VietNamNet Bridge - Dinh Vu Tung Lam, who is autistic and did not speak until he was four years old, has won many medals in mathematics. 


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Dinh Vu Tung Lam



“I remember that I had to go with my mother to see doctors. I remember how my mother tried to help me practice spelling and how she taught folk songs on the way home. I also remember that we wandered on so many streets and saw the landscapes to prepare for description essays,” Lam said, recalling his childhood days.

“The doctors said I suffered from ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) autism. I did not understand what the word meant. But you cannot control your thoughts and your limbs. You always have to move and not sit still,” Lam said.

Because of the disorder, many schools refused to admit Lam. Only after a lot of effort could Lam’s mother enroll her son in Le Quy Don Primary School.

Yen, Lam’s mother, said those were tough days for her son so she decided to stay by his side to help him overcome difficulties.

Lam, who has a very good memory, surprised his preschool teacher when he was able to learn something by heart after one lesson. His friends could do this only after 10 lessons.

“I bought tickets for Lam and his friends to go the cinema, prepared good dishes and invited Lam’s friends to our home,” she said, adding that these activities helped Lam improve his communication with friends.

Lam, who has a very good memory, surprised his preschool teacher when he was able to learn something by heart after one lesson. His friends could do this only after 10 lessons.

Lam also showed special interest in numbers and math questions. After the first week in the second grade, Lam solved all the questions in the textbook.

When he was a third grader, he solved questions in Toan Tuoi Tho, a math journal for children, and sent the answers to the editorial board, receiving a lot of awards.

Positive changes came when he was in the 4th grade. He became good-natured and did not make a fuss anymore.

When he was in the fifth grade, he won a prize at Hanoi’s Violimpic, an online math competition for the city’s students.

Later, Lam won many other prizes, including the gold medal at MYTS (Mathematical Young Talent Search) 2017, the competition for students aged 10-16 to find young math talents, and the gold medal at the Hanoi Open Math Competition 2017.


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