In the assigned article, the author summarizes several different case studies performed with the intention of discerning whether or not there was a language delay in twins. One early study in particular found that twins usually either spoke in shorter sentences or not very much at all compared to a person of single birth. There was also a slight difference in a twin's vocabulary than that of a singleton.
There is a pervasive assumption in the twin and language development literature that twins are somewhat delayed in language development and more prone to language disabilities.
Also it was not just biological factors, low birth weight and birth order, that separated the twin case studies but that of maternal speech to the child that added into the resulting language delays. So both biological and environmental factors effect the speech of twins. Even with these factors, most twins don't suffer from any sort of language impairment once they've reached early childhood.
The author does state however that there are several flaws in these case studies. One study described that the researchers did not find it necessary to separate the twins with actual learning impairments from the other twins which lowered the overall results of the study. The researchers also did not record birth weight and birth order of the twins, which has been learned to factor in to language delay. The twins also were not observed independently from one another which might have skewed the results as well.
Most research though has come to the conclusion that it is not biological but social factors that leads twins to having more of a language delay than singletons. They believe this is because as a twin you tend to receive less direct parental speech.
The article also concludes with the idea that the more older siblings you have, the lower your IQ. The general sibling situation states that the lower a child's birth position the lower his or her IQ will be. Even more so when it comes to twins because having a twin is the most extreme case possible of having a sibling.
I felt that the article showed so much fault in the studies that I could not really believe in the results. And since the author said no language delays exist after early childhood, that it really is not fair to single out twins as having language development issues.
16 comments:
I don't believe this article at all. My grandmother has a twin and has not speech difficulties and neither does her sister. I can see why twins may speak less. Many twins are able to finish one another’s sentences as well as think much alike. If there are twins who have speech difficulties it may be because their brains are so similar. This study does not seem valid. There are many factors that concern speech, language acquisition, and other learning behaviors. I do not believe that being or having a twin is one of those factors. However, I may ask my grandmother if she has every notices any learning disabilities that she or her sister may have had growing up. I do believe that the biological and developmental factors of twins may make them more prone to learning disabilities.
In order for researchers to be considered "credible" and for claims to be read with considerable "open-ness," researchers must provide empirical evidence. This reading lacks evidence, especially from the researchers, that states cleary twins have language disabilities as far as "delayed speech." The article mentioned that they're most certain that biological contents aren't considered the cause, but moreso their surroundings. Identical or not, twins or not, there are both similarities and differences amongst siblings that are 2 or more years apart. Social location has an affect on any individual. It provides a foundation of who you are, what your morals consist of and etc.
I feel that "researchers" are fulfilling their first amendment right: "freedom of speech, press, etc." just to make an argument. I mean why are we focusing on delayed language amongst twins. There are individuals who have learning disabilities and they're not twins. C
Can I comment on something worth reading? (hint= Carrie article)
I do not agree with this article at all. I have friends who happen to be twins, and neither of them show any difficulties with speech. Yes, twins have been shown to finish sentences and have their “own language”, but I don’t think that applies for just twins. I am the second eldest of six children. I have two younger brothers who are within three years of me. When we were younger, both my brothers had speech problems, and couldn’t properly say certain sounds. People outside my family thought that we had our own language because nobody could understand us. I believe the problem is more social than biological. Also, I do not agree with the fact that the youngest child will have the lower I.Q. My youngest sister is ten years old and receives straight A’s. That is something nobody else in my family has accomplished. There are too many factors that this case study did not take into account.
I did not see a barrage of evidence supporting the studies mentioned in the earlier part of this article; however, in the interest of fairness, two of you who commented critically also cited anecdotal evidence from your own experience to support your claims. I find this interesting.
The study mentioned involving the tests taken by 11-year-olds in Britain intrigued me most. These findings recorded that twins had slightly lower scores, and, more compellingly, that sole surviving twins of pairs had scores in between those of twins and singletons. This information challenges the assertion that environmental, not biological factors contribute to language difficulties. Otherwise, why would a non-twin who, after fertilization, was a twin be any different from a regular single child? This topic demands more thorough research.
After reading some of the other posts I’m glad to see that I am not the only one who feels this article was full of crap. There is little to no proof that twins actually are delayed in language development. The author makes claims but without proof to back those claims up they are just that – claims. Each claim seems to be unsubstantiated and yet it seems as if we, the reader, are just expected to believe it. There is zero doubt in my mind that some twins are delayed in developing language skills, however, I do not believe for a second that it is because they are, in fact, a twin. I think this is simply an example of a researcher getting ahead oh him/herself and forgetting that correlation does not imply causation.
This is an issue that needs more accurate research. I agree with Rosalind. There are exceptions to every rule. Research produces statistics, which are always based on the majority, rather than the minority. It seems logical that twins would receive less attention from their parents, causing their speech to develop slower. However, there needs to be more research on the other possible factors that could be affecting these twins. There are many different factors which contribute to the rate at which children learn. It is hard to isolate a single factor and determine its effect.
This article actually hits really close to home, reason being: I am a twin. My brother chad and I have lived together all of our lives and have never developed any speech difficulties. However, empirical research has proven that twins do develop speech deficiencies because of biological/environmental factors.
It is safe to say that this research is factual to an extent, but I am living proof of the opposite.
I agree the article doesn't sound true because of all of the screw ups done with the research. If you are going to take the time to test a theory do it correctly or else reading it is a waste of time. I know a set of twins and they had no speech delays, so maybe it's true and maybe it's not. I guess when someone else re-does the study with factual evidence then we may know a little more.
I find it hard to believe that twins would be delayed in speech development, considering most twins I've known seem to be relatively normal people.
One twin I know from high school is now studying English, so he can't be that bad at it, can he?
I can understand how a low birth weight might inhibit other developmental processes, but many people these days are born prematurely and turn out just fine. The article shows a pretty blatant continuity error, too. If a twin's speech development is hindered because they aren't receiving direct speech, why would a younger sibling have less intelligence? From what I've seen, younger siblings tend to get more attention than their elders due to the fact that they're the "baby" of the family, and it's something I've heard complained about many a time.
If the author knew that there were flaws in his case study, he probably shouldn't have bothered printing it. It just creates more false statements that people give into completely out of ignorance. See also, the 21 grams experiment, in which someone decided that the soul weighs approximately 21 grams because he weighed something like 5 or so people as they were dying.
The article does seem a little pessimistic because what was said of it only points out all of the negative aspects the article had to say about language development in twins(probably because the article only had negative aspects regarding language development in twins:-)!) But I would like to point out that a lot of twins are born prematurely, and most premies have devlopmental delays during the first year or so of their lives. This does not mean, however, that those babies do not "catch up" to or even surpass the development of other children their own age levels later on.
I am just not sure how it would be that people with more siblings would have a lower IQ. I dont think that twins are delayed in their development, they just have someone so similar to them, they just make up their own language.
After reading this article it is obvious that more research needs to be done. I have friends who are twins and neither one of them has a language development issue. I believe there needs to be more factors that are tied to this assumption. Were the twins healthy or unhealthy at birth, were their parents healthy, and etc? In my personal opinion and experience twins may just be a little more advanced. Twins possess a certain connection where they can finish each others thoughts and sentences. Sounds more developed than undeveloped to me.
After reading that children with older siblings will have a lower IQ, I had to question this in article in entirety. I am living proof that this is ridiculous; I am the oldest of three and by far the least intelligent.
In respect to twins having speech difficulties, I could see where twins might rely on eachother to communicate more than a single who needs to communicate with everyone around them. This may slow their development, but it could also be desribed as a new dialect.
I've been babysitting twins since they were 4 months old and now they are going to be 6 years old and they don't have similar speech patterns yet, but they are still young. Mostly I don't agree with the article because yes, twins spend a lot of time together and have a special biological connection but it's the whole nature vs. nurture argument. Twins are separate beings so I believe they have different speech patterns.
I do not believe what this article is saying at all. I do not have any twins in my family that I know of, but have several friends that are twins. Some of them are close and some cannot stand each other. One of my best friends from grade school was a twin. He and his brother Justin were very close and knew each others likes and dislikes very closely.
I really don't think that I have seen many twins with language delays. I could understand sextuplets having language delays, but with just two twins I can't see it. Although I don't believe there will be strong language delays, I can see that there is less direct contact between parents and twins. Not all of the attention can be placed on one child at all times. I was not a twin and I had language delays because I was never forced to talk. My sister spoke for me, and after seeing multiple doctors it was decided that there was nothing wrong with me. I simply didn't want to talk. There are definitely social and environmental factors that play a part on language development.
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