Thus, in the familiar educational parlance, what is ordinarily
provided will meet the needs of most learners, while a few at
the tail ends of the distribution may require something ‘additional’
to or ‘different’ from that which is ordinarily available.
Indeed, this is the definition of special needs education
and additional support in many countries. While there may
be some necessary ‘additional’ and ‘different’ kinds of
support that are not specifically related to ideas about
intelligence, such as mobility training and sign language,
these are often associated with ‘learning difficulties’,
thereby reinforcing bell-shaped curve ideas about ‘some’
and ‘most’ learners (see Figure 1).