Inclusion is still an ambiguous concept, with multiple interpretations and likewise implementations. This process seems to be influenced by country specific traditions and context specific choices that make comparisons and sharing difficult (e.g. Mitchell, 2005; Powell, 2011; Slee, 2011; Florian, 2014).

The debate is especially focused on the dilemmatic relationship between Special and Inclusive Education, also within those contexts formally inclusive (Powell, 2011). On one side there is a need to implement the ideals of inclusive education through a structural, cultural and social change (Booth, Ainscow, 2000, 2002, 2011), but on the other side it is still debated how we should assess individual needs and how specific interventions (e.g. ABA, TEACCH, ACC, etc.) should be taken into mainstream context in order to guarantee quality in education to those pupils with specific needs (Norwich, 2013). The two positions – Special and Inclusive - recall the contrast between individual/medical model and social model of disability, the former focused mainly on the person, his/her specific needs and consequently looking for ways to remediate or “fix” the weaknesses, while the other blaming the contexts, their lacks and phenomena of discriminations and exclusion (Goodley, 2010).

There is a need to understand how the two fields – Special and Inclusive - are conceived, interpreted and applied in regular school practices, through an analysis of micro-teaching processes within the classrooms. In this discussion, with Special education we refer to specialist's and evidence-based interventions, specific practices meant for individuals with exceptional needs (Cottini, Morganti, 2015; Vivanet, 2015). Special provision mean many things, such as materials, time, personal support and additional space, which would not be otherwise provided tipically (Rix, 2015: 4).

The research project offers an insight on the implementation of inclusive education policies in two regional context, Bremen Municipality and Trentino, belonging respectively to Germany and Italy.  On one side the German City Municipality of Bremen constitutes an exception in German context, as it attempted to create an integrative school system already in the 1980s and promoted a wider policy for inclusive education in 2009 (Jürgens-Pieper & Pieper, 2011; Bremisches Schulgesetz 17. June 2009; Helbig, Nikolai, 2015; Gesetzblatt der Freien Hansestadt Bremen n°72 18. May 2015). On the other side the Italian context, where special schools and classes where abandoned in 1970s and a school for all has been since then a priority (Law 517/1977; Framework Law 104/1992; Ministro dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca, 2012).

Both contexts share similar beliefs and ideas regarding inclusive education, as established in their educational policies, choose a similar system of psycho-medical assessment to obtain additional funding and resources for some pupils, but differ significantly in their tradition in special education, in their organizational systems and in the role played by special education support system. These differences represent an interesting point of analysis to discuss the role of special education within inclusive education, taking as an example the emblematic challenge of Autistic Spectrum Disorders. This category is emblematic for many reasons: a rich scientific literature exists on evidence-based practices regarding teaching strategies for pupils with ASD (e.g. Parsons, et al., 2009). Moreover, pupils diagnosed with ASD are described as the most difficult to be included (Barnard et al., 2000; Humphrey and Symes, 2010), for whom a specific training seems to be required (Symes, Humphrey, 2012; Guldberg, 2010).

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