language therapy with this client group, in order to ensure timely and appropriate referral. The outcome of this interdisciplinary audit project indicates benefits for patients, carers and general practitioners through improved identification of need and mutual education. The aims, process and issues involved in interdisciplinary audit of this kind are described, along with guidelines for the selection of suitable interdisciplinary audit topics.

Dysarthria Consequent to Cervical Spinal Cord Injury and Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Damage: A Case Report.

Abstract: Objective To assess and describe the involvement of all speech subsystems, including respiration, phonation, articulation, resonance, and prosody, in an individual with cervical spinal cord injury. Methods Detailed speech and voice assessment was performed that included Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment, cranial nerve examination, voice (per-ceptual and instrumental) and nasometric evalua-tion, and intelligibility and communicative effecti-veness. Results Impaired respiratory and phonatory con-trol correlated with the physical impairment of C4 and C5 prolapsed intervertebral disc. Cranial nerve examination indicated nerve IX and XI pathology. Phonatory deficits such as imprecise consonants and mild sibilant distortions were apparent. Voice analysis revealed a hoarse, breathy voice with re-duced loudness and no problems with resonance. Reading and speaking rate was reduced, and over-all a mild reduction in communicative effectiveness was perceived. Conclusion Assessment of the speech subsystems produced a comprehensive picture of the patient's condition and impairments in one or more areas was identified. Treatment options to improve speech outcomes were provided.

Investigating Perceptual Subgroups in Speakers With Ataxic Dysarthria: An Auditory Free Classification Approach

Abstract: Ataxic dysarthria has presented with considerable heterogeneity in the presentation of speech characteristics. Converging evidence supports the existence of subgroups, specifically related to the instability and inflexibility of motor patterns as a possible explanation of this variability.To further examine the alignment of the speech characteristics of ataxic dysarthria with the instability/inflexibility framework, 23 graduate student listeners participated in an auditory free classification task and a guided classification task. Listeners grouped 15 speakers with ataxic dysarthria based on their judgment of the most salient perceptual characteristics during two speaking tasks: alternating motion rates (AMRs) and connected speech (one to two sentences). Listener ratings were then compared with a priori determinations of speakers who fit the instability subgroup profile and the inflexibility subgroup profile.Results of both the free classification and guided classification listening paradigms provided supportive evidence of subgroups, particularly for the AMR task, in the context of strong inter- and intrarater reliability.This study adds to the growing evidence of the existence of instability and inflexibility subgroups in ataxic dysarthria and serves as a proof of concept for use of the auditory free classification paradigm in dysarthria subgroup research.

A catalogue of options for the treatment of stable dysarthria, compiled through a systematic search of the literature1

Abstract: What speech therapy methods for treatment of stable dysarthria have been described or evaluated? 1 Abstracted from: Palmer, R., & Enderby, P. (2007). Methods of speech therapy treatment for stable ...