UUMN

Question 1

Neurological basis

Answer 1

Damage to UMNs
- motor neurons in CNS

Unilateral damage: disorder of artic and prosody
- mainly affects muscles of contralateral lower face and tongue

Most other head/neck muscles receive bilateral innervation from cortex
- muscles of larynx, pharynx, velum, for example

You never want to move only one side of these structure!
Not adaptive!
Moving one VF?
This mechanism makes that impossible

Question 2

Etiologies

Answer 2

Any condition damage UMNs on one side of the brain
- L hemisphere: aphasia, AOS
- R hemisphere: RHS - right hemisphere syndrome

Question 3

Etiologies - stroke

Answer 3

• most common cause of UUMN
• 91% of cases
• Internal capsule is common - white matter tracts
• frontal lobes common

Question 4

Speech characteristics - articulation

Answer 4

imprecise consonants:
- weakness
- reduced ROM
- decreased fine motor control of tongue and lips

Question 5

Speech characteristics - prosody

Answer 5

slow speech rate
- reduced speed of articulators
- reduced ROM
- weakness (but NOT flaccidity)

Question 6

Additional characteristics of UUMN dysarthria

Answer 6

Pseudobulbar affect
- emotionally labile
- UMN damage

Drooling (one side of mouth)

Positive babinski sign
- contralateral to lesion

Question 7

Key evaluation tasks

Answer 7

Medical records
- site of lesion
- etiology

Conversational speech and reading

AMRs: do some non-speech testing prior to AMRs

Vowel prolongation

Question 8

Traditional Articulation Treatment

Answer 8

phonetic placement
- lips and tongue

Overarticulation of consonants

Minimal contrast drills

Question 9

Oral motor exercises

Answer 9

• articulatory precision
• ROM - range of motion
• Not muscle strength
• 5-10 repetition at least 5 seconds rest -between sets
• Movements for specific phonemes