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- Changes in a person's lifestyle are seen as an essential part of any Positive Behavioral Support plan.
- Person-Centered Planning is a way of individualizing services with the primary purpose of increasing the person's Quality of Life.
- A focus on person-centered planning requires a shift in school policy from a service paradigm to a support paradigm, and will require that schools begin learning the language and practices of person-centered planning.
- Research indicates that person-centered planning processes can increase and improve community involvement, social relationships, and community living skills.
- Person-centered planning processes involve a high degree of both initial and ongoing student involvement in developing and implementing educational plans.
- Person-centered planning processes rely heavily on the involvement of family members and friends in the planning process, and utilize these important personal and social relationships as a primary source of support for the student.
- Each person-centered planning process should begin with an initial discussion including the person who is the focal point of the planning process.
- Person-centered planning should not start by restricting the planning discussion to the availability of services, the behavior or skills of the individual, or the availability of funds.
- Person-centered planning processes should use a broad implementation approach that uses resources and supports for the individual that are as local, informal, and generic as possible.
- Preferences generally involve a person's ongoing identification of people, places or things that are preferred, that is, selected at a greater rate than others.
- A number of researchers have demonstrated that even young children are competent to make informed choices about such things as instructional support.
- Simple and everyday choices like what to wear, what to eat, and how to spend free time, as well as more critical choices such as student employment and decisions about educational strategies are often made by parents, teachers, and staff.
- Expressing preferences and making choices are critical parts of the person-centered planning process.
- One of the key issues regarding person-centered planning is the extent to which a person should control the planning process.
- Sometimes personal preferences and choices clearly conflict with what is considered to be best practices for students.
- Some authors have indicated that if person-centered planning is implemented as a standardized and institutionalized part of existing service and educational structures, it will lose its effectiveness.
- Frequently, when individuals such as family members, friends and co-workers are asked to participate in a person-centered planning process, they become very involved in the development of an individualized system of services and supports.
- It is important to remember that the person-centered planning process is dynamic, requiring continuous monitoring and adjustment in order to maintain the preferred lifestyle that a student has outlined.
- Person-centered planning requires that the student remain in control of the planning process and the definition of the desired outcomes.
- It is important that the student and her support group be able to choose a facilitator who is comfortable to them since the facilitator holds a significant opportunity to influence the outcome of the planning process.
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