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Ataxic Dysarthria Case Study

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According to Spencer and Slocomb (2007), Ataxic dysarthria is a result of damage to the cerebellum and or cerebellar control circuit. Common etiologies of ataxic dysarthria include degenerative diseases or vascular diseases resulting in lesions to the cerebellum or cranial nerves. An individual with cerebellar damage will experience difficulties with motor functioning involving the ability to stand and walk properly. Common motor signs resulting in ataxic dysarthria include a wide based gait and limb, nystagmus, hypotonia and dysmetria. Deviant speech characteristics associated with ataxic dysarthria include articulatory, phonatory and prosody difficulties. Speech may sound slurred while including distorted vowel production, prolonged phonemes, …show more content…

Proper use of prosody is an important aspect of speech as it influences meaning and conveys emotion and attitude. It also allows listeners differentiate questions versus general statements (Patel and Campellone, 2009). Utilizing proper stress and prosody within speech will allow speakers to communicate effectively. Due to the fact prosody difficulties are recognized in the speech of indiviudals with ataxic and mixed dysarthria, implementing contrastive stress exercises in therapy may be beneficial and allow speech to sound more …show more content…

According the article, Kim and Jo support the fact that musical elements may successfully be implemented into speech therapy. This study consisted of six stroke patients with mixed dysarthria over the course of 10 different sessions. Voice data was collected prior to the study by obtaining a voice sample from each patient, and post-test data was collected after completion 10 therapy sessions. Maximum phonation time, fundamental frequency, voice intensity, jitter and shimmer, noise to harmonic ratio and diodohkinetic rate are all measured within this protocol. The patients then participated in the Accent-based music-speech protocol (AMSP). This protocol was designed with four different stages where the patients were instructed to integrate musical elements into speech tasks. The first stage consisted of warm-up exercises (e.g., stretching arms and trunk) to prepare the patients for the rest of the stages. The second stage involved respiratory training. During this training, the patients participated in a variety of inhalation and exhalation exercises simultaneously to ascending and descending melodies. Vocalization exercises followed the respiration exercises. During this task, the patients were instructed to sing vowel combinations utilizing simple song melodies. The last stage involved six different Korean melodic chants involving hand

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