ABSTRACT
The high incidence of biological stresses accompanying a multiple birth has been well documented. On average twins are four weeks premature and 1000g lighter in birthweight than single-tons. While delays in language acquisition and articulation have been related to subsequent reading disability in the singleton population, very little attention has been paid to the possibility that reading disability is more common in twins. The Australian Study in School Performance (ASSP) results show that specific differences exist between those twins and singletons who lack adequate literacy skills. The causes of the twin-singleton difference may lie also in the problems of motivation and distraction discussed by D. A. Hay and P. J. O'Brien. Further, C. J. Johnston et al. make a similar point concerning the much greater deficit of twins on reading accuracy than comprehension. There may be a danger in simply comparing twins and singeltons.
