Using the lens of critical theory, this article explores the tenuous relationship between special education and French Second Language (FSL) education, particularly as it manifests in the issue of including students with language-based learning disabilities/difficulties within the French immersion context. Drawing on considerations of these issues…

Through an examination of one mother's journals about her son's academic struggles to navigate the French immersion (FI) program in Canada, this article explores the tensions that exist when the construct of "inclusion" is juxtaposed against that particular second language-learning context. The analysis of the mother's journals revealed…

A two-year study of learning disabilities found in association with French immersion programs indicates that children encountering difficulty in primary French immersion programs have a specific learning disability characterized by a pattern suggesting a maturational lag in the temporal lobe regions of the brain. (JMF)

Three case studies of children with specific learning disabilities who were switched out of French immersion programs are presented to provide background for the development of hypotheses for future study regarding the advisability of switching. (JMF)

This article reviews 30 years of experience with French immersion second-language instruction and concludes that most children with learning disabilities can benefit from the experience of a bilingual (immersion) education. For children with language handicaps who need to learn a second language, bilingual (immersion) instruction is better than…

Issues relating to the psychoeducational evaluation of bilingual children from French immersion programs are presented using data from an in-depth study of a young learning disabled girl, discussed in reference to Cummins' theory of cross-linguistic transfer. (Author/MSE)

This paper describes the methodology of a study seeking to determine whether there is evidence that French immersion children with specific reading disability in one language also have the disability in the other language, and learning-disabled readers belong to the same subtype in both languages. (Author/JDD)

Studies on reading comprehension for bilingual students are reviewed to examine the importance of first-language mastery prior to second-language acquisition. Immersion program factors analyzed include automaticity, plateau effects, need for a variety of sociolinguistic settings, oral facility versus cognitive academic linguistic abilities, and…

A descriptive case study provides a comprehensive profile of 13 learning disabled students' experience after one full year in a French immersion learning difficulties program in Canada. (Author/VWL)