Exploring Client Participation in the Individual Planning Process

This study explored of the participation of 25 adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) in their individual planning meetings. The study looked at the degree to which clients participated in their individual planning meeting, their understanding of the basic purpose of the meeting, and their feelings regarding the meeting and their role in it. Client participation during each meeting was recorded with an adaptation of the Individual Programme Planning Checklist, created by Alexander and Hegarty (2001). On average, subjects participated 68 times per planning meeting and lower participation was observed when subjects had a greater degree of impairment. Higher rates of participation were also seen when subjects had prepared before their meeting. The rates of participation were highest when providing information or joining in group discussion and lowest was observed in making choices at the meeting. Qualitative data were gathered through structured interviews with each subject. Approximately half of the subjects interviewed stated that the meeting was for them to choose goals to work on over the next year with 69% remembering at least one goal. The data gathered represents a small snapshot of client participation specifically during their planning meeting.