Dysarthria is a disorder of the nervous system that affects the muscles that function to speak. This causes speech disorders in sufferers. Dysarthria does not affect the intelligence or level of understanding of the sufferer, but it still does not rule out the sufferer of this condition having a disorder in both of these.
Symptoms of dysarthria
Some of the symptoms that are generally felt by people with dysarthria are:
- Hoarse or nasal voice
- Monotonous tone of voice
- Unusual speaking rhythm
- Talking too fast or speaking too slowly
- Not being able to speak at a loud volume, or even speaking at a volume too low.
- Slurred talk
- Difficulty moving the tongue or facial muscles
- Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia), which can cause drooling uncontrollably
Causes of Dysarthria
Patients with dysarthria have difficulty controlling the muscles of speech, because the part of the brain and nerves that control the movement of these muscles do not function normally. Some of the medical conditions that can cause this disorder are:
- Head injury
- brain infection
- Brain tumor
- stroke
- Guillain-Barre syndrome
- Huntington's disease
- Wilson's disease
- Parkinson's disease
- Lyme disease
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease
- Muscular dystrophy
- Myasthenia gravis
- Multiple sclerosis
- brain paralysis (ccerebral palsy)
- Bell's palsy
- Injury to the tongue
- Drug abuse.
In general, based on the location of the damage that causes dysarthria, this condition can be divided into several types, namely:
- Spastic dysarthria. This is the most common type of dysarthria. Spastic dysarthria is caused by damage to the cerebrum. Most often, the damage is caused by a severe head injury.
- dysarthria orksic. Ataxic dysarthria appears in a person due to the presence of the cerebellum, such as inflammation, which regulates speech.
- Hypokinetic dysarthria. Hypokinetic dysarthria occurs due to damage to a part of the brain called the basal ganglia. One example of a disease that causes hypokinetic dysarthria is Parkinson's disease.
- Dyskinetic and dystonic dysarthria. This dysarthria arises due to abnormalities in muscle cells that play a role in the ability to speak. An example of this type of dysarthria is Huntington's disease.
- Dysarthria flaksid. Flaccid dysarthria results from damage to the brainstem or peripheral nerves. This dysarthria appears in patients with Lou Gehrig's disease or tumors of the peripheral nerves. In addition, sufferers myasthenia gravis may also have flaccid dysarthria.
- Mixed dysarthria. This is a condition when a person suffers from several types of dysarthria at once. Mixed dysarthria can result from widespread damage to nerve tissue, as in a severe head injury, encephalitis, or stroke.
Diagnosis of dysarthria
Doctors identify clinical signs and symptoms experienced by patients as the first step in diagnosis.
The doctor will evaluate the ability to speak and determine the type of dysarthria, by examining the strength of the muscles of the lips, tongue, and jaw when the patient speaks. Patients will be asked to perform several activities, such as:
- Blowing the candle
- Counting numbers
- Make various sounds
- Sing
- Sticking her tongue out
- Read the writing.
The doctor will also perform a neuropsychological examination, which is an examination that will measure thinking skills, as well as understanding of words, reading, and writing.
Furthermore, some tests that doctors usually do to determine the cause of dysarthria are:
- imaging test, such as an MRI or CT scan, to obtain detailed images of the patient's brain, head, and neck. This helps the doctor identify the patient's speech disorder.
- urine and blood tests, to identify the presence of infection or inflammation.
- Lumbar puncture. The doctor will take a sample of cerebrospinal fluid for further investigation in the laboratory.
- Brain biopsy. This method will be used if there is a tumor in the brain. The doctor will take a sample of the patient's brain tissue to look at under a microscope.
Dysarthria Treatment
Treatment for dysarthria sufferers is differentiated based on several factors, namely the cause, severity of symptoms, and the type of dysarthria suffered.
The focus of dysarthria treatment is to treat the cause, for example if it is caused by a tumor, the patient will undergo surgery to remove the tumor, according to the doctor's instructions.
Dysarthria patients can undergo therapy to improve speaking skills, so they can communicate better. The therapy undertaken by the patient will be adjusted to the type and severity of dysarthria, such as:
- Therapy to slow down the ability to speak
- Therapy to speak louder
- Therapy to speak with clearer words and sentences
- Therapy to train the mouth muscles to be stronger
- Therapy to increase the movement of the tongue and lips
In addition to improving speaking skills, another alternative to improve communication, patients can be trained to use sign language.
To help communicate, there are several things that dysarthria patients can do, including:
- Say one topic before explaining the whole sentence so the other person knows what topic is being discussed.
- Do not talk too much when you are tired, because a tired body will make the conversation difficult to understand.
- Ask the other person to make sure that the other person really understands what you are saying.
- Speak more slowly and with pauses, so that the conversation becomes clear.
- Helping conversation by pointing to objects, drawing, or writing.
Complications of dysarthria
Patients with dysarthria can experience impaired quality of life due to suffering from this condition, such as experiencing personality changes, disturbances in social interactions, and emotional disturbances due to difficulty communicating with other people. In addition, communication disorders can cause dysarthria sufferers to feel isolated and tend to get bad stigma in their surroundings.
This is no exception for children. Difficulty communicating in children can cause children to experience frustration, as well as changes in emotions and behavior. Children's education and character development can be affected by these things, so that children's social interactions can experience obstacles, especially when children develop into adults.
To avoid this, dysarthria sufferers, both adults and children, need support from their family and closest people to maintain their quality of life and communicate well with their surroundings.
Prevention of dysarthria
Although the causes of dysarthria are quite diverse, several types of causes of dysarthria can be prevented with healthy habits and lifestyles, such as:
- Exercise regularly
- Limiting consumption of alcoholic beverages
- Do not take drugs without a prescription from a doctor
- Eat more fruits and vegetables
- Quit smoking
