Motor speech disorders affect a person’s ability to create words, with two subcategories being speech apraxia and dysarthria. Dysarthria can be caused by brain injuries, medical conditions, or medication use, and symptoms vary. Verbal apraxia affects speech sounds and can occur in infants. Multiple motor speech disorders can occur simultaneously, leading to communication difficulties and potential isolation and depression. Speech therapy can help retrain speech muscles.
The term “motor speech disorders” refers to a category of conditions occurring in childhood or adulthood that negatively affect a person’s ability to create words. Two subcategories of motor speech disorders are speech apraxia, which is difficulty using the motor skills needed to produce specific sounds, and dysarthria, or weakness of the muscles of the mouth. It can be difficult to understand the speech of a person with motor speech impairment.
Dysarthria can occur in an individual for a variety of reasons. Traumatic events such as a brain injury or stroke can negatively impact motor skills. A variety of medical conditions can also cause dysarthria. Some of these conditions include brain tumors, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, Guillain-Barre syndrome, Lyme disease and Parkinson’s disease.
Symptoms of dysarthria can vary depending on how and where the nervous system has been damaged. The speech of a person with dysarthria might be slow, slurred, rapid, hoarse, very soft, or monotonous. A person may also have trouble chewing, swallowing, or controlling saliva. It is possible to experience temporary dysarthria due to the use of certain types of medications, such as narcotics and sedatives.
Speech apraxia, or verbal apraxia, should be distinguished from types of apraxia that affect other parts of the body such as the limbs. Verbal apraxia refers to difficulty placing speech sounds in the correct order for appropriate communication. Sometimes an individual with apraxia will inadvertently say nonsense words or syllables that are similar in sound to the target word. These individuals may be better at producing memorized responses, such as customary greetings, than at delivering speech with a specific contextual meaning.
Infantile speech apraxia is considered a distinct disorder. In this case, a child has the physical ability to create sounds with motor functions, but needs help coordinating those motor skills to produce appropriate sounds on demand. These children may not have age-appropriate spoken vocabulary and may seem frustrated with attempts to produce speech.
In some cases, several motor speech disorders may occur simultaneously. Apraxia and dysarthria may occur together in some individuals, depending on the root cause. Verbal apraxia also sometimes occurs at the same time as aphasia, a condition in which brain damage affects speech production.
The effects of motor speech impairments can decrease a person’s ability to communicate effectively. In turn, this situation can lead to difficulties in social relationships. It is possible that a person with speech apraxia or diarthria may experience isolation and depression due to communication problems. A speech therapist can help people retrain their speech muscles to produce the sounds desired for communication.
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