A surge in requests for special consideration in Tuesday’s common entrance examination has intensified concerns that many children with learning needs are still being identified too late, with advocates warning that stigma and delayed assessments are leaving some pupils without critical support.
With more than 200 special requests submitted for this year’s exams — over 60 more than last year — officials urged parents to have children tested early as increasing numbers of students have special needs.
Reports from the Ministry of Education indicate that 246 requests for special consideration have been made this year, compared with 183 in 2025 and 180 in 2024. These include provisions such as scribes, large-print papers, readers, extra time and exemptions. While the increase points to growing recognition of learning needs, concerns remain that many children are still going undiagnosed.
Stigma continues to prevent some parents from seeking help for their children before they reach the Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination (BSSEE), commonly known as the 11-plus, Senator Janelle Odle told Barbados TODAY.
“Right now in Barbados what is the bigger question is if persons, children with disabilities are having any support before even 11-plus, because we’re still at a stage right now in Barbados where a lot of parents are afraid of disclosing their children’s disability or even saying that their child has a disability because of the possible stigma that is attached, and then we have a lot of children going through the system and because they don’t have the support, they’re falling through the cracks.”
She supported increased screening, noting that early identification allowed for more effective intervention and better outcomes for students.
Principal of the Caribbean Mind Institute (CMI), Hazeain Harding-King, said that although awareness of disabilities has improved over the years, reluctance among some parents still persists.
“Persons are more aware of the challenges that some children face more so in this era than let’s say 10, 15, 20 years ago. So you’ll find that sometimes, this is my view, persons are a bit less judgmental, but obviously despite the improvements of awareness you would still have parents who may be reluctant to have children tested. It may have to do with being in denial because, at the end of the day we’re all human and no one is enthusiastic to get bad news.”
She warned that delaying assessments can have serious consequences for children:
“Delay interventions, which is obviously not in the best interest of the child, and you have to put the interests of the child first above yourself and what you may be thinking or how you may be thinking it may impact you, because at the end of the day, the child who has to live with these challenges is ultimately going to be more impacted than anyone else.”
Once children are properly assessed, support systems are generally accessible, particularly through the education ministry, Harding-King noted.
“If we make special requests for additional time, a reader or anything like that it would normally be approved as long as you can, you know, give facts… Obviously you must have some sort of scientific testing to prove that the child needs additional support, but they’re normally very accommodating as long as you can prove that the child needs it.”
Bur she argued that the process should be less burdensome for families, especially those unable to afford formal assessments.
“In our education system, if a child has been diagnosed with autism, ADHD, and dyslexia, these things, I do not think that they should have a situation where they have to jump through hoops to get additional time and facilitations for the common entrance exam.
“I’m thinking that automatically those children should be getting additional time and additional resources because some parents are not able to pay a psychologist or somebody to do an assessment to show the child needs extra time.”
She also questioned the structure of the exam itself, suggesting that time constraints may disadvantage students with learning challenges.
“I’m just thinking that if everybody has to do the same exam because we don’t have an alternative right now for children with special needs, at least give all of them additional time because sometimes it is just they need the time to process and to write. It’s not that they don’t know what they’re doing; it is that time that they’re disadvantaged by.
“And we have to ask ourselves, what are we really testing in the common entrance exam? Are we testing knowledge or are we testing speed?”
Odle, meanwhile, pointed to the level of support needed within classrooms, particularly through the use of assistive technology:
“We need more assistive technology being used across the board, not only in schools, but across the board, we know that it is expensive but there’s a lot of equipment that’s not very expensive that we can implement within the system to aid children, to aid teachers, to help teach the children adequately.”
She also highlighted the benefits of digital learning tools for students with disabilities;
“I like the idea of course of having digital formatted books and stuff like that because a person can take that book and if it’s not adequate for them, and in great format, they can change the format to be able to read it properly, you have the devices to help read the books to them.”
She further called for more teacher aides in classrooms to support students who require extra help:
“I know from my experience that being a child in a ‘mainstream school’ as basically as a normal school, it’s hard to keep up when you don’t have the adequate support, so the teacher aide can come in and help to describe perhaps maybe diagrams on the board or stuff like that, to a child who will be blind or visually impaired, who cannot understand them properly.”
(LG)
