The use of the Mayo Clinic system for differential diagnosis of dysarthria

The purpose of this study was to determine clinicians' attitudes toward the Darley, Aronson, and Brown (1969a, 1969b; 1975a) method of classification for differential diagnostic of dysarthria. A national telephone survey was conducted of 100 speech-language pathologists involved in the assessment and treatment of patients with dysarthria. Clinicians were questioned about their use of differential diagnosis as part of their service delivery to persons with dysarthria. Questions also focused on clinicians' perceptions of the helpfulness and difficulties of differential diagnosis. Results indicated that most clinicians use the Darley et al. (1969a, 1969b; 1975a) classification system for the differential diagnosis of dysarthria, stating that it is helpful in the design of a treatment protocol. A trend toward decreased perceived difficulty of differential diagnosis with increased years of work experience was observed. The clinical and academic training implications of these findings are discussed.