What is the best age for involving the young person in person-centered planning?
Person centered planning begins at birth. Whether the process has been orderly or haphazard; each one of us has created (or has stumbled upon) a preferred lifestyle and a unique plan for our life. That plan was not handed to us. We created the plan for ourselves with the help of people who are significant in our lives. No one came with a life plan already prepared for them, but every one of us has figured out goals for ourselves as we went along and we have struggled and sometimes soared as we attempted to reach them. With the input of parents, teachers, and friends we set goals, try to reach them, sometimes fail, sometimes revise our plan, and always persevere in planning for ourselves in a process that begins at birth. Therefore, no one is too young or too old to be involved in making choices and understanding the consequences of their person-centered plan.
