Skills to support independent living is taking on more importance as long term care facilities give way to the kind of residential care found in small groups, either through shared residences or outreach to support individuals in their own homes, If the twentieth century took away the extended family, the twenty-first century will have to find ways to reconstruct it.

The twenty-first century with all its societal and social change will require a new kind of community that can support its individual members and encourage independence. This will take new skills, which along with the skills to deal with information and provide the calming pool will also assist in reducing social stress through independence.  The more those with special needs can do for themselves the better their life will become in every way.

Learning that is effective and useful, that promotes independence and allows people to live more comfortably in the increasingly rapid paced, information glutted, and technocratic society. It has nothing to do with standardized testing, final exams or carefully crafted essays. While academics has its place and is key to a formal education, it remains questionable that standardized curriculum testing does. The important learning, the learning that brings stability and independence, is not just a product of school life but is even more crucial to every day and ongoing life.