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Semin Speech Lang 1998; 19(3): 291-302
DOI: 10.1055/s-2008-1064051
© 1998 by Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.

Functional Outcome Assessment in Dysarthria

Katherine C. Hustad, David R. Beukelman, Kathryn M. Yorkston
  • Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; University of Nebraska Medical Center, Munroe/Meyer Institute of Genetics and Rehabilitation; Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle
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Publication Date:
15 May 2008 (online)

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ABSTRACT

Strategies for the functional assessment of communication disorders experienced by persons with dysarthria can be based on the Chronic Disabilities Model described by Nagi (1991), which considers a disorder at five different levels, ranging from pathophysiology at the level of the tissue to the societal levels of dysfunction. Outcomes can be measured at all levels of the model. For example, at the pathophysiologic level, outcomes may indicate events at the tissue level during the course of the disease, whereas, at the level of the disability, outcomes reveal the adequacy of speech production using compensatory strategies in communicative contexts, and at the societal level, they may indicate the overall degree of success a speaker has in specific real-world speaking situations. This article focuses on “functional” assessment of persons with dysarthria. Thus, assessment is viewed from the perspective of how speech and the use of speech can be measured in functional situations over time or as a result of treatment.

KEY WORDS

assessment - communication - dysarthria