ABSTRACT. The idea of this paper emerged out of an awareness that students with special educational needs are sometimes completely ignored in the Romanian mainstream school system. They are enrolled in mainstream schools that are not prepared to deal with their unique difficulties. My experience as a teacher of English as a second language includes teaching in rural areas, teaching simultaneous classes, seven years of teaching special education needs children and finally transitioning to mainstream education and teaching mainstream classes and inclusive classes. Even though the environment was different each and every time, there was always one fact present – each class, no matter the school, the area, the type of educational system, includes/contains two or three students that do not quite fit in the general pattern of the classroom.

Keywords: inclusive education; learning environment; school system; learning disability; cultural diversity; school-related risk