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Home › Articles › Back to School Headquarters › No Two Alike

No Two Alike

Parents of Multiples Fight for Flexible School Placement Policies

By Alexandria Powell

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(Dutton, 1999). As an expert on multiples, Segal gets many calls each year from parents who find school administrators unsympathetic to their concerns. "We are seeing a dramatic increase in the twinning rate, so now is an ideal time to set the right policy regarding twins and school," she says.

Old Beliefs Still Prevalent
The conventional wisdom in many school districts is that separating multiples solves a variety of problems, and allows each child the most opportunity for personal growth. Unfortunately, belief about separation of multiple pairs is often based more in old wives' tales than in science. There's just no research that says separation would be best for all multiple birth children, says John Mascazine, an associate professor of education at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, Ohio.

"There are many anecdotes about twins and other multiples that have been retold with great interest," says Mascazine. "I believe some of these stories have contributed to stereotypical myths about multiples. And sometimes such information filters into school decisions."

For instance, the belief that multiples won't develop as individuals unless separated may come from old case studies of twin pairs growing up in bizarre and abusive circumstances. These pairs became extremely dependant on each other, and separation was an important part of their rehabilitation. This isn't the situation for most multiples.

Another common misunderstanding is that people tend to generalize, assuming that if they know one set of multiples, every other set will be like the one they know, says Mascazine. But just as with singletons, each set of multiples is unique. This also ties into the belief that multiples will always struggle with comparison and competitive issues, which is often not the case.


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