Hi!
Speech problems are definitively a Chiari symptom. When I went to The Chiari Institute in New York there was a neuropsychologyst studying the language and speech problems. At that time she was part of the teams, and as I visited the neurologist I visited her too. She put me some tests, but I could not do them because my native language is Spanish no English so this was a variable affecting the results, she decided not to continue. But she explain to me at that there were three important symptoms that many Chiari patients have:
- Naming things, this is you can imagine the thing, this means you have the actual representation but you can not say it, you have it on the tip of your tongue but you can not say it.
- Saying one thing for another
- Articulating like a drunk person, like when you drag some consonants, you can not articulate well
In the Mayo Clinic web page there is some information for patients about Chiari and it says that trouble speaking and word finding is definitively a symptom, go to:
http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/PE-Chiari.htm I have all of them, but I have discovered they are related to dehydration, the more dehydrated I am the worst all these are, but drinking water does not have the same effect as drinking coffee, all these symptoms improve, in my case with coffee!!
My sons and husbands are my interpreters, particularly the youngest one as he is almost a professional in doing this.
Laura
Mexico