Difficulty speaking and avoid words

Hi,

I am hoping someone on here has an answer for me...or at least some support

I am a 25 y/o female with no known health issues and in good health. Over the past couple of years I have suffered from a speech impairment. I have refused to admit anything serious is going on until recently. I will stumble over my words, talk quickly, and will avoid saying certain words because I can't say them properly. I often get "tongue-tie" and mispronounce words. I feel as though I am not able to speak as quickly as my brain thinks. I find myself with a "story" to tell but cannot pronounce the words and when I attempt to speak it comes out at 100 mph. and no one understand me. I am frequently told that I don't speak loudly enough and that I mumble. However, I have days where I speak clearly and can pronounce any words with no problem. I feel like I am in a fog during the days I stumble over my words and it's getting worse every day. I was made fun of twice this week by a strangers and I realize now that something is seriously wrong. They couldn't understand what I was saying even though I "thought" my words were clear.

I have been thinking I have a condition called "Dysarthria" but I'm not sure. It's attributed to MS, Cerebal Palsy, and brain tumors. I'm fairly certain I don't have MS or CP but a brain tumor is a scary thought!


Any advice would be helpful....

Thanks!

[KJLMOM]

My son is 4 and he has speech apraxia which is alot like what you describe.He was born with this.They tell me the signal from his brain to his mouth get lost.The speech pathalogist says he knows what he wants to say but he cant make himself say the words.I also see a difference in day to day with him.Some days he seems easier to understand and some are very hard for him.He takes speech 3 times a week for it.I do know you can get this condition later in life but it is usually from a brian injury or like you said a health issue.I guess the best thing is to talk to your dr about it and see if there any thing they can help with.

[JustDiscovering]

Hey Speaker,

I am in a very familiar situation as you. I am 24 years old, and have recently recognized that I have a speech disorder. Throughout my life, I had trouble communicating, but I had never noticed exactly where exactly I had been making mistakes and what my limitations were. While I was born in the U.S., English was my second language, and I had always assumed that I had sort of an accent.

I like you realized that I have a problem after some insensitive comments, in my case made by coworkers, which while hurt, it also helped me become self aware.

I have problems with expressing myself, pronouncing some words, have trouble with tenses (especially with is/are) have trouble with recalling words and also don't use the proper words in certain cases. This is most visible when I am nervous or when caught off guard. From what I have read, these symptoms are typical of expressive language disorder, which may apply to you.

I've been looking for advice for adults who suffer from this and other similar conditions, but haven't been able to find anything. I'm sure that seeing a speech pathologist can and will help, although I don't have any experience dealing with them (yet I hope).

I hope this helps in some way. Please let me know what you think about this.

[TroubledSpeaker]

Yea, we seem to share the same problem. It's so frustrating because I know exactly what I want to say but it doesn't come out the way I hoped. I've been poking around on the internet over the course of the last few days and haven't found too much information onmy condition. Some symptoms point to a brain tumor but surely it can't be THAT serious. I will say that I was born 2 months premature but I'm not sure how my development was affected in relation to my peers. I haven't spoken to my parents about this yet as it's a pretty embarrassing problem and don't want them to worry. I wonder if my premature birth is in some way to blame for my current condtion. My mom hasn't made me aware of any developental issues however I haven't asked her about any of their either...

I have an appointment with an SLP on Friday morning so hopefully she'll be able to assess what is going on with me.I don't really know what to expect and feel a bit foolish having to see one at 25 y/o. Surely, by now I would be able to speak like an intelligent human being and not a jumbled mess... I just pray that I don't have one of the fleeting "miracle days" where I talk perfectly and things fall into place just right...I'll post here once I get some sort of idea about what's wrong with me...

[JustDiscovering]

It's great that you're going to the SLP. I wouldn't feel silly at all. That's a big step, hopefully they will be able to provide you with more information about your situation and possibly some coping strategies. Don't be discouraged if you leave disappointed, as speech disorders are hard to treat, especially since neither of us had been taken to an SLP earlier.

From what I've read, most speech issues are genetically inherited (unless caused by trauma), so I wouldn't worry about anything too serious. I am curious though, is this something that you've had all your life and have just started to notice?

Please let me know how the appointment goes, I'm sure that you'll be happy that you went.

Look forward to hearing from you!

[JustDiscovering]

How'd it go?

[LeoMagan]

I think it might be a good idea to seek consultation with a certified speech and language therapist/pathologist. They will be able to provide more professional and in depth view (you can also visit therapyforspeech.com for more information if desired).

[kannon1989]

It might be a possibility that you stutter, and you only recently have accepted the fact that you do.

Since you have difficulty pronouncing some sounds, you subconsciously change it to something that's easier to say.

There was a documentary before, a person was going to ask "Where's the toilet", but since she always had a hard time pronouncing the syllable To, she said "Where's the engine" without being aware.

Consult with a speech therapist. I doubt it'll disappear but it takes a lot of practice and discipline to lessen instances like these.

I know these things because I myself have experienced them before for years.