Dysarthria

At Expressable, we help children and adults with dysarthria improve how clearly they communicate. Our unique dysarthria program teaches you evidence-based strategies for clear speech, while also focusing on practical modifications to make communication easier in daily situations.

Dysarthria is a motor-speech disorder that weakens the muscles used to produce speech. Dysarthria makes it difficult to coordinate and control these muscles, which can lead to a range of communication challenges.

Dysarthria can occur at birth, which is called congenital dysarthria. But it’s often the result of damage to the parts of the brain that control the speech muscles, caused by an illness or injury such as stroke, brain injury, tumor, or Parkinson’s disease.

Some of the symptoms of dysarthria include: 

• Changes to the speed or rhythm at which you talk

• Speech that sounds slurred, mumbled, or choppy

• Difficulty controlling the volume of your voice

• Difficulty controlling your facial muscles and moving your lips, jaw, and tongue

This guide explains Expressable’s clinical approach to evaluating and treating dysarthria. Learn about the dysarthria exercises and techniques involved in speech therapy, along with the individualized support our speech therapists provide. You can also read our complete guide to dysarthria to learn more about the causes, types, and signs of dysarthria, along with how to support and communicate with someone who has it. 

1Why is speech therapy important for dysarthria? 2How Expressable treats dysarthria 3Practice dysarthria strategies at home with the Expressable portal 4The benefits of online speech therapy for dysarthria 5Get matched with a speech therapist today

Why is speech therapy important for dysarthria?

For people with dysarthria, it’s essential to get professional help to support their ability to communicate. When your clarity and ease of speaking is challenged, it becomes much harder to talk with other people and express your wants, needs, and feelings. This can affect your confidence and make you less likely to want to speak, which can lead to isolation or poor emotional health.

While each person’s treatment plan will be tailored to their unique goals, the Expressable dysarthria program focuses on:

• Evidence-based techniques to support clear speech

• Education and empowerment to use your new speech techniques

• Improved quality of life through easing communication frustrations

• Involvement and education for your caregivers and loved ones

How Expressable treats dysarthria

Expressable matches clients with a licensed speech therapist trained to evaluate and treat dysarthria. All therapy is delivered online via face-to-face video conferencing on Zoom. Research has shown that online speech therapy works just as well as in-person therapy for dysarthria. Online speech therapy is convenient, offers wider access to speech therapists, and makes it easier for family and caregivers to be involved with their loved one’s care.

Expressable’s clinical approach to evaluating dysarthria

Speech therapy for dysarthria begins with an evaluation. Your speech therapist will choose from a variety of assessments for the evaluation. They may conduct assessments such as the Newcastle Dysarthria Assessment Tool (N-DAT) or use measures to gather information related to:

• Speech intelligibility

• Resonance

• Articulation

• Phonation quality 

• Quality of speech while reading

• Quality of speech while speaking in conversation

The results will be used to develop a personalized dysarthria care plan, which typically includes two speech therapy sessions per week.

Evidence-based strategies to help manage dysarthria

Speech therapy for dysarthria will support you in regaining your speech skills and meeting your communication goals. Your speech therapist will help you:

• Strengthen your speech muscles

• Increase the movement of your lips and tongue

• Articulate your words for clearer speech

• Adjust the rate and pace at which you talk

• Increase your breathing support for louder speech

• Practice communicating in real-life situations

• Provide your family with strategies for easier communication

A note about dysarthria treatment for children: At Expressable, dysarthria treatment for children is play-based and child-led. Building a positive, playful relationship with your child helps them better participate in speech therapy. We meet your child where they are, using their interests and motivations to help them learn to speak more clearly and manage their dysarthria. 

Restorative treatment helps the person regain communication skills they’ve lost. Compensatory treatment helps them use other ways to communicate.

There are two approaches for treating dysarthria: restorative (or impairment-based) and compensatory:

• Restorative treatment aims to help the person regain communication skills they’ve lost. It involves direct therapy tasks designed to improve impaired functions.

• Compensatory treatment involves helping the person use other ways to communicate. It teaches the person how to make up for, or work around, functions that aren’t able to be restored.

The use of one or both of these treatment methods will vary depending on the client’s needs. For a person with a progressive disease, the goal of treatment may be to preserve or maintain communication abilities. For other clients, depending on when they were diagnosed and when they start speech therapy, treatment may be more compensatory, using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) as needed. These alternative ways of communicating can include using writing and gestures to get your message across, or an electronic speech-generating device.

Your speech therapist will take you through personalized exercises to help improve your speech. They will also show you how to apply them in everyday conversations with others. It’s important for family members or caregivers to participate in your speech therapy. Your speech therapist will teach them how to better communicate with you, and they’ll learn how to help you practice your new techniques and strategies at home. The more you practice between sessions, the faster progress you can make!

Practice dysarthria strategies at home with the Expressable portal

At Expressable, speech therapy doesn’t stop when your session ends. You’ll have ongoing text messaging support so you can ask questions or get tips from your speech therapist between sessions. You’ll also have access to our client portal, which makes it easier to practice dysarthria exercises at home.

In the portal, you’ll find Learning Paths that explain and reinforce strategies for dysarthria, such as breath support and the core vocabulary approach:

You can watch videos that show real dysarthria techniques in action, such as compensatory strategies for dysarthria.

Your speech therapist will assign personalized home practice activities you can do during your everyday routines, such as lip exercises or self-monitoring of your speech:

The benefits of online speech therapy for dysarthria

Multiple studies over several years have shown the effectiveness of online speech therapy. Not only does it work as well as in-person speech therapy, there are lots of reasons people tend to prefer it:

1 Wider access to qualified speech therapists

With online speech therapy, it’s not hard to find a speech therapist with experience treating dysarthria. You have access to an entire network of speech therapists who are licensed to treat in your state. This is especially beneficial for people who live in more rural areas, or in areas with long waitlists for speech therapy.

2 Convenience and flexibility

Between school, work, errands, and everyday life, it can be hard to regularly attend in-person therapy sessions. Not only is there the commute time, but most speech therapy clinics are only open during normal business hours. With work schedules and after-school activities, for many people, that just doesn’t work.

Online speech therapy removes this problem. At Expressable, you can schedule sessions on the days that work best, at the times that are most convenient, including evenings and weekends. 

3 The comfort of home

If you or your loved one feels embarrassed or shy when it comes to speech therapy, you’re not alone. Many people with speech challenges get nervous at the thought of talking to someone face-to-face. With online speech therapy, doing sessions from the comfort of your own home can put you at ease. And when you’re comfortable and confident, your sessions will be more effective.

Online speech therapy also makes it easier for loved ones or caregivers to be involved. Plus, the speech therapist gets to see the client in their home environment and observe how they communicate with family members. This can help the speech therapist provide functional, everyday recommendations for communication adjustments that fit the person’s needs.

4 Affordability

In-person speech therapy clinics have many expenses that aren’t directly related to your care, such as rent, utilities, and other operational costs. As with any business, these costs are often passed down to the consumer. The price of speech therapy will vary by provider, but generally, the cost of online speech therapy will be less than an in-person practice—even though you receive the same quality of treatment. At Expressable, we also partner with major health insurance plans around the country, making it easier than ever to access speech therapy treatment.

Get matched with a speech therapist today

We’re here to support you or your loved one so you can express yourself and share who you are with the world. Find the right speech therapist for your needs here.