What is dysarthria?

Dysarthria is the term used to describe the impaired speech pattern caused by brain or nerve damage to the speech muscles. A speech pathologist can assess a child's speech and provide treatment and strategies to help the child and their family.

Dysarthria can result in paralysis, weakness or lack of coordination of the muscles of the tongue, lips, palate, jaw and larynx. It can also affect breathing. Therefore, dysarthria may involve problems in more than one area of speech, such as breathing, articulation, rhythm, rate or resonance of voice.

Symptoms

Dysarthric speech may be characterised by:

• slowed speech
• slurred speech that is not clear
• excessively soft or loud speech, or difficulties controlling speech volume
• impaired voice quality - hoarse, nasal, breathy qualities
• effortful speech caused by a lack of breath control
• reduced control of pitch - speech may be monotone, high or low pitched
• difficulty articulating longer words

Dysarthric speech can range from mild to severely impaired, where a person's speech may no longer be understood.

Diagnosis

A speech pathologist can assess your child's speech and provide appropriate treatment to help specific difficulties. Assessment often involves watching your child at meal times, listening to their speech and doing an oral-motor examination which includes your child making different movements with their mouth and tongue.

Treatment

Treatment for dysarthria may involve specific exercises to improve the strength, range and rate of movements of affected muscles as well as providing strategies to help lessen the effects of the dysarthria. The speech pathologist will also consider whether your child can use strategies to make their speech clearer such as:

• looking at the person while talking
• taking a breath before speaking
• slowing down speech rate
• speaking in shorter sentences with regular pauses

The speech pathologist will work closely with your child's family, school and significant carers to help make communication easier. This may include tips such as:

• letting your child know what parts of the message have been understood and which parts need clarification
• asking your child to show you what they want
• allowing more time to listen to your child's response

If a child's speech is very impaired, the speech pathologist can teach them to use another communication system to express themselves. This may include gestures, signing, picture symbols, a voice output device or writing to convey a message.

Key points to remember

• Dysarthria is the term used to describe the impaired speech pattern caused by brain or nerve damage to the speech muscles.
• A speech pathologist can assess a child's speech and provide appropriate treatment to assist with any specific areas of difficulty.
• If a child's speech is very impaired, a speech pathologist will usually recommend the use of an alternative communication system to help the child express themselves.

For more information

• The Royal Children's Hospital
  Paediatric Rehabilitation Service
  T: (03) 9345 9300
  E:  rehab.service@rch.org.au
• The Children's Hospital at Westmead Brain injury Service
• Kids Health Info  series of fact sheets listed under 'Brain injury'

Developed by The Royal Children's Hospital Paediatric Rehabilitation Service based on information from the Brain Injury Service at Westmead Children’s Hospital. We acknowledge the input of RCH consumers and carers.

Reviewed September 2020.

Kids Health Info is supported by The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation. To donate, visit  www.rchfoundation.org.au.