In recent years, education and mental health professionals in Barbados have recorded a steady, consistent rise in applications for special testing accommodations for students taking the national Common Entrance Examination, a trend they attribute to growing public awareness of neurodiversity and learning differences across school communities.
According to official data from Barbados’ Ministry of Education Transformation, this year’s total reached 240 requests – a marked jump from the 194 applications received in 2023 and 183 in 2022. Juanita Brathwaite-Wharton, a senior psychologist with the Ministry of Education, confirmed the upward trend and framed it as a positive shift in public understanding. She explained that more caregivers and school staff are now pursuing formal psychological evaluations to map a student’s current skill level and identify targeted supports that will help them succeed both in examinations and daily classroom instruction.
“Parents are finally recognizing that all children learn differently, and they are actively seeking out resources tailored to their child’s unique needs to help them thrive in educational settings,” Brathwaite-Wharton said. Despite the progress, she noted that gaps remain in educator preparation. To effectively support students with diverse learning and developmental needs, Brathwaite-Wharton argued that K-12 teachers require expanded, ongoing professional development focused on recognizing and supporting learning exceptionalities.
She added that even when educators are trained to deliver differentiated instruction, they often lack the in-class support required to meet every student’s needs. “Every teacher needs to be equipped to support students with special needs, even if not every teacher is a specialized special education instructor,” Brathwaite-Wharton emphasized. “Exceptionalities exist in every classroom, every school, at every grade level, so foundational training is non-negotiable.”
Shernell Clarke, head of the Barbados Association of Guidance Counsellors, echoed these observations, while pointing to persistent systemic barriers that block equitable access to assessment and support. Timely evaluation remains one of the most widespread challenges, Clarke explained, with multiple factors slowing down access: parental stigma around learning differences, prohibitive costs for private assessments, and long wait times for public evaluations through the Ministry of Education. Private psychological assessments can cost thousands of Barbadian dollars, putting them out of reach for many low- and middle-income families, even as demand for free or subsidized public services continues to grow.
Clarke noted that classroom teachers are most often the first to spot early signs of learning challenges, but their recommendations for assessment can only help if parents follow through. “Some caregivers refuse assessments out of shame or a reluctance to acknowledge that their child may need extra support,” she explained. “Without that formal evaluation, schools and educators have no framework to put the right accommodations in place.” When families do engage with the process, she added, outcomes are often transformative: with targeted interventions and parental buy-in, many students with learning exceptionalities are able to manage their needs and even excel academically. For students who go without support, however, unmet needs often manifest as behavioral issues or persistent academic underachievement that is incorrectly dismissed as laziness or misbehavior.
Clarke also called for targeted investment in early intervention at the primary school level, arguing that identifying and addressing learning challenges before students transition to secondary education leads to far better long-term outcomes. This would require assigning more guidance counsellors and social workers to primary schools, where early support can make the biggest difference. She added that large class sizes – which often reach 33 to 35 students in Barbadian secondary schools – make it nearly impossible for overstretched teachers to deliver the tailored instruction that psychologists recommend, calling for increased investment in both personnel and physical resources to address growing student needs.