Future Directions to Support People with Intellectual Disabilities

The concluding chapter discusses future trends in research and application for people with intellectual disabilities. Although predicting what might happen in the dynamic fields of research, education, and social policy development is always hazardous, there are trends in all fields that can lead to improvement in assessment, diagnosis, medical, educational, therapy, service delivery, and policy development. Given the direction of professional trends, there can be reasonable speculation about the direction of the field. This chapter also discusses some of the aspects of prevention and prophylactic treatment to reduce problematic behaviours and increase quality of life for people with intellectual disabilities, their families, and communities. Ultimately, improvement of service delivery for people with intellectual disabilities will depend on the ability of professionals, parents, individuals with intellectual disabilities, policymakers, and other stakeholders to implement the advances in research and the ability of educators and service providers to guide future directions in research.