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Diagnosis and Management of Acquired Functional Speech Disorders

Presented by Joseph Duffy

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Functional speech disorders (FSDs; previously known as psychogenic speech disorders) encompass a wide variety of speech abnormalities with an unclear etiology. FSDs are not unusual in clinical practice, but are often misdiagnosed. These disorders manifest in the form of adult-onset impairments of articulation, fluency, resonance, and prosody, as well as pseudoforeign accent, infantile speech, and mutism. Interrelated psychiatric, psychological, and neurobiological mechanisms often play an important role in FSDs. Distinguishing FSDs from other disorders is critical in developing an appropriate speech therapy plan. Several audio clip case studies demonstrate how to conduct examinations and make a differential diagnosis. This course will also cover the effective management of FSDs through assertive treatment and speech pattern modification.

Meet your instructor

Joseph Duffy

Joseph Duffy, PhD, is currently a Professor of Speech Pathology and a practicing Medical Speech Pathologist at The Mayo Clinic. His research interests include neurologic motor speech disorders (the dysarthrias and apraxia of speech), acquired language disorders (aphasia) and acquired psychogenic speech disturbances. The…

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Chapters & learning objectives

What Are Functional Speech Disorders?

1. What Are Functional Speech Disorders?

Making an accurate diagnostic distinction for a functional speech disorder presents a unique challenge for speech language pathologists. Join Dr. Duffy as he defines functional speech disorders, describes their various manifestations, and addresses their diagnostic prevalence.

Psychiatric, Psychosocial, and Neurologic Influences and Comorbidities

2. Psychiatric, Psychosocial, and Neurologic Influences and Comorbidities

Psychiatric, psychosocial, and neurologic factors may influence functional speech disorders (FSDs). In this chapter, Dr. Duffy discusses various diagnoses that may be associated with and influence the development of FSDs, as well as the frequent lack of a clear psychogenic etiology for these disorders.

Examination and Differential Diagnosis

3. Examination and Differential Diagnosis

Distinguishing between motor speech disorders and functional speech disorders can be difficult for speech language pathologists. Knowing the rules and appropriate diagnostic examination procedures is critical for an accurate diagnosis. Listen to a range of speech abnormalities with Dr. Duffy as he explains their meaning and interpretation.

Management, Therapy, and Take Home Points

4. Management, Therapy, and Take Home Points

Your patient has a functional speech disorder diagnosis – now what? Dr. Duffy reviews the principles of managing FSDs, explains the common steps to creating a treatment plan to facilitate speech change, and discusses the important role of counseling in effective treatment.

Q&A

5. Q&A

Dr. Duffy concludes this course by answering questions about functional speech disorders from a speech and hearing sciences doctoral candidate.