Question

Please can you explain/define the different speech difficulties in an easy to understand way. (dysarthria, apraxia, anomia,aphasia, broca's aphasia etc. Thanks

Answer 1

Different speech difficulties

Speech : The faculty or the ability of uttering articulate sounds or words. The ability to speak or to use vocalizations to communicate.

Speech difficulties or the speech disorder impair the ability of a person, to articulate sounds or words for communicating with others. The person, who have speech disorder, cannot form correct speech sounds.

The various speech disorders are;

Dysarthria

Difficulty in articulating words due to disturbance in the form or function of the structures that modulate voice into speech is called Dysarthria. ( muscles of mouth, tongue, respiratory system or face may have difficulty in moving or become weak , resulting in slurred or slowed speech).

Apraxia

Total or partial loss of the ability to perform coordinated movements or motor skills( it can be speech) due to brain damage is called Apraxia. This impairment in motor skills affect the speaking ability of the individual ( affect the formation of sounds of speech).

'Apraxia of speech' is a disorder of speech , caused by damage to the parts of brain, that control speaking.

Anomia

The inability to remember names or the difficulty in finding the right word is called anomia and it is a form of Aphasia.

Aphasia

A partial or total loss of language skills due to brain damage. Usually damage to the left perisylvian region, including Broca's area and Wernickes area, causes aphasia.( can be seen in Stroke, head injury )

Broca's Aphasia

A disorder, where a suffer is unable to use fluent grammar when speaking or writing and utterances are almost always ungrammatical. It is also known as expressive aphasia. Broca's Aphasia is caused due to the damage to Broca's area of Brain ( located at frontal lobe).

Other speech disorders are ;

Stuttering - A speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by the involuntary repetitions and prolongation of sounds , words, phrases and syllables and by silent pauses or blocks in which the stutterer is unable to produce sounds. It is also known as stammering.