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CHAPTER 5
Chapter Overview
Spastic dysarthria is a motor speech disorder caused by bilateral damage to the upper
motor neurons of both the pyramidal and extrapyramidal systems, characterized by
imprecise consonants, monotonous pitch, reduced stress, and harsh vocal quality due to
weakness, slow movements, spasticity, and abnormal reflexes. Individuals with this
disorder have increased muscle tone of spasticity in various muscles of the vocal tract,
but they also have weakness, reduced range of motion, and decreased fine motor control
in many of these same muscles. Damage to the pyramidal system results in weak and
Speech errors in this dysarthria are the result of spasticity, slowness, and weakness in
the vocal-tract muscles. Articulation, phonation, resonance, and prosody are generally
affected more than respiration. Common articulation errors include imprecise consonant
production and vowel distortions. Phonation is characterized by harsh vocal quality,
strained-strangled vocal quality, and low pitch. Resonance is characterized by
Study Questions and Answers
1. Define spastic dysarthria in your own words.
2. Which nervous system tracts must be damaged before spastic dysarthria can
occur?
