Making chatter matter

Thien’s story (aged three)

‘Thien was almost two years old when we realised there was a problem. We had noticed his lack of communication, but we thought that he was a slow developer and that perhaps the reason was because we are bilingual. Our mother tongue is Vietnamese, but he couldn’t even say ‘Mummy’ and ‘Daddy’ in that,’ says Thien’s mum, Lan.

‘When Thien wanted something, he would scream the place down and become very frustrated. He did this because he couldn’t express that he was hungry, tired or thirsty. The stress he was experiencing had a huge impact on our family. It was very upsetting to watch our little boy struggle to communicate.