Speech and language characteristics in ataxic dysarthria with vitamin E deficiency

Abstract

Ataxia with vitamin E deficiency is a relatively rare disease that speech disorder is known as dysarthria which is one of the last symptoms of it. Ataxic dysarthria is also a kind of dysarthria and speech disorder which is caused by damage to the cerebellum or its input and output pathways and usually is diagnosed by scanning speech, misarticulation of consonants and vowels, the problem in voice quality and change in acoustic parameters and all of these symptoms can reduce speech intelligibility. Correspondingly, this study is a case report of this rare disease that shows the deficit of the participant in the areas related to cognition, language and speech skills such as problems in the respiratory system, phonation, and prosody. To our knowledge so far, the incidence of this disease in Iran and speech disorder resulting from it (Ataxic dysarthria) in Iran and other countries has not been reported, so this study has been carried out to investigate the speech and language characteristics of a patient with this disorder. © 2017, Semnan University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.