The article, "Are Twins Delayed in Language Development???" by Jennifer Ganger, questions series of articles from researchers that most conclude that twins are in fact delayed in language development and prone to comprehension deficiencies. Although Ganger supports some of these findings, she suggests that twins should not be thought of as a "special population" for language development. She suggest this because she finds that most studies reveal that twins catch up to singleton peers on standardized language exams during sometime in childhood.
In her article Ganger summarizes the findings of two researchers, Day and Davis. Day's study concludes that twins are at least two years delayed by the age of five. Davis's study finds that twins on average catch up to their singleton peers but are prone to communication problems. Ganger then goes on to point out several flaws found in these studies. In addition, Ganger also presents more recent studies done in the 70's and 80's from researchers, Lytton and Conway, who examine biological factors that might have led to language deficiencies in twin children. Their research concludes that both biological and environmental variables lead to language deficiency, but environmental variables are more significant. Ganger later in the article also presents other sources of information that implies that boys are found to be two to three months delayed in articulation while girls are found to be (for the most part) at the normal standard for articulation for their age group.
Further conclusions such as birth weight and social factors (twins receiving less directed speech and three-way conversations) were found that affect the language development of twins. In an article by J. Steven Reznick, Ganger finds that although twins tend to have language deficiencies, they are more advanced than singletons in some language domains; for instance, in the ability to use the word "I". The article also states that twins (or singletons) that have more siblings, have a lower IQ in consequence of lack of environmental resources.
I liked how author Jennifer Ganger organized various amounts of data from different studies on this topic. Having known twins, there did not seem to be any apparent difference; however there was evidence of language between the younger twins personally, referenced as a “secret language.” However, much evidence seems to be shown in support of twins being delayed in development. The big question to me seems to be is this under development due to nature or nurture? The evidence appears to be in more support of the latter, that is, non-biological influences. Despite there being evidence for delay in language development correlated to age/weight, it would appear that it is the rare situation of being raised as a twin that may affect their development.
ReplyDeleteGreat summary by the way!
John Gund
This article was very interesting. It is interesting that biological factors affecting language development, such as birth rate, affect all children, but the environmental factors twins encounter are almost exclusive to the multiple births. It is plausible that twins would be delayed in language because they do not have as much one-on-one interaction with adults; however, I find it more interesting that twins are delayed in language abilities due to their interactions with each other.
ReplyDeleteYet, I feel that these statements are board generalizations that do not apply to all twins. My cousins, for example, are twins. While they did have their own means of communicating as toddlers, it was no different than that language used between other children of the same age. On the other had, a boy I baby-sit was delayed in language despite being a singleton.
I suppose that this information could help twins' language abilities develop because the parents would have the knowledge and ability to alter and improve the supposed negative environmental factors. Also, while I think that this information on twin language development interesting, I do not think that it should be the only research applied when perceiving twins' language development at home or evaluating it in the classroom.
I think the researchers in the article are generalizing and putting all twins into one category. I think it all depends on the individual and the parents. Good parents would remember to have one-on-one interactions with each child. Basically, taking turns.
ReplyDeleteAnd what about singleton siblings who are extremely close in age? Couldn't the same argument be said? Yet, these researchers only want to apply their research to twins, singling them out.
Twins usually are born premature. This aids to them being born lighter than a singleton. It is interesting to think that birth weight can effect language skills. Maybe it has something to do with being premature, the baby being born before it is ready. Or maybe the babies didn't get all of the nutrients they needed because there are two of them splitting what usually one baby would get. The other factor that effects twins' language skills is an environmental issue. Research has proven that when a child is not talked to his or her language skills including vocabulary is extremely behind children's whose parents talk and read to them. So this issue is not limited to just twins. The research showing that twins don't get talked to as much because parents have to split their time between the two babies sort of makes sense. I hope to combat this though parents at least read to their twins. This I would think would help combat the fact that the parents have to split their talking time between the two babies. Reading to a child is fundamental and beneficial. Children who are usually behind in school in kindergarten-3rd grade due to not being exposed to certain things in their home life and/or not going to pre-k usually catch up to their peers. Twins also catch up to their singleton peers if they are initially behind. This was shown in Davis' study.
ReplyDeletei would say that this article was a interesting one especially to me since i have twin brothers and thinking about how when I was growing up as a single child and than looking to see how my brothers were raised seemed to show me that yes when I was growing up i had more attention on me and my parents did have one on one sessions to help me learn and develop my language skills where as compared to my parents it was more of a group effort and in order to get my brothers to comprehend things is to first tell them something together and if they didn't get it my parents would than talk to the one struggling with another concept separately.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this article a lot, and you did a great job summarizing it! My dad is a twin, so I have had experience with this issue. I believe the research was not the best,a nd it was over generalized. I think there is some truth to statements made because with twins there are a lot of differences. You have to pay attention to two seperate children, so the focus cannot be on just one.
ReplyDeleteI found the article very interesting and enjoyed the summary. I have always been intrigued by twins, but never gave much thought to how there language developing skills may be affected. I think that twins may be more prone to a delay in their language skills only because there are two children to teach instead of one. I also agree that twins are more likely to be born premature so this also may have an affect on their learning abilities as young children. However, I think the language developing skills depends a great deal on the parenting methods. If the parents think of their children as one and attempt to teach both children at the same time, I think delays are more likely to be seen. The children each need their own one on one time to learn and develop their abilities at their own speed. I enjoyed the article and found it very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting article, it raises many questions concerning the learning habits of twins. I do feel like a lot of it does come down to parenting, this plays a large role in any child's life. If a parent is interactive with both of their twins they will learn more and at a faster rate. This article did summarize the twin "learning process" very well though and I did learn a lot.
ReplyDeleteThe last part about twins and singletons having a lower IQ because of more siblings and lack of environmental resources is A BUNCH OF BULL. There are many people with lack of resources and many siblings with high IQs and find a way to get the resources needed to excel. Its pretty much saying that only childs with ample amounts of resources will without a doubt have high IQs. Jerks. But the twin thing is pretty cool only because its just reiterating that girls mature at a faster level than boys even when they are part of a group thats slower in some aspect of learning development. Rock On.
ReplyDeleteI think this is an interesting article. I have never really thought about learning habits of twins. The delayed learning skills are understandable because of having two children to teach at the same time instead of just one. I enjoyed the article and learned a lot.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why it would have been thought of that twins are delayed in language development. During my psychology class, we talked about how twins are usually born prematurely because there are two children instead of a single child. Therefore, children are born most times underdeveloped which could include the language areas of the brain as well as other areas of the body. Because of this underdevelopment the children could, as this article suggests, have a language delay. I do; however, agree with John in saying that sometimes twins could develop a different type of language, such as the "secret language" which some believe exist between twins. In saying that, maybe the twins feel more comfortable speaking with each other instead of others. As far as the social factors, I believe that this could be a highly contributing factor for the children. Social factors being the parents do not have as much time with twins as they would a single child.
ReplyDeleteThis article was interesting, and the writer really did well with gathering various information from various people. However, I don't necessarily agree, I feel like the author really generalized twins. It's true that parents would have a harder time sharing intimate time with each individual child; but, at the same time, it's your child. I think good parents will spend the time with each child, because even though they are twins, they are still individuals.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting what this research shows. Like someone else said, it could be that many twins are born premature, and they have to share all the nutrients in the body, so they might not get as much as a singleton would get. I wonder if they have also looked at just a premature singleton and seen how their language develops, and see if it is just possibly a baby being born premature. I think more current research needs to be done to show that twins are delayed in language.
ReplyDeleteUmmm, yeah I don't think I completely agree with this reading. I am a twin myself, and I think that both my brother and I are well versed in language development. We both actually had the same ENG 101 class here and from what I saw, we were two of the smarter ones in the class. I would think that twins would be more versed because they always have someone to talk to. Yeah, there tend to be more group discussion I suppose, but that doesn't mean that we weren't spoken to one on one. I don't know, from personal experience, I generally disagree with this article.
ReplyDeleteI don't appose nor do I agree with the article, reason being is that would would have to do research for yourself to actually be able to make a statement whether they're right or wrong. I have met a few twins during my life and they were in advanced programs, but again that's only them, I can't speak for the rest of them.
ReplyDelete