In the French Community of Belgium, special education
differs from regular instruction in that it is proposed for
students with specific needs in all three levels (kindergarten,
primary and secondary) and consists of eight teaching
models corresponding to different needs (physical, sensory,
intellectual, etc.). Type 8 special education, reserved for
children with learning difficulties, is defined as ‘special
education provided for the educational needs of children
with instrumental disabilities and designed for students for
whom the pluridisciplinary evaluation (...) concludes that
despite having normal levels of intelligence, hearing, and
sight, they present difficulties in language or speech development
and/or the acquisition of reading, writing, or calculation,
with a level of gravity requiring specific intervention
which regular instruction alone cannot provide’ (Communauté
française de Belgique, 2004; author’s translation).
Over the last 20 years, the population benefiting from type
8 instruction has considerably increased. For example, from
1996–1997 to 2007–2008, the clientele went from 5138 to
6086 students in type 8 for the entire French Community of
Belgium (Communauté française de Belgique, 2010), and
during the year preceding our study, only 15 students with
LD had been integrated into regular classrooms.
Orientation of students towards type 8 special education
(entry) is led by a ‘neutral’ organisation [Psychological
Medical and Social Center (CPMS)] that provides nonbinding
recommendations supported by standard protocols
(social, pedagogical, psychological, and medical evaluations
and conclusions) and is mandatorily established to
orient students towards special education