Dysarthria and dyspraxia - Question 1
Q: My wife sounds as if she is drunk when she speaks. She gets so embarrassed when friends visit that she doesn''t even try to talk to them. What can be done to help her?
A: Where dysphasia or aphasia is a difficulty with language generally, dysarthria is difficulty with speaking. Dysarthria can result from a stroke in any of several parts of the brain. It happens because of weakness of the muscles of the face, tongue or throat. Even if your wife''s muscles are not weak, they may be stiff and this too can result in difficulty in speaking clearly (articulation). With some people their voice may also sound different. Dysarthria can occur with a stroke affecting the cerebellum - the part of the brain that helps co-ordinate the muscles. It can be made worse by problems not directly related to the stroke. For example, if your wife has poorly fitting dentures, a dry mouth or a sore tongue, these can also result in speech sounding slurred. Finding the real cause and getting the speech and language therapist to advise on treatment will usually help and eventually lead to improvement in your wife''s clarity of speech. A problem that sometimes goes unrecognised is a dyspraxia of the muscles controlling articulation. Dyspraxia is a difficulty in performing complex tasks consciously. Although each of the individual muscles seems to be working well when tested separately and there is no paralysis, they cannot work in the sequence required for tasks such as speaking or swallowing.
