EXPELLED

Yifan Sun and Tyler Louviere’s twins aren't even 4, and they've been kicked out of two preschools. Thousands of other kids have faced similar fates. The problem is getting worse, experts say, and it’s more complicated than it seems

- By EILEEN FINAN and WENDY GROSSMAN KANTOR

Yifan Sun and Tyler Louviere’s twin daughters were eager for day one of preschool last August. With new backpacks (one pizza-themed, one with flowers) and new clothes (a Bluey T-shirt, a flowery tank top), the 3-year-olds stood in front of their Naperville, Ill., home holding “First Day” paper plates. Each had answered the same question—“What do you want to be when you grow up?” (a ninja and a duck)—and their parents snapped a photo. “I was excited for them to be with kids their own age and make friends,” says Sun, 34, a data analyst. But now the memory is “ruined,” she says. “I can’t get myself to look at the picture without feeling sad—sad with a side of anger.”

Within a month of that milestone moment, Sun and Louviere were informed that their girls weren’t welcome back at either of the preschool programs where they split the week. The problem? “Listening issues,” they were told.

A Big Change After their twins were expelled, "I cried tears of frustration," says Tyler Louviere (with wife Yifan Sun and the girls at home in March).