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Title: The roles of the cerebellum in speech production

 

Abstract: The cerebellum is a neural structure known for its role in movement coordination across the body. Speech, being a highly-coordinated and rapid series of movements, is strongly dependent on accurate cerebellar functioning. When there is damage or dysfunction to the cerebellum, such as in spinocerebellar ataxia or Friedreich’s Ataxia, speech is uniquely compromised. In this talk, we will review the importance of the cerebellum in movement overall and specifically for movements for speech, and then demonstrate how speech is uniquely impacted from cerebellar dysfunction. We will review theories of cerebellar involvement in speech and future potentials for therapeutic rehabilitation.

 

Bio: Allison Hilger, PhD, CCC-SLP is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. In her lab, the CO Motor Speech Lab, she investigates impaired speech from neurological disease with a specific focus on prosodic impairment in cerebellar ataxia. This work is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Ataxia Foundation and has been published in The Cerebellum, International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, and the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Her lab has also developed a tool for motor speech assessment, the Colorado Motor Speech Framework. Her goals are to improve treatment and assessment of dysarthria.