Here at The Sequal Trust we help provide non-verbal people with the aids that they need to communicate. We also help those with incoherent speech. Incoherent speech can have lots of causes but can be the result of something called dysarthria.

Dysarthria is a condition in which the muscles you use for speaking are weakened or you have difficulty controlling them. It is defined as ‘difficult or unclear articulation of speech that is otherwise linguistically normal’.

There are lots of different signs and symptoms of dysarthria, each varying by person. But they can include:

• Slurred and slow speech
• Inability to control volume– speaking as a whisper or speaking too loudly
• Rapid and hard to understand speech
• Monotone speech
• Uneven speech rhythm
• Strained/raspy or nasal speech
• Extreme difficulty moving the tongue or facial muscles

Thus, making it incredibly difficult for those who suffer from dysarthria to communicate with others.

There is a wide variety of conditions that can cause incoherent speech and dysarthria in people all over the country such as:

• ALS ( Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis)
• Brain injury/ Brain tumour
• Cerebral Palsy
• Stroke
• Huntington’s Disease
• Lyme Disease
• MS (Multiple Sclerosis)
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Parkinson’s

Along with many others.

Dysarthria is a condition that is the reality for thousands of people across the country, causing them to have incoherent speech and therefore difficulty communicating.  Here at the Sequal Trust our aim is to bridge that gap – as we believe everybody has the right to communicate.

If you know someone with incoherent speech that needs a little extra help in getting the communication aid that is right for them, then visit https://www.thesequaltrust.org.uk/help-and-advice to see what we can do for you. We can make a difference one device at a time.