Health Care > How to Diagnose DysarthriaRelated Photo
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There are six different kinds of speech pathology known as dysarthria. It is caused through damage to specific areas of the brain or nervous system, usually from stroke or head trauma. When warning signs such as slurred speech and poor breath control show up, however, you must first be sure that the problem is dysarthria and not something else.
Carry on a normal conversation with the person.
Notice which problems and disfluencies they display. Don't categorize anything, yet. You may miss an important sign if you are only looking for one set of problems.
Check for "receptive" (auditory) understanding by asking the person to name common objects (shoe, window) both in the room and in pictures, to repeat words and phrases and to classify words (even and odd numbers, objects made of wood or glass and others).
Watch the movements of the jaw, lips, tongue and facial muscles. Notice if they are weak, jerky, exaggerated or inappropriate. Listen for short or labored breathing.
Ask the person to say "ah" and to hold out the sound as long as they can. Less than 3 seconds indicates the poor breathing that is symptomatic of dysarthria.
Show your findings to the person's primary care physician, or to the doctor treating him for the illness, trauma, stroke or syndrome that is causing the speech symptoms. If the person is not under treatment, take her to the doctor right away.
Ask the doctor for a referral to a speech pathologist. Ask what tests the pathologist will perform, what each test measures, and how it will help diagnose the problem. Find out what therapy will be needed.
