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When You Speak Chapter 5 Summary

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In Chapter 5 there is a passage that discusses the frustration the doctors are having toward the Lees. Neil and Peggy were very upset at the parents for their noncompliance and it was difficult to work with the Lees because of how hard the work was and they had to face resentment, instead of appreciation from the Lees. They were also frustrated that the Lees never paid for any medical care and didn’t seem to appreciate their generosity for helping them when Medi-Cal was a low insurance program. Lia’s parents made Peggy and Neil feel as if all their year’s education, awards, and the amount of time they spent educating themselves about the Hmong didn’t matter. They struggled watching Lia fail to receive treatment and thought they could give her a better life (Passage summary found on page …show more content…

Lia’s parents also don’t understand that some medications will make Lia feel sick and this language barrier between the family and doctors is extremely complicated to deal with, both sides are concerned with Lia’s health, but they are unable to communicate with each other effectively. This part of the book is very significant to the whole book because without this language barrier, almost all the problems would be resolved. This theme continues in the book once the Lee’s get Lia back and they believed she was returned damaged but both sides cannot communicate and can’t figure out why things are happening. The language barrier also prevented the doctors from figuring out that the parents are trying to help in their own way by buying things that Hmong believe will heal the body. The doctors didn’t know for sure if the parents were serious or not. Basically this whole book so far is showing the importance of being able to understand and communicate with one another

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