THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION is reporting a dramatic increase in the number of students with autism-like characteristics seeking school placement.
However, Chief Education Officer Karen Best said the more than 300 per cent spike from what it was 15 years ago might not be the full picture, since it did not account for those accessing private schools and other institutions.
Addressing an autism lecture hosted by the ministry in partnership with the School of Education at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies yesterday, Best said Barbados had not been unaffected by the upward trend recorded globally.
“Within the past three years, 80 children with autism, or autism-like characteristics, have been referred to the student support services of the Ministry of Education for school placement,” she said. (WILLCOMM)
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