Abstract
Functional anarthria is an articulatory disorder caused by no organic disease, and is a rare condition in otolaryngology. We report a 6-year-old boy suffering from functional anarthria of only i line sound. The mother of the patient was aware of his slow language development when the boy was 2 years 8 months old. At the 3-year check-up, the delay in language development was pointed out. When he was 4 years 7 months old, he was diagnosed with functional anarthria of only the i line sound. Speech therapy at a couple of hospitals produced no improvement of the symptoms. Then he was sent to our department, and we also diagnosed with functional anarthria of only the i line sound. After four months treatment by speech therapists at our hospital and teaching his mother, his articulatory disorder completely disappeared. It is considered that appropriate speech therapy is important to improve this rare condition.
