What is Dysarthria:

People suffering from Dysarthria have speech which is usually slurred and produced with great difficulty. This speech is also difficult to understand. This disease may also cause problems like controlling the loudness and rhythm of the speech. Dysarthria is usually caused by paralysis or weakness. Inability to calibrate the mouth’s muscles could also be a cause for this disorder.
In some cases developmental disability can also cause occurence of Dysarthria. It might be a symptom of Parkinson Disease(central nervous disorder) as well. This may be caused by brain injury or tumor.

Types of Dysarthria:

There are 5 types of Dysarthria:

• Spastic-due to bilateral damage to upper motor neuron(UMN).
• Flaccid-bilateral damage to lower motor neuron.
• Ataxic-cerebellum damage.
• Unilateral Upper Motor Neuron-milder than bilateral damage to UMN.
• Hyperkinetic and Hypokinetic-damage to basal ganglia.

Signs and Symptoms of Dysarthria:

An individual having dysarthria disorder could have the following symptoms. They may depend on the extent to which the nervous system has been damaged.

• slurred speech.
• Improper whisper ie. sound level is inaudible.
• Talking at a slow rate.
• Speaking in quick succession with mumbling quality.
• Strange rhythm when talking.
• Limited tongue and jaw movement.
• Coarse voice.
• Heavy breaths when speaking.
• Drooling and lack of control over saliva.
• Difficulty in swallowing or chewing food.

Causes of Dysarthria:

Causes of Dysarthria usually involve the nervous system, they are:

• Stroke.
• Injury to the brain.
• Cerebral Palsy (disorder in fuctioning of body due to cerebrum).
• Parkinson’s Disease.
• Huntington’s Disease (Incurable disease of muscle co-ordination).
• Medications (drugs).
• Multiple Sclerosis.

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