Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Twins and schooling

Hi all!
This is my first post. I'm reaching out for advice regarding gifted twin boys( 2nd grade /7.5 yrs). One son was tested on the WISC IV last week and has a qualifying score for DYS. My other son is testing tomorrow.

I'm glad we went forward with testing but still I have very mixed feelings regarding testing and especially the sharing of scores (even with educators).

Can anyone address past experiences especially with twins and how sharing the scores with school admin impacted the way their children were regarded and weather or not it actually helped advocating for services?

I'm considering sharing only one childs' score at a time and advocating for them separately. Does anyone have a better idea? I'd really like the school to accommodate us as one twin is very happy and has no need for a school change. His enrichment needs are much easier to meet.

And has anyone had issues with leakage of scores?

Thank you!!

I'm pretty sure that someone on here has twin girls with very different needs - Laurie918, I think.

I am a twin but our scores were pretty different and we had different needs. So it wasn't hard for my parents to deal with each of our needs separately. (The fact that we were boy/girl twins may have also played a part.) When they talked to the school it was just about me because they didn't feel my brother needed anything different. Of course the fact that we were twins did play a big factor in the course of academic accommodations. If I had been a singleton I would have skipped a grade because that was what I wanted and that would have worked for me both academically and socially (all my friends were two years older). But that wouldn't have been good for my brother and so instead I was engaged with things like Olympics of the Mind and Science Fair and gifted classes and research projects and eventually honors and AP courses.

So I think the first question you need to answer is just how different are your kids' abilities and needs. If their needs are quite different I think you could just talk to the school about one of them. But if they both have very high abilities but different needs then I think you have to talk with the school about both of them, just for practical purposes if for nothing else.

As far as revealing scores to the school it is absolutely not necessary. But they can be incredibly helpful in convincing skeptical educators that you aren't just "that" parent and that you haven't just hothoused your children. It can be particularly helpful in that case to have both achievement and ability testing.

Funtimes,

Elizabeth is correct. I have 10yr twin girls, both 2e in different ways. Below are some of my experiences/suggestions (could be different for you).
1. I don't recommend sharing scores between the kids. Our girls found out their scores inadvertently and it has caused no end of grief between them.
2. Before sharing with the school, get a sense of what you want from them. In our case, sharing with the school was a disaster. We were seen as "those parents who think their kids are special". We received an IEP 2 years after requesting and it was not being followed even after we got it. One of our daughters has a physical hand defect which makes it impossible to write and they still didn't accommodate until we advised hiring an advocate. They didn't believe the test scores (3 different docs) nor the fact that daughter with more challenges was dyslexic. If there are recommendations for accommodations in the report you received from your doc, I would go to the wrights law book, pull out all the suggested accommodations, and include that in a written request. If both of your children need accommodations, I actually would start with the child with the least needs. I think this will reduce "staff fatigue" with your family. Again, only my experiences/suggestions.
3. Document everything..when you met, who was in attendance, the action items coming out of the meeting.
4. Our school was so disturbingly non-compliant we decided that public school wasn't a right fit.
Again, you may have a school/district that does well with 2e kids so your experiences may differ. Go in prepared and in a collaborative manner. If that doesn't work, then bring on mama bear PM me if you want more details.
All the best

I have gifted twin boys with different educational needs. I don't think there's a problem sharing the scores, if you think someone at your school will understand them.

For our PG son, IQ and EXPLORE scores paved the way to accommodations in elementary school. He presents as a "little professor," and he was depressed about school by 4th grade, so his IQ scores weren't a big surprise to anyone. The elementary school principal immediately recognized that his needs wouldn't be served with the regular curriculum, so she approved every accommodation we requested. But nothing helped get accommodations in middle school, forcing us to homeschool and switch schools for a grade skip. At that time, ACT scores were enough to get him whatever acceleration he needed and wanted at his new school.

For my HG/2E son, IQ scores did not help in elementary school at all. He has dyslexia and I think the teachers just did not believe his IQ could be so high, based on his reading and writing output. He also tries to be everything his twin is not, so he was the complete opposite of the "little professor," which didn't help our case for gifted accommodations! The IQ scores and official dyslexia diagnosis did help him get a 504 but not an IEP. We had to hire a private tutor from about ages 7-10, and by middle school, his achievement was equal to his IQ. By middle school, only achievement on nationally normed tests like EXPLORE, ACT or MAPS, were relevant to administrators. They really didn't care about his IQ. He's a top student, so they just want to make sure he remains that way to boost the school's scores, which is why they allow him to keep his 504. My HG/2E boy is in honors classes and doesn't need to be accelerated beyond those.

I do agree that sharing scores with your boys would be a bad idea. (Not saying you were planning to do that!) Twins already have so many people who compare them to each other-- they don't need any kind of data to "prove" one might be smarter than the other. My boys have gone out of their way to carve their own paths, and I'm glad they've done that. They're both very smart, but their different interests at home and school allow them to be good friends who are not competitive with each other, which is what I've wanted as a mom.

Feel free to PM if you have any specific questions I could answer.

Thank you everyone.
Twin 2 is testing right now and my stomach is in knots. I'm totally second guessing myself.

At least I'll know soon enough how different their needs are!

ElizabethN, im considering s school change for twin #1 bc I can barely meet his math/ computer/science needs. It's a full time job after school right now. But he's a twin! It might just be too sad/ hard to split. I think I'm looking for the least damage here. I'm hoping somehow testing will make that decision more clear. As a twin would you have ever consented to different schools?

Laurie918, we are in a great school, great town, but bc of this there are too many parents pushing the school for more. Each time I think I have advocated well
Someone hears about it and it's revoked. In a perfect world he would work with s math tutor during school. My other son is doing well in school with extras of chess and reading at home.

Syobkrig,

Your description of your twins is almost identical to mine! Praying this testing will clarify strengths/weaknesses and allow my kiddos to reach their full potential without twin competitive/emotional trauma.

More anecdotes: Two friends with twins (11 YO, one same sex, one mixed), both have ended up moving one of the pair out of their neighbourhood school. Kids are always pretty (frighteningly) aware of differences amongst them, I've found. In both these families, the kids seem to have found it fairly easy to recognize/ accept that different needs necessitated different environments.

While it is uniquely hard to separate twins, both families have also found advantages in the way it has allowed each child to more easily and comfortably be themselves. So in some ways, the twins have become closer, enjoying each other more with less comparing/ competing, and more ability to draw on unique pools of friends.

I know three sets of twins, including my own, who are in different schools. I don't think it's the right choice for every twin set, but my boys starting asking to be in separate classes in pre-k, so it was never going to be a problem separating them. My HG/2E boy does not want to be compared to his PG brother. By having them in separate schools, my HG boy gets to be super-smart, without being overshadowed by someone virtually no one can compete with. Plus, both boys are now in a school where their own strengths can shine. It's a logistical challenge, but one we are willing to make for the boys.

I've had numerous students who were twins, or even triplets, where one or more of the set were in a different school. A few years back, both twins in a set graduated top of their class--from different high schools (we had one twin).