We have a team of volunteers who support families of twins, triplets or more with a wide range of challenges.
They're qualified professionals in their field, including teachers, educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and family therapists.
How long it takes
Our volunteers give their time around other commitments. From referral to first contact can take two to three weeks.
What we can help with
For primary school applications, our professionals can support you with:
- Appeals about school places, including if your children have been offered different schools
- Decisions about whether your children should be together or apart. Start by using our Together or apart checklist [opens as PDF] (available exclusively to our Premium Members) and sharing our letter with your headteacher [opens as PDF] (available to Free Members and above). If the school isn't listening to the needs of both you and your children when deciding whether they should be together or apart, we can support you with this.
- Support if a school isn't recognising each child's individual needs. Before this, you can share our Individuality factsheet [opens as PDF] (available exclusively to our Premium Members) and teacher's guide for treating multiples as individuals (available to Free Members and above).
- Part-time attendance, deferring or delaying a school start, after you've read our guidance and you still need help with the process
If your children were born prematurely, you may also find Bliss's guidance on delaying or deferring school entry helpful.
If you are not yet a member and would like to access any of the resources listed above, you can find out more and join as a member now.
Our professionals can support you with:
- Choosing schools (how many choices you can make is different in each local authority)
- Applying for secondary school places if your children are educated outside their normal age group
- Preparing for results day if your children have similar abilities and only one may be offered a place after an entrance exam
- Appeals
- Support if teachers aren't identifying each child's individual needs
- Support if teachers are making comparisons between your children
- Differences in ability
- Differences in development and achievement, including for boy/girl twins
Please note, for selective and grammar school applications and appeals we can only support you if your children have achieved consistently the same academically for several years and you have evidence of this.
Our professionals can help with:
- Special educational needs and EHC plans
- Severe learning difficulties
- Profound and multiple learning difficulties
- Autism spectrum disorders
- Dyslexia
- Emotional and behavioural difficulties at school or nursery that affect a child or young person's progress
Our professionals can help with:
- Listening and attention
- Social interaction at any age
- Understanding language
- Expressive language
- Speech, including late talking, unclear speech and difficulty forming sounds
- Specific difficulties, such as stammering
- The EHC plan application process
You can also read more about language development.
Please note our speech and language therapists can only support families where your twins, triplets or more are aged two or over. If you're looking for a private speech and language therapist, you can contact the Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice or ask your GP for a referral.
If you're looking for support with typical, age-appropriate behaviour, please contact our helpline. It's open Monday to Friday from 10am to 1pm and 7pm to 10pm.
Our family therapists are qualified psychotherapists or clinical psychologists. They can support with:
- Severe behaviour, including aggression
- Relationship difficulties
- Emotional wellbeing within the family, including during adolescence
- Toilet training if it's starting to affect family life
- Identity and friendship worries
- Adult twins who've lost their twin
- Couples where one partner is a twin
- How parents are feeling after the birth of their twins, triplets or more
Please note our family therapists can only offer one-off phone support and signposting to other resources. They can't offer face-to-face support or long-term counselling.
How to apply
Please complete the application form to apply for hep from our Professional Advice Service.
The form must be completed by a parent or legal guardian. Referrals can’t be made by a grandparent or carer unless you have written permission from the parent or legal guardian.
If your issue is school-related, please contact us at least one month before your deadline, if you can.
Please note this service is only available to families living in the UK.
Professional Advice Service application form
This application form is for families who need professional help with education, speech and language and family therapy.
Join our team of professional advisors
If you're a professional teacher, educational psychologist, speech and language therapist or family therapist with experience supporting families with twins, triplets or more and you'd like to volunteer, visit our volunteering page to find out more.
Twins Trust doesn't accept obligation, responsibility or liability for the service provided by our professional volunteers.
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