Multiple Birth Awareness Week Highlights importance of Educating the Educators

By Kerrie Gottliebsen

This year Tweddle will be celebrating Multiple Birth Awareness Week (MBAW) with a play and learning group in partnership with the Westgate Multiple Birth Association (WMBA).

The theme of 2022’s Multiple Birth Awareness week is “Educating the Educators.” The theme is an opportunity to engage with a range of professionals to develop best practice when working with multiples and their families.

MBAW is an annual, national campaign that highlights an issue of importance to the multiple birth community. Through advocacy, education and community engagement, the Australian Multiple Birth Association aims to increase positive health outcomes, awareness and equality for our families.

Educating the Educators

AMBA Chairperson, Larissa Jordan said “The theme, Educating the Educators, is our opportunity to put the spotlight on the unique needs of multiples and their parents, in the educational context. We want to ensure that families, medical and educational professionals have access to high quality information on how to best support and cater for the specific needs of multiples, across the lifespan.”

Multiple specific education is required from the moment parents discover there is more than one. Families should have access to high quality education that addresses and prepares them for the additional medical, social and emotional challenges they may face.

The theme, Educating the Educators, is an opportunity to engage with a range of professionals to develop best practice when working with multiples and their families.

Some of the unique considerations for families and professionals to consider include:

• Additional family stressors – awareness of the increased rates of mental health issues and financial strain amongst multiple birth families. Parents of multiples are at a higher risk of perinatal anxiety and depression
• Classroom placement – whether to split them or keep them together – is one of the biggest dilemmas faced by parents of multiples.
• School readiness – with 65% of twins and 95% of higher order multiples born prematurely and higher rates of developmental delays, the decision about when multiples start, can be more difficult.
• Being treated as individuals – ensuring professionals and the general community, acknowledge multiples as separate entities and avoid comparisons or labels.
• Fostering individuality – encouraging and supporting multiples to develop their own unique personalities, friendships and interests.
• Respecting the multiple bond – understanding and fostering the unique bond that twins, triplets or more have and supporting them through transitions that involve separation.

Resources and Support

The Australian Multiple Birth Association offers a number of resources to support families and professionals. AMBA’s local clubs act as a peer support network for parents of multiples to share their lived experience. Tweddle thank the Hobsons Bay Community Fund for making the Westgate Multiple Birth Awareness Week Play and Learning session possible.

You can contact the WMBA here.