Speech therapy and multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Although speech symptoms are invariably mentioned in neurological textbooks describing multiple sclerosis, the descriptions are often inconsistent and lack specific detail. The symptoms of this disorder are so varied that they encompass practically the whole field of neurology. Characteristically, in about two-thirds of patients the symptoms come and go spontaneously (exacerbation and remission). In the remaining third, the course is progressive. The possible causes and presentations of multiple sclerosis have been covered earlier, and so will not be dwelt upon: but the classic triad of signs first described by Charcot in 1877 (nystagmus, intention tremor and dysarthria) was first delineated as disseminated sclerosis, today called multiple sclerosis.