Scanned speech - characteristic of multiple sclerosis and other disorders

Speech difficulties are a disorder of speech activity, due to which normal communication and social interaction of people with society is impossible. A violation is indicated by deviations in the functioning of the psychophysiological mechanisms of speech if the development does not correspond to age.

One of the defects is slurred speech, which makes it difficult for a person to communicate. Speech therapists, neurophysiologists, neurologists, otolaryngologists and other specialists study and treat such difficulties. They work with adults and children.

Why does it appear in adults?

Slurred speech in adults may appear suddenly or develop gradually. It can also occur in children. Specialists first find out why this happened, and only then begin treatment. Slurred speech can occur due to several factors. The reasons are as follows:

• Brain disorders.
• Brain injuries caused by stroke or thrombosis.
• Head injuries.
• Brain tumors.

• Degenerative diseases.
• Excessive alcohol consumption.
• Weakness of facial muscles.
• Weak or tight fastening of dentures.

Causes and risk factors

Classification of a pathological condition involves division into organic and functional. The disorder may be a consequence of central nervous system dysfunction and hearing impairment. Also, its occurrence is caused by injuries and bruises of the head, damage to the speech organs. This could be a brain tumor, stroke, thrombosis. In older people, there is a connection with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. In this case, pathological memory disorders and mental disorders occur in parallel. Less commonly, epilepsy, alcohol abuse, cerebral palsy, and infectious diseases of the brain contribute to dysfunction.

The functional causes of speech disorder are considered to be external factors, for example, stress, fear, hysteria, untreated pathology from childhood. Under the influence of taking certain medications (antidepressants, tranquilizers), auditory perception may decrease, which aggravates speech disorders. An important role is played by the hereditary factor. If there is a predisposition, it is necessary to monitor the person’s condition over time.

The simultaneous influence of external and internal causes is possible, in which case the picture of disorders becomes multi-layered and manifests itself in a large number of symptoms.

A person’s communication functions also suffer when dentures are installed incorrectly. A deep state of stress and overexertion can lead to spastic dysphonia. In this case, tension in the voice or its disappearance is noted.

Types of violations

Slurred speech of phonation (external) design appears separately and together with other disorders. In speech therapy, there are the following types of disorders:

• Aphonia and dysaphonia. There is a disorder or absence of phonation due to pathologies of the vocal apparatus. Usually there is a violation of the pitch, strength, and timbre of the voice.
• Bradylalia. Speech rate slows down. A particular feature is the slow implementation of the articular speech program.
• Tahilalia is an acceleration of the rate of speech. Accelerated articulatory speech program.
• Stuttering. The organization of speech is disrupted when the muscles of the speech apparatus undergo spasms. Usually appears in children.

• Dislalia. This pathology is presented in the form of a disorder in the pronunciation of sounds, when a person’s hearing and innervation of the speech apparatus are normal. The distorted sound design of words appears. This is slurred speech. The sound may be pronounced incorrectly, replaced or mixed up.
• Rhinolalia. The pronunciation of sounds and voice timbre is impaired, which is associated with disorders of the speech apparatus. Changes in voice timbre appear when the vocal stream of air passes into the nasal cavity during exhalation and pronunciation. This causes resonance.
• Dysarthria. Pronunciation is impaired, which is associated with insufficient innervation of the speech apparatus. This disease occurs due to cerebral palsy, which is detected at an early age.

Symptoms

Symptoms include:

• unusual vibration of the vocal folds, as a result of which the voice appears hoarse and becomes compressed;
• inability to quickly formulate your thoughts;
• problems with understanding the speech of others;
• violation of tempo: it can be accelerated or slowed down;
• violation of voice timbre;
• swallowing sounds, speech inhibition;
• syntactic violation;
• excessive speech activity that is not typical for the normal state;
• frequent repetition of the same words;
• stuttering, nasality.

Structural and semantic design of speech

Based on this criterion, disorders are divided into 2 types: alalia and aphasia. Each type of disease has its own symptoms. Alalia manifests itself in the form of absence or incomplete development of speech. This occurs due to damage to the areas of the brain that are responsible for it. The disorder may appear during fetal development or at an early age.

With alalia, slurred speech appears. This defect is considered one of the most complex, since speech activity is not fully formed. Aphasia is the loss of the ability to speak due to local damage to the brain. Why does slurred speech occur with this disorder? It is associated with traumatic brain injuries, neuroinfections and brain tumors.

What other exercises can you do to improve diction and articulation:

1. Practice the pronunciation of final consonants - pronounce them clearly and actively: BO-BO-BO-BOPP!, BA-BA-BA-BAPP! In this way, alternate all paired consonants (t-d, b-p, g-k) so that an explosion is heard at the end.

2. Practice plosive consonants - sounds that appear when an air stream overcomes a barrier: t-d, b-p, g-k. Pronounce voiceless consonants without voice, but with an explosion: K! KKH! P! PY!, then add vowels: TU! KO! PO!, add voiced consonants: BO! RO! BOO!

3. Correctly pronounce vowels in front of a mirror: O must be pronounced with lips formed in a ring, exhaling air in a wide stream; U is pronounced with lips folded into a tube, exhaling air sharply through it. You can practice the pronunciation of different pairs of vowels: IO, AI, AO, OU, EA, EO, UI, UE, ETC.

4. Pronounce difficult combinations of sounds: MFE, RFA, LRO, FMO, LRYU, RLI, DRLI, LRDA. You can also try this: in complex sound combinations with P, change it to any other consonant of this type: LRDA-LMDA.

Diagnostic features

It is necessary to analyze the complaints expressed by the patient. The medical history is also taken into account. Experts usually ask when the slurred speech appeared and whether there are any relatives suffering from such an illness. You definitely need to visit a neurologist and get examined by him. The doctor will check the mandibular and pharyngeal reflexes, examine the pharynx, and make sure there is atrophy of the tongue muscles.

The reflexes of the lower and upper extremities are checked. You should be examined by a speech therapist. The doctor evaluates speech indicators, identifies tempo disturbances and difficulties. An examination by an otolaryngologist is necessary, which will protect against processes in the mouth such as ulcers and tumors, which can cause problems.

A computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scan of the head is performed, which will help identify the cause of slurred speech. The causes in adults and children are determined in consultation with a neurosurgeon. Only after a complete diagnosis are treatment methods prescribed.

Principles of treatment

If slurred speech is detected, what to do? It is necessary to treat the main disease that caused the disorder:

• Tumors are removed surgically.
• Resection of the hematoma if it is on the surface.
• Surgical removal of ulcers in the skull followed by the administration of antibacterial agents.
• Normalization of pressure.
• Using drugs to restore metabolism and cerebral blood flow.

People with various disorders need to visit a speech therapist so that the deficiency can be corrected with the help of special exercises. Regular classes are required.

How we get back to normal tempo:

1. This is breathing exercises.

People with a fast pace have shallow clavicular breathing (they have enough breath for 1-2 words, and are forced to “eat” or swallow the ending of the 3rd word). It is necessary to open your diaphragmatic breathing so that you have enough breath for a full sentence of 5-6 words!

2. Exercises for mobility of the speech apparatus.

And
this is NOT pronunciation of tongue twisters!!!
A typical mistake of many - don't repeat it!

3. Speech therapy exercises for diction accuracy!

4. Rhythm of speech

(this is a set of exercises with air intake and speech rhythm)

Rules for correcting speech

Speech impairment appears not only due to pathology of the articulatory apparatus, neurological pathology and the habit of incorrect pronunciation. Another factor is psychological. When excited, a person’s speech becomes barely audible and almost incomprehensible.

The work of a speech therapist to restore speech is based on the following principles:

• Personal orientation.
• Creating an emotionally favorable environment.
• Interaction with parents.
• Positive motivation.

Speech therapy classes involve improving the mobility of the articulatory apparatus. We are also working on sounds and restoring phonemic hearing. Specialists work with children in a playful way, using speech games and a computer. Combined activities are carried out that involve switching attention from one activity to another.

What you can do on your own to improve your speech

High-quality speech training is a process that must be supervised by a specialist. However, there are basic, initial steps that everyone can take on their own in order to see some first changes and, perhaps, think about later turning to professional training.

Breathing and warming up

The foundation of good speech is proper breathing, so watch how you breathe the next time you wake up. Usually, when a person is relaxed, when he has not yet jumped out of bed and ran to do things, the muscles that we need are working. So, try to feel them - what muscles work when you lie in a relaxed state? Do you have any tightness in your back? What do you breathe? I personally have not yet met people who, in a relaxed lying position, would breathe with something other than their stomachs - that is, the way they should breathe. When we breathe relaxed, moan, cough, laugh, our natural mechanisms work - we do all this with our abdominal muscles.

Many people who teach speech try to teach their students vocal breathing, which is not necessary, because speech and vocal breathing are different things. Yes, they have the same principle, but there are several nuances that are important for sound reproduction. The vocal voice differs from the speech voice at least in that it is more processed. If we all spoke in a vocal voice, we would sound like a caricature of an opera singer. In order for us to enjoy talking, so that the voice seems to pour out of our body, we need to take into account belly breathing techniques.

Right in the morning, lying in bed, looking at how your stomach breathes when you are relaxed, inhale and exhale “ewww”

with slightly closed lips.
Make sure that your chest does not move at this moment. After several “fuuu”s,
we inhale and exhale on “s”, as if squeezing the air out of ourselves with the abdominal muscles, all other muscles should be relaxed. Imagine that in your lower abdomen you have a reservoir of air (the air that we exhale is our potential sound), and you exhale all this air from the reservoir under pressure into your front teeth. Not in the top of the head, not somewhere in the back of the head, but in the front teeth and the sound “s”. And so 6-8 times, after which you need to get up and try to do the same exercise, but standing.

After you have realized that you are breathing correctly and there are no obstacles between your stomach and front teeth, we try to exhale along the same trajectory, without changing anything in the muscles, to the sound “m”

so that the teeth, upper lip, and wings of the nose rattle.
This is called a resonator - there are four of them in total, but since we only train basic things on our own, with this exercise we warm up the basic ones. The next step is to combine mooing with warming up the cervical and shoulder parts of the body, that is, when you breathe on “m”
, make several soft circles with your head in one direction, then in the other, up and down and left and right. Then we switch to the shoulders: we sound into the resonator and make circular movements in one direction on one exhalation, take in air - and in the other direction on the next inhalation. Why do we stretch our shoulders and neck? Because if they have any clamps, this also interferes with speaking well. For example, if the shoulders are raised, the voice does not sound smooth, but as if crushed.

Articulation

After we have stretched the body, neck and shoulders, we train a simple phrase: “Mom, mom, honey for us.”

, still speaking as if from the stomach.
With this phrase we learn to connect the correct consonant sound with vowels - we need to learn how to do this so that there are no gaps between “m”
and
“a”
- and then, finally, we move on to warming up the articulatory apparatus, doing articulatory gymnastics, warming up our lips and tongue and jaw.

Here are some of the simplest exercises for warming up your lips (you can easily see how to do them visually on the Internet):

— We stretch our lips with a “proboscis” and twist them from side to side. It is important to twist your lips and not work with your jaw - it is closed and does not help the lips, only the facial muscles work! We did this 8 times from side to side and released the tension, like horses do, with a kind of “pfrrr”

from the belly to the lips so that the lips tremble.

- Then we do the same thing, but now we move our lips up and down, also 8 times and also relieve tension.

“Now we turn on the tongue and, using circular movements on the inside of our mouth, we warm up the muscles of the cheeks and lips, and the tongue itself warms up. This is a hard exercise, the muscles get tired from it, but it is a wonderful fatigue. This should be done 5 times in one direction and 5 times in the other, pressing the tongue on the cheeks and lips. Relieving tension.

— After we have stretched the tongue and lips, we stretch the jaw. First, we simply knead the jaw joints near the ears with our fingers, then open our mouth so that the fingers fall into these parotid cavities, then we can move the jaw from side to side.

- There is another secret exercise - we take a marker, lipstick, mascara, pencil, in general, something oblong, and insert it into the mouth crosswise, clamping it with our teeth, checking whether the facial muscles are tense - they should be relaxed. In this state, we begin to say, for example, the following simple saying: “On Thursday the fourth at four and a quarter o’clock, four little black little devils were drawing a drawing in black ink.”

. Your task is to make the words sound as clear as possible, even in this awkward position. This will give you a great workout for your jaw, lips, and tongue, and when you take the marker out of your mouth, you'll immediately feel like you're speaking and sounding much easier.

In general, in the case of gymnastics of the articulatory apparatus, there can be no wrong exercises - do any that you find. The only point: make sure that when you start using your stretched speech apparatus, your lips do not become active and “dance” all over your face, it looks ugly, articulation should not irritate your listener. Look carefully at how quality TV presenters speak: they do not have excessive articulation, but their jaw opens well on stressed vowel sounds. There is probably not a single presenter who talks with his mouth closed and his jaw closed, but in ordinary life there are a lot of such people.

Diction

Diction can be thoroughly developed in just 3-5 days of classes, if you devote at least 2 minutes of your time daily to articulation exercises and pure speech. Pure twisters are special phrases and phrases, the same as tongue twisters, but we use them not to speak quickly, but to speak clearly.

An example of a pure saying: “There is a priest on a head, a cap on the priest, a head under the priest, and a priest under a cap.”

. Quite often, when people say it for the first time, they “swallow” half the sounds. Say this pure phrase, pronouncing the endings clearly and distinctly (you can record yourself on a voice recorder to listen from the outside). Next, pay attention to how you pronounce stressed vowels. They should be a little longer in sound and fuller of sound than other sounds. Stressed vowels are the core of a word; they are responsible for its volume and beauty.

And one more point that needs to be noted is fluency of speech: try to speak each phrase as one word, as a single structure. Words should flow one into another, you need to speak in perspective, and not put periods after each word.

Speech training does not belong to the category of processes that must be done in childhood. If you were not taught to speak correctly in childhood, this does not mean that you should give up on good speech, because a person has the opportunity to work with his voice at any age.

Rules for speech formation

Classes with a specialist allow children to develop literate, phonetically clear speech. But such events will not be enough. The speech therapist only helps with sound production. Everything else depends on the child and parents.

In order for speech to be successfully formed, the following rules must be observed:

• You should not scold your child for slurred speech, you just need to carefully correct it.
• Simple exercises should be shown.
• There is no need to focus on mistakes or stumbles.
• It is necessary to have a positive attitude towards classes with a speech therapist.
• Parents also need to watch their speech.

What is spontaneous speech and why is it so important to develop it?

Spontaneous speech is one of the most difficult forms of communication, because it is created almost simultaneously with thinking.
Unlike written speech, in spontaneous speech we do not have the opportunity to think through a thought, find the right words, correct a sentence, correct mistakes, change something, remove or add something. Thoughts are almost instantly formed into speech structures; there is no time to carefully think through each phrase. For people with poorly developed spontaneous speech, situations in which they urgently need to get together and say something always become stressful.

If we try to explain what spontaneous speech is in simple words, then it is unprepared speech, formed in parallel with thoughts, in the current moment and in constantly changing communicative conditions. It is spontaneous speech that is considered to be a real indicator of the speaker’s level of language proficiency.

After all, written speech can be corrected and edited, theses or texts can be prepared in full for public speaking, but only those who really speak the language well can express their thoughts orally in the moment beautifully and coherently, logically and accessiblely.

It is spontaneous speech that dominates real speech communication of most people. And most often it requires development and improvement. Who among us does not begin to get very worried when an unexpected offer comes to speak in public (to make a toast, hold a meeting, give a speech, talk about something to a large number of strangers, etc.)?

Even those who have a good command of the language under normal conditions, due to stress, begin to lose their thoughts, make mistakes, pronounce a lot of unnecessary words, repeat the same thing or skip some parts in the logical chain of the story, stutter, “noise”, do pauses, etc. What can we say about people who are not very good at verbal communication skills.

“In everyday life, understatement, filler words, slips of the tongue, and illogical narration are considered FORGIVEN

»

Unlike public speech, when words have more meaning and influence the result, when there is a minimum of time, but you need to say the most. Although, in my opinion, in everyday life it is important to be able to speak correctly, coherently, beautifully, understandably and logically.

Often spontaneous speech becomes a literacy test. Speaking without preparation, under stress, in parallel with the thought process, a person demonstrates all the skills and abilities, knowledge and skills. On the other hand, spontaneous speech does not always reflect the real level of development of speech skills, since the full development of language proficiency is also influenced by emotions.

Competent speech presupposes the ability to construct sentences stylistically correctly, the presence of a large vocabulary and its appropriate use, correct stress in words, coherence and consistency, logic and accuracy in the expression of thoughts. We can and should work on this.

What is worth remembering: even the most ideal sentences and speeches can be spoiled by a quiet voice, ugly timbre, self-doubt, strange gestures, facial expressions, facial expressions, low/high speed, inappropriate pauses, etc. That is, it is not enough to be able to formulate sentences beautifully and correctly, you also need to be able to present yourself.

Factors that determine the beauty of spontaneous speech:

1.
Purity and smoothness of the narration
- the absence of filler words, aspirations, interjections, pauses, unnecessary insertions, etc.

2.
Sound
– pleasant timbre, flexibility of intonation, sound strength, precision of pronunciation, tempo, etc.

3.
Richness of speech
- is formed from the variety of words used, phrases, speech structures, etc. Directly depends on the erudition and vocabulary of the speaker.

4.
Logic and structure
- without these conditions, the narrative loses emphasis, clarity and clarity of message, turns into a pile of thoughts and facts, which are difficult and boring to perceive.

In my opinion, you need to work, first of all, on spontaneous speech. There will be an understanding that the skills are at their best, and confidence in one’s abilities will appear. And where there is self-confidence, there is also the ability to present oneself, capture the attention of the public, and cope with strong emotions. Everything here is interconnected, so I wouldn’t consider knowledge separately from emotions.

Prognosis and prevention

Speech disorders can be corrected if this work is started at an early age or early stage. The people around us and the efforts of the person himself play an important role in improving the condition. If the disorder is identified in a timely manner and treatment is started, speech can be normalized. Such children continue to study in regular schools and get along well with the kids.

In complex forms of the disease, achieving improved speech is not easy. You can only correct your speech function. In such situations, the range of measures is broader, and the patient needs to visit a specialized institution. It is necessary to maintain the continuity of speech therapy organizations: go to special kindergartens, correctional schools. It is also important to be treated in psychoneurological hospitals if it was prescribed by a doctor.

Prevention involves implementing effective measures from birth. The child must be protected from neutroinfection, skull and brain injuries. It should not be affected by toxic factors.

It must be taken into account that success comes with a systematic approach and comprehensive organization of events. Along with traditional treatment, unconventional methods should not be forgotten. It is important to carry out physical activity activities. Using a variety of methods can provide excellent results if used correctly.

How to get rid of speech changes?

Treatment of manifested speech changes is carried out depending on the disease that provoked the manifestation of this symptom. Therefore, it is initially important to conduct a thorough diagnosis and determine the nature of such disorders. In modern medicine, pharmacological, speech therapy, surgical, and physiotherapeutic methods of treating such pathologies are practiced. In most cases, complex therapy is practiced.

People diagnosed with mutism require very careful care. It is important to constantly try to “talk” a person, to save him from muteness and deafness. For this purpose, you can try using a variety of gestures, facial expressions, writing words or drawing. The doctor will tell you what to do in a particular case. A doctor may prescribe treatment for mutism using medications according to a specific regimen.

Children who experience speech changes are treated by appropriate specialists, depending on the cause of the speech problem. If speech development is delayed, you should contact a child psychologist. However, speech problems can often be corrected by treatment from a speech therapist. Long-term treatment is necessary for those children who experience speech changes associated with neurological problems. Sometimes the disorders disappear with age. But if there is any speech impairment in a child, parents should definitely pay attention to this and consult with a specialist immediately.