UUMN Dysarthria

Question 1

Cause

Answer 1

damage to UMN pathways that carry impulses that supply speech muscles

Question 2

Severity

Answer 2

Mild, may or may not need to treat

Question 3

It is an ______ label

Answer 3

anatomical, rather than pathophysiologic

Question 4

Primary characteristic

Answer 4

articulation deficits (secondary, prosody)

Question 5

Co-occuring disorders

Answer 5

• AOS

- Aprosodia

Question 6

What does UMN system do

Answer 6

• transmit motor impulses from higher centres of the brain to brainstem and spinal cord

Question 7

Clinical characteristics

Answer 7

• Babinski reflex
• weakness & spasticity in affected limbs
• lower facial weakness
• lingual weakness

Question 8

Lacunar infarcts

Answer 8

• small infarcts in brainstem & cortical areas
• leave behind small cavity (lacune) after healing
• occur in put, caudate nuc, thal, pons, int cap, white matter
• not associated w/ aphasia, memory, or visual imp
• signs: primarily motor or sensorimotor (hemiparesis, clumsy-hand syndrome…)

Question 9

Pt perceptions

Answer 9

• slurred
• thick tongue
• heavy face
• slow & clumsy
• mild drooling/swallowing

Question 10

Nonspeech Obs

Answer 10

Lingual weakness
Lower facial weakness
Unilateral palatal weakness NOT common

Question 11

Speech obs

Answer 11

• Most prominent: imprecise consonants
• slow rate
• no effect on prosody or respiration
• Harsh vq

Question 12

Evaluation tasks

Answer 12

• conversational speech & reading
• AMRs (slow)
• Prolonged vowel (harsh VQ)

Question 13

It’s so mild, why do we care?

Answer 13

• might be only indicator of neurological damage

- pt may want treatment depending on impact