Jennifer Ganger’s article on twin language capabilities compared with singletons of the same age provides insight into the common belief amongst psychologist that twins are at a disadvantage in language development. Ganger summarizes several studies that are used in determining this assumption. She points out flaws in the experiments themselves. Although she points out that there is evidence to support twins are at greater risk of having language problems, there is nothing that is concrete about any of the experiments in her opinion.
Ganger produces several case studies on the subject of twin language.
Twin development versus singleton development has been studied since at least the early 20th century according to Ganger. She summarizes these early studies have problems with unintentional biases towards the twins. The first two studies analyzed were Day and Davis. The Day Study concentrated on early childhood development, while The Davis Study focused on children from age five to nine. The Day study concluded that twins are likely to be up two years behind children without a twin. The Davis study, which was essentially the same study with older children, concluded the language deficiencies were almost always corrected around the age of five to nine. However, twins in the five to nine age groups were still more likely to have articulation problems.
There were a few problems with these studies according to Ganger. One of the biggest problems was the twins studied were not always studied separately. This would skew the results, because the singleton children tested were alone. A few other problems were found and tested in other studies. Other issues that were not taken into account were birth weight, order of birth, time of gestation. These problems directly correlate to learning in all children.
Ganger shows more recent studies have concluded that there are a number of problem with the idea that twins will have language issues simple because they are twins. These more recent studies take into account the weight of the children at birth, the order of their birth, and the gestation period. Researchers took these problems into consideration and found evidence to support the theory that twins are more likely to lack their peers in language development. These studies found the cause of this problem is not simply because twins are born at the same time to the same mother, but the factors that causes slower development in children is usually present in a household with twins. For instance, twins have to share time speaking with adults. This gives the individual twin less time developing language skills. Twins also have a smaller birth rate than singleton children, which is a factor that causes slower development. The cause of a twin’s slower development is not by the presence of another, but the factors the other twin can bring.
The article concludes with a reminder that these tests are averages and do not doom people who are twins. There are many factors that can account for language delays. The language development of twins can be greatly influenced by the parents or guardians. Granger reminds her readers that nothing is concrete or exact in this type of study.
by: Josh Evans
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This is a very intriguing study which results that were surprising to me. I knew three set of twins in high school, and out of the six individuals represented in those sets, at least three or four of them were probably in the top 10-15% of the class. This study did say that the early childhood differences are often leveled out by the middle of adolescence, but that makes me wonder what would cause a student to go from being a few years behind to being at the top of the class. The home conditions definitely make a plausible argument for early age differences because the children are not getting as much individualized attention, but I would really like to hear an explanation about why and how this change could happen so dramatically by high school.
ReplyDeleteI found this article quite interesting because it was another issue that I would not have realized had the issue not been introduced to me. What makes the most sense to me is the idea that because twins share attention from parents, language is picked up at a slower rate. That seems as if it could be an explanation to the issue at hand, however, as Nick has stated above there are always exceptions. This article however was a good read, and has arised some questionable arguements.
ReplyDeleteI think the article was interesting but all the twins I have ever met in my life did very well in school. Also, I understand how some may argue that twins have to share attention from their parents but I feel that anyone with siblings close in age have to do the same. I believe that it could be a good argument but needs more support.
ReplyDeleteLike the Granger stated in the end of the article, not all parents are "doomed" if they have twins. I believe that a lot of the development has to do with the parents. I am currently enrolled in EDU 210 and EDU 314, in each of the classes we are discussing how children develop and what type of environment is better for them to grow in. Although twins are more likely to have low birth weight and this causes them to be a few years behind a child that is not a twin, I am strong believer in seeing twins the same as a single child. The fact that twins could be somewhat ignored because there are two children in the family at the same time versus only one is critical. For parents that are married, it allows one parent to be with one twin and the other parent with the other twin at the same time. For divorced parents, this is when the neglect comes into play with the lack of twins developing completely because there is only one parent versus two.
ReplyDeleteI think any child that grows up along a brother/sister that is close in age would also elongate the childrens time span for when they will reach a single child that gets the majority of their parents attention. I really don't see the worry for twins, overtime they will eventually catch up to their single child counterparts.
ReplyDeleteThis article came as a shock to me, i had never heard of a set of twins having language development issues. Furthermore i agree with Gangner that the studies that were carried out in order to prove this theory aren't substantial enough. In my personal opinion none of the reasons they gave as to why it was specifically twins that had this problem made sense except for the fact that the pregnancy term for twins gets cut short compared to one full term baby. Every month that those babies or baby is inside the mother growing is vital to its future development, so the full nine months is needed. Other than that fact alone there truly is a lack of concrete evidence to carry something like this on.
ReplyDeleteMy feelings towards the article is that any child growing up today most likely won't get the full attention that any child deserves with the number of parental problems. Even though it was an interesting read, I don't see a real problem with twins "sharing" attention from parents when most children can't even be brought up right. I believe that this article is more opinion and needs more support
ReplyDeleteI can agree and disagree with this study. Yes I understand that twins don't full attention from their parents at one time, but that goes along with any kid who has a sibling. It is very interesting that they found that twins do learn language at a slower rate due to this reason. I never really thought of a parents neglect being a reason for the slowing of language learning. I am also an only child so I don't really know what it would be like so I can only assume.
ReplyDeleteI thought this article was very interesting. I have known a couple pairs of twins throughout my life and they are both really smart. I see why people think twins have to share attention, but as they get older they will learn how to do things for themselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Allie when she says that this could be a good argument but needs more support; maybe if the twins were observed individually and not as "twins." I do not know if I believe that twins usually have language issues because I have two really close guy friends that are twins and they both are extremely smart and successful in school.
ReplyDeleteI loved this article, I have always enjoyed learning about twins. But the facts about this article really didn't surprise me. Most of the facts made perfect sense. For example a twins vocabulary will not be as high as their peers because, the attention that one child gets from their parents is being divided by two.
ReplyDeleteThis article was interesting to me because my sisters are twins. However, my sisters were never behind any of the other students without a twin. They are both very smart and didn't show any signs of language issues as children. I believe they need to do more experiments to conclude twins will have language problems.
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ReplyDeleteI believe more research should have been conducted before this information was released. I know many sets of twins, non which have language issues. The article states " For instance, twins have to share time speaking with adults. This gives the individual twin less time developing language skills." The same thing could be said for children living in a single parent household. There are lots of flaws in this study, and I do not believe it is accurate.
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