Ataxic dysarthria is one of several types of dysarthria. “Dysarthria is a group of motor speech disorders resulting from disturbed muscular control of the speech mechanism due to damage of the peripheral or central nervous system” (Hedge, 2001, p. 198). In specific, ataxic dysarthria is a disorder that affects the control of speech production due to damage to the cerebellum or the neural pathways that connect the cerebellum to other parts of the central nervous system.
McNeil (1997), states that an individual with ataxic dysarthria will have “drunken speech” which results from the particular vulnerability of the cerebellum (p. 217). The cerebellum may account for only ten percent of the brain’s volume, but it contains over fifty percent of the total number of neurons in the brain, which means that any damage to it can affect an individual’s motor speech. The cerebellum is responsible for coordination of movement and the process of sensory information. According to Knierim (1997), the cerebellum coordinates the timing and force of muscular contractions so that any skilled or voluntary movements can be appropriate for an intended task. It also processes sensory information from all over the body and assimilates that information into the execution of a movement. Above all, the cerebellum does not initiate any motor commands; it only modifies the movements that are being commanded.
There are many different things that can cause ataxic dysarthria. For example, any type of head trauma, or vascular lesion such as an aneurysm, arterial venous malformation, or hemorrhage in the brainstem or midbrain can cause damage to the cerebellum eventually leading to ataxic dysarthria. Degenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis, Friedreich’s a...
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...es will most likely be different as well. No matter what the outcome is, the person’s probability to communicate with others increases, and in the end will also increase their quality of life.
Works Cited
Hegde, M. N. (2001). Pocketguide to assessment in speech-language pathology. (2nd ed., pp. 198-215). San Diego, CA: Singular Thomson Learning.
Hegde, M. N. (2001). Pocketguide to treatment in speech-language pathology. (2nd ed., pp. 193-203). San Diego, CA: Singular Thomson Learning.
Knierim, J. (1997). Neuroscience online; an electronic textbook for the neurosciences. Retrieved from http://neuroscience.uth.tmc.edu/s3/chapter05.html
McNeil, M. (1997). Clinical management of sensorimotor speech disorders. (pp. 217-243). Stuttgart, NY: Thieme.
Winitz, H. (1984). Treating articulation disorders for clinicians by clinicians. (pp. 263-286). Austin, TX: Proed.
Flaccid dysarthria results from damage to the lower motor neurons (LMN) or the peripheral nervous system (Hageman, 1997). The characteristics of flaccid dysarthria generally reflect damage to cranial nerves with motor speech functions (e.g., cranial nerves IX, X, XI and XII) (Seikel, King & Drumright, 2010). Lower motor neurons connect the central nervous system to the muscle fibers; from the brainstem to the cranial nerves with motor function, or from the anterior horns of grey matter to the spinal nerves (Murdoch, 1998). If there are lesions to spinal nerves and the cranial nerves with motor speech functions, it is indicative of a lower motor neuron lesion and flaccid dysarthria. Damage to lower motor neurons that supply the speech muscles is also known as bulbar palsy (Pena-Brooks & Hedge, 2007). Potential etiologies of flaccid dysarthria include spinal cord injury, cerebrovascular accidents, tumors or traumatic brain injury (Pena-Brooks & Hedge, 2007). Possible congenital etiologies of flaccid dysarthria include Moebius syndrome and cerebral palsy. Flaccid dysarthria can also arise from infections such as polio, herpes zoster, and secondary infections to AIDS (Pena-Brooks & Hedge, 2007). Additionally, demyelinating diseases such as Guilian-Barre syndrome and myotonic muscular dystrophy can also lead to flaccid dysarthria (Pena-Brookes & Hedge, 2007). The lower motor neuron lesion results in loss of voluntary muscle control, and an inability to maintain muscle tone. Fasciculations, or twitching movements, may occur if the cell body is involved in the lesion (Seikel et. al., 2010). The primary speech characteristics of flaccid dysarthria include imprecise consonant production, hypernasal resonance, breathiness, and harsh voice (...
Hypokinetic Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder that is often associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD). It can occur when there is interference in the basal ganglia control circuit. These disruptions can include “degenerative, vascular, traumatic, infectious, inflammatory, neoplastic, and toxic-metabolic diseases (Duffy, 2013, p. 176).” Damage to the basal ganglia control circuit results in reduced range of motion as well as the inability to inhibit involuntary movements. Hypokinetic dysarthria is most commonly caused by PD; a progressive, neurogenic disease that is characterized by tremor, rigidity, slowness of movement, and incoordination. Eighty-seven percent of hypokinetic dysarthria cases are associated with degenerative disease (Duffy, 2013).
Both groups placed in the early stage level of the groups. These students demonstrated difficulty with long vowel patters and ed ending words. I decided to administer the elementary
...lman, J., Ramig, L., Story, B., & Fox, C. (2007). Effects of intensive voice treatment (the lee silverman voice treatment [lsvt]) on vowel articulation in dysarthric individuals with idiopathic parkinson disease: acoustic and perceptual findings.Journal Of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 50(4), 899-912.
Over seven million people just in the US have some sort of speech disorder. Just think about how many it is around the world! There are many different types of speech disorders, such as: stuttering, lisping and, mumbling, to name a few. Many of these disorders become noticeable during early childhood, however, this is not the only time a speech disorder may occur. Many people that suffer from strokes or other traumatic accidents encounter struggles with speech through their recovery. Those who struggle with speaking after an accident, though, have more access to treatments than children that are born with speech impediments. The treatments that are most known for children include: phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. There are speech
Aphasia can be defined as a disorder that is caused by damage to parts of the brain that are responsible for language (“Aphasia” n.p.). Wernicke’s aphasia is a type of fluent aphasia (with the other type being nonfluent). It is named after Carl Wernicke who described the disorder as “an amnesiac disorder characterized by fluent but disordered speech, with a similar disorder in writing, and impaired understanding of oral speech and reading” (“Wernicke’s” n.p.). Wernicke’s aphasia can also be known as sensory aphasia, fluent aphasia, or receptive aphasia. It is a type of aphasia that is caused by damage to Wernicke’s area in the brain, in the posterior part of the temporal lobe of the left hemisphere. This area of the brain contains motor neurons responsible for the understanding of spoken language and is believed to be the receptive language center (“Rogers” n.p.). Wernicke’s aphasia can be most efficiently defined as a fluent language disorder commonly caused by strokes and characterized by difficulty comprehending spoken language and producing meaningful speech and writing which is both assessable by an SLP and treatable by a variety of methods.
Parkinson disease (PD), also referred to as Parkinson’s disease and paralysis agitans, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is the third most common neurologic disorder of older adults. It is a debilitating disease affecting motor ability and is characterized by four cardinal symptoms: tremor rigidity, bradykinesia or kinesis (slow movement/no movement), and postural instability. Most people have primary, or idiopathic, disease. A few patients have secondary parkinsonian symptoms from conditions such as brain tumors and certain anti-psychotic drugs.
National Institute of Health. (2011). National Institute on Deafness and other communication disorders: Improving the lives of people who have communication disorders. National Institute on
Many people around the world today suffer from Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. A movement disorder is a disorder impairing the speed, fluency, quality, and ease of movement. There are many types of movement disorders such as impaired fluency and speed of movement (dyskinesia), excessive movements (hyperkinesia), and slurred movements (hypokinesia). Some types of movement disorders are ataxia, a lack of coordination, Huntington's disease, multiple system atrophies, myoclonus, brief, rapid outbursts of movement, progressive supranuclear palsy, restless legs syndrome, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, tics, Tourette's syndrome, tremor, Wilson disease, dystonia, which causes involuntary body movement, and Parkinson's disease. Parkinson’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome, and tics are one of the most widely known of these disorders, known to impair people of movements and rob them of their lives.
It’s interesting to know that clinics like the one I volunteer for are approved by the Department of Education and can provide additional services to children who need them. I have been told by quite a few people that in the past, speech-language pathologists had to know a little bit of everything, and while that still holds true today, specialized speech-language pathologists are becoming more of the norm. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association offers SLPs the opportunity to receive their Clinical Specialty Certification, which is a step beyond the Certificate of Clinical Competence. These areas include Child Language and Language Disorders, Fluency and Fluency Disorders, Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders, and Intraoperative Monitoring; Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT), what the SLP that worked with Student A was certified in, is governed by the Alexander Graham Bell Academy for Listening and Spoken Language. As a future speech-language pathologist, I will be able to refer a child whose speech and language issues go beyond hearing loss to the appropriate SLP and work collaboratively with him/her; educators will be able to advocate for their
My disorder is Ataxia telangiectasia. The history of this disorder is that gene found fatal childhood disease senitists have now isolated the gene and identified mutations that cause the childhood disease ataxia telangiectasia. The study that they had taken had results , founded in part by the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and stroke NINDS and the A-T Children's project ,are reported in the summer of 95 at the issue in science.
Autonomic dysreflexia (AD), also known as autonomic hyperreflexia, is a serious life-threatening condition occurring in individuals with injuries at T5 and above and is characterized by a sudden
Duchan, J. (2001, May 12). A History of Speech - Language Pathology. Retrieved March 19, 2017, from http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~duchan/history.html
Disfluency is an interruption in the natural flow of speech. Disfluencies can either be normal, such as those displayed by children in the language learning stage, or abnormal, as in stuttering. Aside from the norm, another factor that makes this topic difficult to understand is the cause of stuttering. It can be neurogenic, meaning that stuttering was the result of a stroke, brain injury, or degenerative disease occurring later in life. It can also be psychogenic, in which its cause is related to a mental illness, or developmental, meaning that the individual had a genetic predisposition to stutter. Due to its complex etiology, determining the proper treatment for stuttering is often complicated. Many researchers and speech-language pathologists have come up with different techniques; however, which is the most reliable?