Ten minutes for young people with learning challenges is not enough

Sir, – This year the Department of Education is piloting a new scheme whereby a subset of young people with learning challenges are getting an extra 10 minutes for each exam paper.

This approach is both inadequate and inequitable. Ten minutes is a ridiculously small amount of time to compensate for pronounced challenges. Additionally, there are many other young people who may have equal or even more severe learning challenges and yet are getting no extra time. For instance, a young person with very slow processing speed or with autism and pronounced executive function deficits or ADHD and memory deficits.

In the United States, my autistic 19 year-old was approved for time and a half by the state board of education. Here, while doing the Leaving Certificate, she gets zero extra minutes. Equity demands a more comprehensive and nuanced approach. – Yours, etc,

ANNE MARIE MURPHY,