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Today I 'attended' speech therapy by Telehealth. As a follow up to a question whether I had aphasia or ataxia I asked which of these I was dealing with. Short answer: neither. Instead I was dealing with dysarthria. Yawn! Yet another big word/ Could be worse. Have you noticed how some doctors who discover a new disease have the disease named after them? Don't think that's what happened here. Anyone else dealing with this?

Hi Ray,

Thank you for the update and for clarifying about dysarthria!

Melita one of our speech pathologists has mentioned the following:

For dysarthria, slowing down gives the muscles the time they need to get into the right spot to make the sounds correctly.

The trick for is to go slowly and to really exaggerate the movement.

It's helpful to work on sounds by themselves at first and then build up into using them in longer and more complex speech. For example, if practicing saying "d":

Start with words with that had "d" at the front, like dog
Then, go to words that have "d" at the end, like red,
Then after that, practice them in the middle position, like “middle”
Then practice it in consonant blends like "dr"
Then go to words with more syllables, short phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and then practice saying the sound in conversation.

Make sure you are getting at least 80% of your attempts to make the sound correct before you move up to a harder level.

At first you will need to really concentrate on making the right sound but over time it will come more automatically.

As this information is general in nature, it is great that you have a speech pathologist supporting you. They will be able to create a more individualized program.

You may be interested in participating in this questionnaire about dysarthria.

To find out some other experiences with dysarthria you may be interested in reading this dysarthria blog.

Feel free to get in touch again, by phoning us on StrokeLine 1800 787 653 (Monday- Friday 9am to 5pm AEST) or emailing strokeline@strokefoundation.org.au

With Kind regards,

Melita and Kath

Thanks for the info. Sometimes feel like my speech is indistinct, particularly when I answer the phone. When I take it slowly it seems to be better and satisfactory. Occasionally I take the easy way out and hand the phone to my wife. Need to stop doing that!

BTW I am thinking of doing either a blog or a video about coping with change. It has been a big issue for my wife and I, firstly, as she recovered from a major car accident in which she had a near death experience, and later when I was wheeled out of my office by Ambos and 3 days later had quadruple by-pass surgery and now this year with a third degree heartblocck followed by 2 TIAs and a stroke. I have learnt that there is no point in feeling sorry for yourself because you cannot change what has happened but CAN change how you deal with the new you.