What things should I consider when preparing my child’s person-centered plan (PCP) for SDP?

According to Undivided's Self-Determination Consultant Iris Barker, there’s not a specific page count you should be aiming for in your child's person-centered plan (PCP). Whether the PCP is 20 pages or 100 pages, there’s no way to fully capture who your child is as an individual, but the PCP is still the foundation of their needs, goals, dreams, and everything you're going to request from the Regional Center. We want to make sure that we try, to the best of our ability, to capture who our kids are, what they like and dislike, and also make sure we have IPP goals that support the services that eventually will come in the budget and translate into a spending plan. That PCP is the core of it.

You want it to make sure it has correct grammar and everything, but don’t worry about making it perfect. If there are later things you didn’t note on the initial PCP, such as needs that were not talked about or services that you didn't request because you didn't know what was available, you can discuss things with your independent facilitator. Many parents talk with other parents in SDP and bounce ideas back and forth, so keep in mind that every Regional Center is different and not all of them fund the same things.

Learn more about person-centered planning in our article here.