Most children learn to speak from their parents or other children. This boy however learned from a bird.

Dylan Hargreaves, four, has severe learning difficulties and had never uttered a single word.

But after listening to macaw Barney, he can now say “Night, night”, “Dad”, “Mum”, “Ta”, “Hello” and “Bye”.

And experts think he is close to his first two-syllable word.

Mum Michelle, 33, said: “Barney has changed our lives. Before he
arrived, Dylan would try to speak, but the sound came out as a noise.

“Then we got Barney and, a few months later, Dylan began to talk. It
was only the odd word, but I could clearly understand what he said.

“Every time I gave the bird something to say,
Dylan started trying to say the same thing. I think it’s because the
bird says things slower than me, which helps Dylan understand.

"Now when I put him to bed he says, ‘Night, night, mum’. It means the world to me.”