Dysarthria (difficulty speaking)
Overview
Dysarthria is where you have difficulty speaking because the muscles you use for speech are weak. It can be caused by conditions that damage your brain or nerves and some medicines. Speech and language therapy can help.
Symptoms
The main symptom of dysarthria is unclear speech. This can make it difficult for you to make yourself understood. Your speech may only be slightly unclear, or you may not be able to speak clearly at all. Other symptoms include: difficulty moving your mouth, tongue or lipsslurred or slow speechdifficulty controlling the volume of your voice, making you talk too loudly or quietlya change in your voice, making it nasal, strained or monotonehesitating a lot when talking, or speaking in short bursts instead of full sentences Being stressed or tired may make your symptoms worse. Dysarthria is not the same as dysphasia, although you can have both conditions at the same time. Dysphasia, also known asaphasia, is where you have difficulty understanding words or putting them together in a sentence.
Causes
Dysarthria is usually caused by damage to the brain or conditions that affect the nervous system. It can happen at any age. Common causes include: stroke,severe head injuryandbrain tumoursParkinson's disease,multiple sclerosisandmotor neurone diseasecerebral palsyandDown's syndrome It can also be a side effect of certain medicines, such as some medicines to treat epilepsy.
Treatment
If you have dysarthria, you'll usually be referred to a speech and language therapist. They'll offer therapy to help your speech and communication. The therapy you're offered will be different depending on the cause of your dysarthria and how severe it is. Some people may find therapy does not help their symptoms, or their speech may get worse as their condition progresses. Their therapy may focus on helping communication in other ways. Speech and language therapy may include: exercises to strengthen the muscles used for speechstrategies to make your speech easier to understand, such as slowing down when you're talkingusing communication aids, such as an alphabet board or a voice amplifier