Essay On Dysarthria

Now getting older, I see the effects that hearing loss has had on me. For one, I will admit to having the worst vocabulary skills (thank goodness for a dictionary and thesaurus). For two, I get tongue twisted a lot and do not

Having a hearing impairment means that you have the impotence to assimilate what others around you are saying. The loss of hearing and its severity comes in many different levels. In more severe cases of deafness, like in Jacobs’ case, a hearing aid gives very little to no help at all. Jacobs’ disability brought him many challenges. In school he

The second article, A Methodology for Assessing the Functions of Emerging Speech in Children with Developmental Disabilities by Lerman, Parten, Addison, Vorndran, Volkert, & Kodak, 2005 (2005), is about an experimental study aimed to develop and evaluate

Kara-lynn is a 3 year; 6 month old female presenting with a severe phonological disorder. Her results from testing indicate that her speech intelligibility is significantly reduced due to multiple phoneme collapses into /d/ of the following phonemes and consonant clusters: /p/, /g/, /k/, /s/, /z/, /θ/, /ð/, /tr/,and /gr/. In addition, the use of multiple phonological processes, including: final consonant deletion, initial consonant deletion, cluster reduction, vocalization, and deaffrication also significantly contribute to her reduced intelligibility. Her speech intelligibility in known context was calculated to be 64%, which is low for a child who is 3 years; 6 months(consider adding reference). Reduced intelligibility can impact a child’s ability to communicate wants and needs, making Kara-Lynn’s speech intelligibility an area of need.

Fortunately, there are numerous resources available for people with disabilities that offer assistance and programs to meet their everyday needs. The Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind serves as an educational resource for individuals who are deaf, blind, deaf-blind, and multi-disabled. I decided to research this agency because it has been referenced in my communicative disorders classes. As a future speech language pathologist, I want to learn about this agency and discover the programs it offers to help me with my future clients. The Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind is relative to this course because as mentioned in the textbook and other course material, resources and programs that offer assistance to individuals with disabilities are essential to their successful futures. This agency is a means in which people who are deaf and blind can seek assistance to improve their skills of communication, and this is ultimately my goal as a speech language pathologist.

As a Speech Language Pathologist it is my responsibility to provide a means of communication to any individual who has an impairment as it relates to communication. No matter how severe the deficit may be as it relates to cognitive functioning, motor skills,etc.. and any other disability that may impact the traditional means of communication. A Speech language Pathologist who works with individuals who require the use of an Augmentative and alternative communication device, must keep in mind that it is their responsibility to make sure that more than one mode of alternative and or augmentative can be used, monitor the progression of intervention as well as evaluate the individual and most importantly keep up to date with current practice through

While at MTSU, I have been fortunate to take a full course load of communication disorders and audiology classes. Not only have these classes have given me an extensive knowledge of the field, but they have also exposed me to the various areas of the field, such as early intervention and rehabilitative speech pathology. Additionally, I have had the opportunity to take a clinical practicum at the MTSU Speech Clinic. During my first practicum, I have worked with a 15-year-old boy with Down Syndrome on receptive and expressive language, articulation, literacy, and an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The practicum experience has been so valuable as I have learned so many things that difficult to learn from a textbook, such as using treatment techniques and behavioral management strategies.

A phonated interval (PI) is the duration of a signal in a voiced unit in speech production. The use of prolonged speech, or increased PIs, in the treatment of stuttering has been determined to be effective. In the long-term, however, the client who receives this treatment may relapse into their dysfluencies. What this study sought to do was compare the use of this standard form of treatment with a new adult stuttering treatment program, known as Modifying Phonation Intervals (MPI). According

“‘Atticus, he was real nice….’… ‘Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.’” is a dialogue written by Harper Lee that stuck with me after reading To Kill A Mockingbird in high school. Despite physical appearance or intellect, everyone deserves to be valued at their core; what better way to affirm someone than by conversing with them as Scout did with Boo Radley. Thus, my aspiration is to enable a voice to those with communication disorders. This desire to be a speech language pathologist has been influenced by personal and professional exposures to the field.

Rogers and colleagues (2003) measured subjects’ most comfortable listening level and subjects’ acceptable background noise level. Their subjects included 25 females and 25 males, all between 19 and 25 years of age, and all with normal hearing. The most comfortable listening level for females was 36.2 decibels, and for males it was 42.1 decibels, or about 6 decibels louder. Males preferred speakers to speak about 6 decibels louder compared to the loudness preferred by females. The acceptable background noise level for females was 24.8 decibels, while for males it was 31.7 decibels, or about 7 decibels louder.

Speech Language therapist working with adults often come across various disorders ,whilst there is some overlap in the presentation of strengths and difficulties it is crucial to accurately identify the underlying condition to efficiently provide treatment.

Al is also reporting that he is diagnosed with epilepsy. He stated that he just can’t be around strobe lights or blinking lights as they trigger his epilepsy. Counselor has sent paperwork out to Al's doctor to verify this information, but it has not been received back yet. Once it is received back, this counselor will review the paperwork and update his eligibility. At this time his eligibility could change.

Adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) is a voice disorder due to central motor processing abnormalities which result in decreased control of the laryngeal muscles (Blitzer, 2010). The idiopathic disorder is characterized by involuntary spasms of the laryngeal muscles controlling vocal fold adduction (National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association, 2012). The dysphonic characteristics presented by patients with ADSD are described as strained, strangled, and effortful due to irregular adductions of the vocal folds and the occlusion of air through the vocal tract during phonation(Blitzer,2010; Cannito, Doiuchi, Murry &Woodson, 2012). Patients with muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) present with similar perceptual vocal characteristics however, treatment for the two disorders is quite different. Speech-language pathologists often have difficulty diagnosing and distinguishing between ADSD, a neurological disorder, and MTD, a functional voice disorder (Rees et al., 2007). Correct diagnosis is important and objective measures, such as spectral analysis, are more sufficient in distinguishing the two disorders(Rees et al., 2007).

Each participant was assessed by a speech-language pathologist in a quiet room as a part of the pre-treatment assessment. Each participant’s speech, oromotor, and receptive language skills were assessed to determine their differential diagnosis. The participant’s speech skills were assessed by using the Articulation, Inconsistency and Phonological Assessments of the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP). This assessment allowed researcher to obtain standard scores with a mean of 10 and normal range of 7-13 (Crosbie et al. 2005). The speech-language pathologist who conducted the assessment made on-line transcriptions of the data. These transcriptions were then compared to the audio recordings of the session to determine

Due to the nature of the condition, individuals with Down syndrome face a bountiful array of difficulties with language and communication. Down syndrome occurs due to an extra copy of the twenty-first chromosome causing intellectual and developmental delays as well as abnormal physical characteristics. With the highly complex nature of human speech, these physical characteristics of individuals with Down syndrome cause many challenges in accomplishing clear and audible communication. The following paper will discuss specifically the articulation and auditory challenges that individuals with Down syndrome face during speech.