A few days ago we started talking about a speech disorder known as dysarthria, which consisted of the difficulty of oral language expression due to problems of tone and movement of the muscles involved in speech, as a consequence of injuries to the Central Nervous System.
These lesions in the Central Nervous System can be located at different points, depending on which different ones will be established types of dysarthria.
It must be remembered that in order to develop speech optimally, adequate control of breathing, of the phonation organs and of the movements necessary for feeding (such as suction, chewing, drooling control ...) is necessary.
Flaccid dysarthria
Among the characteristics of this type of dysarthria we can find, among others, with alterations of voluntary and automatic movements, atrophy of muscle fibers, fatigue during exercise, affectation of tongue and movement of the eyelids, decrease of the nausea or voice reflex hoarse and with little intensity.
Spastic dysarthria
Characteristics of this disorder are, among others, the weakness of one side of the body, reflexes that do not correspond to their age, joint problems, short phrase emission, hoarse voice or slow speech.
Ataxic dysarthria
The part that is altered here is the cerebellum, responsible for the strength, speed, duration and direction of the movements. Some features of this dysarthria are low tone of the affected muscles, direction, duration and intensity of movements are slow and inappropriate in relation to strength, alterations in eye movements or joint problems.
Disarts due to injuries in the Extrapyramidal System
The Extrapyramidal System is responsible for regulating muscle tone at rest and in motion, as well as automatic movements. If there is an injury in this area, the types of dysarthria that we can find are:
- Hypokinetic: characterized by slow, limited and rigid movements, repeated movements in speech, weak voice and defective articulation, among several others.
- Hyperkinetic: here we can find the korea (with involuntary and irregular movements, slow or fast, of one or several muscles, especially of the arms and a low muscle tone), the athetosis (they are involuntary and slow movements in the joint, with respiratory and phonation problems), the tremor (or rhythmic form of abnormal movement, with interruptions in the emission of the voice) and the dystonia (which are abnormal, relatively slow and sustained involuntary movements, with possible voice tremor)
Mixed disartras
They are the most complex form of dysarthria, where the problem in speech is the result of the combination of the characteristics of the motor systems involved.
And here the different types of dysarthria That we can meet. Soon, we will talk about the most appropriate treatment that should be carried out.
