April 3, 2006

Kathy Dolan

C/o The Law Offices of Inna Fershteyn and Associates, P.C.

2075 86th Street, 2nd Floor

Brooklyn, NY 11214

Dear Kathy,

Thank you for your email requesting a letter in support of your efforts to raise awareness of the need for legislation mandating parental control over school placement for twins and higher order multiple birth children.  Your success in this fight is essential to over 5 million school-aged children and their parents, and I wish to do whatever I may to assist your work.

As you know, for decades many local districts throughout the United States have required the separation of all multiple birth children in schools, and parents have had little to no power to object, debate or otherwise control one of the most important aspects of their childrens’ lives: their assurance of the most enriching environment possible for educational progress and development of proper socialization skills. 

The argument that separating twins will somehow help them mature socially, develop independence and improve academic achievement is fallacious to the core.  To the contrary, the most recent studies in the medical and psychological literature have shown:

•That separation of twins at age five results in behavioral disturbances and impaired reading skills in the short term. 

•That in the long term, there is no appreciable difference between the academic performance of twins who were separated since Kindergarten and those who were not separated. 

•In one Australian study, 20-25% of twins separated in the elementary years were reunited within one year due to academic and/or emotional problems.

The apparent insistence by individual educators that they are doing what is perceived by their profession to be in the best interests of children flies in the face of their own literature as well.  In fact, in the Federal Government’s ERIC Digest for teacher education, criteria are set for twin separation that appear to have been widely ignored.  I believe that attempts to find an expert in the field of education who could advocate for separation of all multiples despite parental concerns will be unfruitful.

Again, thanks for the opportunity to help you in any way I can with your important fight to restore control over their children’s future to those who are most responsible for the outcome of it: parents.

Sincerely Yours,

Rachel M. Franklin, MD

Family Medicine, Women’s and Children’s Health

Author : « Expecting Twins, Triplets and More ; a Doctor’s Guide to a Healthy and Happy Multiple Pregnancy (St, Martin’s Press 2005)

Mother to five-year-old twins