24 November 2021

“It’s like having family you can go to for advice.”

That’s the view of twin mum Michelle Bourne, who said she has benefited hugely from the support of Twins Trust experts.

Her twins, Jay and Rio, now four, were born in May 2017.

Michelle, who lives in London, called upon the Twins Trust initially when she wanted to discuss deferring the start of her school for her twins.

They were due to start school in September 2021 but will now start when they are five-years-old in September 2022.

Michelle said: “The first time I used the service was when I spoke to Maggie Dorsman about flexible school for summer-born children.

“I got an excellent result as a result of speaking to her.

“She was really helpful and all the schools I contacted agreed to delay the boys starting school.

“We got accepted into our first choice school, which wasn’t in our catchment or borough. I was shocked but very pleased.”

At the time Maggie mentioned to Michelle that Twins Trust has experts able to offer support for speech and language therapy.

Michelle added: “A year later I remembered that she had said that so I got in touch with Twins Trust once again.

“The expert, Rachael Kay, was really helpful. I knew she had another job and family at home but she was very kind and able to schedule my appointment, even though her own children were up and running around.”

Michelle said the expert gave really good advice about the twins’ speech.

She said: “She told me what to do going forward and as a result of that I have so many appointments coming up at various hospitals for the boys.

“All in all it’s been a really fantastic service, I can’t believe it.

“I just feel so lucky. I didn’t find out about the Twins Trust until the boys were about three.

I tried to do everything on my own. Once I found out about Twins Trust, I felt like my problems were halved.