NO PLACE FOR MOTOR SPEECH ACTS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF DYSPHAGIA - INTELLIGIBILITY AND SWALLOWING DIFFICULTIES IN STROKE AND PARKINSONS-DISEASE PATIENTS

Speech and language therapists are increasingly being asked to treat d ysphagic Patients. Concern has been expressed and surveys have confirm ed that radiological assessment procedures are rarely available. Conse quently, patients must often be assessed and their treatment planned o n the basis of bedside examinations. Despite evidence that swallowing disorders need not be related to problems of articulation, recommendat ions on the procedure of such examinations frequently include an evalu ation of speech and non-speech articulatory movements. A study is repo rted of patients who exhibit both dysphagia and dysarthria as a result of either stroke or Parkinson's disease. Assessments of the intelligi bility of their speech and of their swallowing problems were found to be unrelated. The implications this finding for the assessment of dysp hagia are discussed.