This is a motor speech disorder that is caused by damage to the nervous system (i.e., nerves or the brain).  Dysarthria can be congenital or acquired.  It is usually accompanied by a neurological diagnosis.  Dysarthric speech may be too slow or too fast.  It may sound “slurred” or choppy or be difficult to understand. In dysarthria, damage to motor speech neurons or the brain may result in low tone (also called “hypotonia” ). This mean that the muscles are too stretchy or floppy.  Speech will sound too slow, slurred or have unusual stress patterns or sound hypernasal.

Example:

·   The speech of Walt Junior in the television series Breaking Bad is an example of low tone dysarthric speech. That young man’s speech is easily understandable.  I would not consider him a candidate for speech therapy.

Conversely, nerve or brain damage can result in high tone.  In high tone (also called “hypertonia”), the muscles are too tight.  The articulators can get “locked” so that it is difficult to move them smoothly. Speech therapy for dysarthria includes teaching compensatory strategies (e.g., such as slowing speech rate, increasing respiratory support or increasing loudness).   Dysarthria cannot be “cured” because it is the result of a neurological condition.  However, it is often possible improve speech intelligibility.

There are many different types of dysarthria.  Please refer to my article about Parkinson’s Disease in the LSVT section of this website for more information.