Which disorder is characterized by disordered articulation due to motor execution problems and often involves slurred speech?

• A. AOS
• B. Dysarthria
• C. Aphasia
• D. Cluttering

Answer: (B)

Disordered articulation arising from problems with moving the speech muscles is a hallmark of dysarthria. When the muscles used for speech—lips, tongue, jaw, vocal cords, and the breath support from the diaphragm—aren’t executing movements smoothly, speech becomes slurred or imprecise. You’ll often see imprecise consonants, distorted vowels, and changes in voice quality or prosody (for example, being too soft, too harsh, or monotone), because the underlying neuromuscular system isn’t able to produce the intended speech sounds with normal strength and coordination. Dysarthria can come from weakness, spasticity, incoordination, or other motor-skill impairments due to neurologic conditions like stroke, Parkinson’s disease, or multiple sclerosis.

In contrast, apraxia of speech involves a disruption in planning and programming the movements needed for speech, so the errors are often inconsistent and accompanied by visible groping as the person tries to assemble the correct sounds. Aphasia is a language disorder affecting understanding or formulation of language, not primarily the articulation mechanics. Cluttering is characterized by rapid, sometimes irregular speech with reduced intelligibility due to fluency issues, not specifically a motor-execution problem.