1. Aphasia and apraxia of speech (AOS) commonly co-occur so it is essential to know the characteristics of each in order to understand their differences and commonalities. The reason for the co-occurrence of these conditions is because they both result from a lesion at the left hemisphere, middle cerebral artery. While this is true there is a differentiating factor: aphasia without AOS is more often associated with temporal or temporoparietal lesions, whereas AOS is more often associated with posterior frontal lesions than with the those at the temporal or parietal lobes. Both of these conditions are predominantly caused by strokes, but can also be caused by other issues, some of which are traumatic brain injury and progressive neurological…show more content… Apraxia of speech (AOS) and dysarthria are speech disorders that are sometimes difficult to distinguish between, depending on the type of dysarthria. This is why it is essential to understand their differences and commonalities. Their first commonality is their etiology. Both disorders are commonly associated with stroke, but can also be results of brain injury. Dysarthria can also occur as a result of other issues, some of which are Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Huntington’s disease, and AOS may also be caused other issues, including dementia or other progressive neurological…show more content… This diagnosis was based upon several observations. He was fairly unintelligible, which was due to both his hoarse voice, as well as his low volume of speech. Contrasting from the first patient, this one displayed a monopitch tone. Interestingly, he had difficulty initiating speech, which was the final deciding factor of the hypokinetic dysarthria diagnosis. This difficulty starting voluntary speech immediately elicited thoughts of Parkinson’s disease, which is a possible medical diagnosis for this patient. Hypokinetic dysarthria can be a result of Parkinson’s disease, basal ganglia damage, or a lesion in the substantia Ingra. I initially had to rule out hyperkinetic dysarthria, and did so by realizing that the decreased volume and monopitch speech are key characteristics of hypokinetic dysarthria, and are not symptoms of hyperkinetic dysarthria. I gave the third patient a diagnosis of spastic dysarthria. His voice quality could be described as harsh and strained, some hypernasality could also be heard. There were portions of the sample that included the patient’s volume of speech raising high in bursts and then dropping down low. He also had a very slow rate of speech and voiced the voiceless stop /p/. At one time during the three-minute video he began laughing inappropriately, suggesting a pseudobulbar
