Correlates of Dysarthria

Abstract

Classification of dysarthria as a unitary condition is inaccurate. Peacher (1950), Grewel (1957) and Darley, Aronson and Brown (1975) all emphasize the fact that this term is a label for a group of disorders which share certain common features. They all stem from defined neuropathological conditions and they all combine in varying degrees of predominance, abnormalities of respiration, phonation, resonance and articulation. The majority of authors describe dysarthria as a motor disorder of speech as distinct from a disorder of language. But this may well oversimplify the issue since boundaries between motor (phonetic) and linguistic levels of production are by no means clear cut. Crystal (1981) mentions this problem when he suggests that though the primary difficulty may be phonetic, compensatory strategies used by the dysarthric Speaker may give rise to syntactic and phonological anomalies. It is, however, not always readily apparent whether nonsegmental disorders originate phonetically or phonologically. Palilalia, for example, where there is a reiteration with increasing rate, of words and/or phrases is generally regarded as being a type of subcortical dysarthria, but certain features are shared with the higher order perseverations of some types of dysphasia.