In 2017 the Vietnam Paediatric Special Interest Group was launched, the first of its kind in Vietnam. The group decided to work on a project together to create language development tip sheets for parents. Until now there have not been any resources available in Vietnam like these. The group used a template provided by a TFA supporter, a private speech pathology practitioner from Western Australia. The project was instigated by Ms Sarah Day, Australian Volunteer, and transitioned across to the leadership of Ms Thuan Bich Do, local paediatric speech therapist and physiotherapist, who is the lead clinician at City Children’s Hospital in HCMC. The group worked together on wording of the tip sheets and photographs to be incorporated, to ensure these would be culturally appropriate for the families they work with in their clinics. The parent tip sheet resources are now ready to be used by any therapist working with Vietnamese clients, whether you work in Vietnam or even in Australia with families that use Vietnamese as their first language. You can find them in ‘Our Resources’ – For therapists  located about half-way down the page. (Note these are only in Vietnamese)

Ms Thuan of City Children’s Hospital has already begun using the tip sheets in her clinic with clients. She discussed that the tip sheets have been very useful to support parents’ learning and in increasing their understanding of the strategies she uses in the clinic with children. She has also recently hosted a speech therapy student placement through Pham Ngoc Thach University and is encouraging her students to also use the tip sheets in sessions with families.

Well done Vietnam paediatric special interest group!