Article 71 of Law 2/2006 on Education (LOE), amended by Law 3/2020 (LOMLOE), establishes that educational administrations shall provide the necessary means for all students to achieve the maximum personal, intellectual, social and emotional development. Furthermore, they must ensure the necessary resources so that pupils who require different educational attention from the ordinary one can achieve the maximum possible development of their personal abilities and, in any case, the objectives established in general for all pupils.

Article 72 of the LOE as amended by the LOMLOE defines the resources that educational administrations must have available in schools to provide for pupils with educational support needs:

• teaching staff in the corresponding specialities and qualified professionals, as well as the means and materials necessary for the appropriate care of these pupils;
• provision of the necessary resources for the institutions to adequately assist these pupils;
• schools will have the appropriate academic organisation and will make the necessary curricular adaptations and diversifications to facilitate the achievement of the established goals for all pupils;
• promotion of the training of teachers and other professionals related to the care of pupils with specific educational support needs;
• collaboration with other administrations or public or private entities, institutions or associations, to facilitate schooling and a better incorporation of these pupils into the educational institution, as well as the promotion of educational success and the prevention of early school drop-out.

Article 71 of the LOE as amended by the LOMLOE, defines the target groups of pupils who require educational attention different from the ordinary one:

• pupils with special educational needs (pupils with disabilities or severe behavioural, communication and language disorders);
• pupils with developmental delay;
• pupils with language and communication development disorders;
• pupils with attention or learning disorders;
• pupils with a severe lack of knowledge of the working language; 
• pupils in a situation of socio-educational vulnerability;
• pupils with high intellectual capacities;
• pupils who have enrolled late in the education system;
• pupils with personal or academic background issues.