School counselors’ perceptions of twins

Twin birth rates have increased sustainably 76% from 1980 through 2009 (Martin, Hamilton, & Osterman, 2012; Martin et al., 2011). This increase in twin birth rates results in a further need for professionals to understand the developmental needs of twins (Sandbank, 1999) because twins develop differently from single birthed individuals, also known as singletons (Ainslie, 1997; Burlingham, 1952; Klein, 2003, 2012; Sandbank, 1999; Scheinfeld, 1976). Specifically, school counselors may need to have greater awareness about twins’ development and how to counsel twins. Despite this need, unfortunately there is a lack of information about counseling twins (Ainslie, 1997; Klein, 2003). Thus, this qualitative study explored school counselors’ perceptions of twins through interviewing school counselors about their perceptions of twins and their work with counseling twins.