In many countries where the number of trained special education teachers is limited, itinerant or itinerant teachers, or in some cases health professionals, can support general education teachers. Under this model, special education teachers or experts trained in a particular type of disability travel to a variety of inclusive schools to provide counselling, mentoring and technical assistance to teachers and general education schools. In this way, even schools with limited funding (i.e. special education teachers cannot be present in all schools) can benefit from special education expertise and knowledge. Countries that have adopted the mobile teacher model are Kenya, Malawi and Uganda (Lynch & McCall, 2007). No studies conducted since the 1970s have shown that students with disabilities educated in distinct settings (Falvey, 2004) perform better than students in inclusive settings. In fact, the amount of time a student with a disability spends in the general education classroom is positively correlated with higher math and reading test scores, less disruptive behaviour, and increased future employment opportunities. In fact, this positive correlation was observed among all students with disabilities, regardless of the type or severity of disability (Wagner et al., 2006). Inclusive education can also have other benefits, including increased awareness and acceptance in the community. For example, a UNESCO study conducted in 14 countries showed that in countries where there were laws mandating inclusion, teachers expressed a more positive view of inclusion (Bowman, 1986).

In Flanders, the 1970 law on special education established special schools, according to which special schools are organized according to the type of disability (primary level) (footnote 48) and the pedagogical curriculum (secondary level). Footnote 49 The establishment of this categorical approach led to an increase in the number of newly built special schools and the closure of existing special classes in mainstream schools, resulting in a problematic structural legacy in later steps towards an «inclusion agenda». To remedy this problem, the Act was amended in 1986 to allow handicapped pupils to receive a sustained education in a regular school. As a result, children with disabilities can, to some extent, be enrolled in mainstream schools under the integrated education system or the inclusive education project. Most early childhood and primary school programmes in LMI countries do not have systems to systematically identify students with disabilities. As a result, many students, especially those with less severe disabilities, are never identified and therefore never receive special education services or other supports. In addition, these countries rarely conduct vision and hearing screenings, and when they do, these tests usually do not take place in schools. Simple screenings should be done in the classroom to assess learning, vision and hearing problems. Countries should put in place referral systems to ensure that these students, once identified, can receive services or aids such as glasses.

In addition, intervention response strategies can be used to assess whether a student will benefit from additional academic support, and can also inform teachers if a more comprehensive assessment needs to be done. Assessments within the school should follow international best practice, including a multidisciplinary team trained to conduct the assessment, using multiple tools translated into the local language and adapted to the cultural context, actively involving parents, and summarizing the findings in a comprehensive report outlining any additional support or services that could benefit the student. National policies on the inclusion of persons with disabilities should explicitly stipulate that all students must have access to the national curriculum. Too often, students with disabilities learn only life skills (e.g. , basic understanding of household chores and basic hygiene) and no access to the general curriculum, which includes important literacy and math skills. While life skills are important, they are not enough. Since not all students with disabilities have equal access to the national curriculum, it should be modified or adapted to encourage individualized instruction. Adapting the curriculum does not mean developing a separate or alternative curriculum based on a student`s diagnosis, as this can limit a student`s potential growth, even if it is not intentional. Rather, accommodation involves reviewing the national curriculum standards and determining how best to expose the student to each standard and associated performance targets through accommodation. Customizing a curriculum only for each student with a disability can be a challenge for educators. Even in high-income countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, this is not done uniformly for all students. Adapting curricula can be even more difficult in LMI countries, where support for education is often limited.

However, even in the most resourceful countries, a shift towards adapting national curricula is emerging, and as more and more countries begin to expand their national legislation on inclusive education, access to the curriculum should be included as a key element of new legislation. In Scotland, the legal framework changed significantly with the Education and Supplementary Learning Support Act 2004 in Scotland, which replaced the term SEN with the broader definition of `additional support needs`, which refers to all children who would receive additional help to overcome barriers to learning. Differences in the organisation of education also exist in Belgium, where each community (Dutch-speaking Community, French Community and German-speaking Community) has its own education system. Special education is distributed among the different communities, and the types of educational institutions are special schools or integrated schools. Teachers are the most powerful resource in all education systems, and the importance of continuously developing their knowledge and skills cannot be overstated.