(Sept. 12) - Four identical pink raincoats. Two sets of almost identical little girls.
Outside Buffalo, N.Y., Sister Barbara Whelan begged the parents to never let it happen again in her classroom -- four of the same coats among two sets of twins.
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A Multitude of Multiples
Go ahead, count 'em. That's 15 pairs of twins (and one set of triplets) at a single Arizona school. But can you tell them all apart? That's the challenge for educators at Kyrene de las Lomas Elementary school. Assistant Principal Michael Lamb, show in a tie, has an edge. He has an identical twin. His school is just one of many nationally reporting unusual numbers of multiples this fall.
Dianne Ross
Dianne Ross
In Arizona, assistant principal Michael Lamp faced a confused girl who didn't understand why all the other kids' siblings weren't autistic, like her twin.
"That makes yours even more special," Lamp explained.
And near the Jersey shore, Linda Downing said she still can't tell her school's set of kindergarten quadruplets apart, even though she's known the boys since their older sister started at the school.
"I've never had multiple births like that, and I thought it would be so unique to see those little boys in school," she said.
While exact figures aren't available for how many multiples -- children born as twins, triplets or more -- are enrolled in the nation's schools, the anecdotal evidence points to increasing numbers annually.
As the school year starts, educators throughout the country have noticed the many multiples in their classrooms. And for several schools, the novelty of having, say, 15 sets of twins and a set of triplets, like Lamp has in Arizona, quickly gives way to everyday logistics.
Parents, especially those of younger children, have extra stress. They're not only sending their children to school for the first time -- they're sending two. Or three. Or four.
Multiple births have soared in the past 30 years. A report from the Centers for Disease Control on the nation's vital statistics, released in January, lists 6,540 births of triplets, or more, in 2006, the most recent year studied. That's compared to 1,337 such births in 1980. The rate has gone from about 19 multiples per 1,000 births to almost 34.
Experts attribute the rise to more women having children later, and having in-vitro fertilization, both more likely to produce multiples. From 1980 to 2004, the number of women giving birth at age 30 or older doubled, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
Just because the numbers rise, though, doesn't mean the educational expertise has followed.
Teachers and parents wrestle with everything from telling the kids apart in the hallway, to helping moms cover every classroom during parent-teacher nights, to the bigger challenge of ensuring each child has a chance to develop at their own pace.
Some challenges have simple answers, like telling the children apart. From Arizona to New Jersey, educators just ask classmates. The kids always know.
"One boy would tell me, 'I look at their teeth,'" said Lamp.
Lamp works at Kyrene de Las Lomas near Phoenix, and said he's never seen issues involving multiples addressed in teacher education, in college or in continuing professional classes. That makes the decision to split, or not, a gut call. The pros, he said, can be more independent children.
But cons are obvious as well: separate teacher meetings, separate homework help, sometimes separate schedules.
As an example, he cites his grandmother, also a twin. The girls grew up so intertwined that as adults, he said, they remained reliant on each other to such an extent that they served as a warning to Lamp's mother.
Mom Kim Kamrowski is just starting to grapple with some of those decisions. Her identical twin girls had two of the four pink coats in Whelan's pre-school classes at St. Mary's Elementary Catholic school.
They differ in looks by a freckle. Literally, a speck on a nose.
"I always think how nice it is to experience everything with your closest friend and your sister," she said. "They feel some security and comfort knowing that they've got each other."
Their pre-school boasts six sets of twins and a set of triplets, out of 60 children in the entire program. Last year, one class had only three children who didn't share a birthday with a sibling.
Kamrowski has had to explain to her daughters that not every sibling comes with a pair. They just assumed twins were the norm.
Watching her twins interact and support each other has convinced her to keep her girls together in the same classroom, at least for now.
But not all experts agree with that course.
Maryanne Bourque used to help care for children, especially multiple births, as a nurse in Philadelphia. Now she serves as the Community Education Coordinator at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del. She often teaches parenting classes.
Instilling individualism in children at a young age helps insure them against the problems of middle school, and later.
"Twins, triplets tend to be more social because they have another sibling around, but they don't necessarily find it easy to be friends with others," she said. Without help, "they won't develop such a strong sense of self. That certainly comes into play in middle school, where cliques and queen bees come more into focus. ...You want them to find friends that fit, and not try to fit in."
Even so, she's sympathetic to the plight of parents with multiples.
"One of my daughters is in class with a set of triplets," she said. "Seeing those parents fly on back to school night, trying to rush around." She sympathizes, she said.
At East Dover Elementary School near Toms River, N.J., Principal Linda Downing used to say that she wasn't going to retire before the local quadruplets entered her school, but the novelty quickly turned to practicalities.
She was awed by the quadruplets' mom organizing her troops during an open house night.
"Mom took two, grandma took one, a nephew went with a supervisor," Downing said. "I think people who have multiple births like this multitask. They don't make mountains out of molehills."
She said the students "just accept them. They're just like anyone else. It's no big deal for them.
"I think we as adults make a bigger deal."
