Person-Centered Planning (PCP) Strategies for
Postsecondary Students with Intellectual
Disabilities: Facilitating Participation in PCP
Meetings
Valerie L. Mazzotti, Ph.D.
Kelly R. Kelley, Ph.D.
Cassie M. Coco, B.S.Ed.
NCDCDT 2012 Spring Conference
Greensboro, NC – May 3, 2012
What is the UP Program?
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The University Participant (UP) Program is a two year,
inclusive transition program for college-aged
individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Operated as a pilot program from 2007 to 2010; 2
participants completed the program by 2010.
Expanded to 4 participants in 2010, 4 additional in
2011 for a total of 8 participants.
Funded as a model demonstration site in 2010 by U.S.
Department of Education.
What do UP Participants do?

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Live in campus residence halls and
experience college life with same age
peers
Have an individual plan that would
allow personal development for postUP success
Attend and audit a limited number of
classes
Participate in social events and
activities
Five UP Program Components
Personal
Development
Course
Auditing
Social
Participation
and Learning
Community
Participation
Vocational
Preparation
Participants must pay current university fees for auditing courses
UP Certificate Requirements
*Individual Plan for College Participation (IPCP)
Perspectives about UP Program
Person-Centered Planning and UP
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Supports are centered around person/goals
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Hold formal biweekly/monthly PCP meetings
with various key providers
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Participants lead the meetings with guiding
questions and picture prompting cues:
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Stories of Success
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What is Working Well? (strategies)
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What Could be Improved?
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Next Steps
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Questions and Other Items
Facilitating PCP with UP Participants:
Participating via SOP
Statement of Problem
A lack of interagency collaboration often exists between
schools, communities, and adult service providers, which may
create problems for students with disabilities as they
transition from school to post-school life (Benz, Lindstrom, & Latta,
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1999; Johnson, Bruininks, & Thurlow, 1987; Katsiyannis, Zhang, Woodruf, & Dixon,
2005)
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The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004, now
requires LEAs to communicate with adult service agencies
via a Summary of Performance (SOP) for each child with a
disability
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Despite the new requirement, federal mandates do not
include explicit instructions regarding completion of SOPs
for transitioning students with disabilities
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Summary of Performance (SOP)

IDEA (2004) initiative
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“provides the child with a summary of the child's
academic achievement and functional performance,
which shall include recommendations on how to assist
the child in meeting the child's postsecondary goals.”
(IDEA, 2004, section 614 [c]5ii).

Can provide a bridge into post-school life for young
adults with disabilities,
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Whether moving from high school into post-school
employment, education, and independent living settings
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Or from postsecondary settings into post-school
employment, education, and independent living settings
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Statement of Problem
For the SOP to be useful, students must be familiar with the
purpose and contents in an SOP
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Teachers should provide students with instruction that
includes:
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purpose of the SOP
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contents of the SOP
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steps to participate in the SOP process (e.g., SD-SOP)
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detailed information on how students should use the
SOP as a self-advocacy tool in postsecondary
environments (Richter & Mazzotti, in press)
Statement of Problem
Given that no experimental research currently
exists to evaluate efforts surrounding the SOP,
researchers should (Richter & Mazzotti, in press):
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begin to investigate effectiveness of various SOP
procedures
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investigating the efficacy of various procedures for
involving students in the development of SOPs,
particularly focusing on the Student-Directed SOP
(Martin et al., 2007)
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Purpose
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To examine the effects of the Self-Directed
Summary of Performance on participation in
Person-Centered Planning meetings with young
adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities
(IDD)
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Self-Directed SOP
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Research Questions
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What was the effect of Self-Directed Summary of
Performance on participation in Person-Centered
Planning meetings for young adults with IDD?
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To what extent will young adults with IDD generalize
use of the Summary of Performance document to
untrained locations?
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Research Questions
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What are participants’ perceptions of using the
Summary of Performance as a tool for participating in
Person-Centered Planning meetings and advocating
for accommodations in the workplace?
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What are interagency service providers' and
employers' perceptions of the Summary of
Performance as a method for participating in PCP
meetings and advocating for accommodations in the
workplace?
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Participants
Participants
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3 young adults with IDD
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2 males, 1 female
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3 Caucasian
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Aged 27, 22, and 23
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All participated in the University Participant
Program on a University Campus
Setting
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University Campus in Southeast United States
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Postsecondary education program designed to
provide on-campus living and learning experiences
for college-age persons with intellectual disabilities
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Instructional Setting:
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Career Development Coordinator’s office
located on university campus
Dependent Variables
Primary Dependent Variable: Student participation in
person-centered planning meetings measured using
a 30-point probe
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Student participation operationally defined as:
independently leading their PCP meetings based on the
steps of the Summary of Performance document
Secondary Dependent Variable: Student use of the
SOP document to advocate for accommodations in
a work setting
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Intervention
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Approximately four 15-45 min sessions per week
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Probes used to evaluate participation during mock
PCP meetings
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Summary of Performance Lessons
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11 scripted lesson series to teach components of
SOP using prompting tool
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Administered by Career Development
Coordinator
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Model, lead, test format, including role play at end
of each lesson
Intervention: SOP Prompting Tool
SOP Prompting Tool
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Intervention: SOP Lessons
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Lesson 1: Beginning my meeting
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Lesson 2: Introducing everyone
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Lesson 3: My living goals
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Lesson 4: My learning goals
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Lesson 5: My working goals
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Lesson 6: My disability and challenges
Intervention: SOP Lessons
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Lesson 7: The supports I need
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Lesson 8: My jobs at WCU
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Lesson 9: Being a good employee
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Lesson 10: What my employer likes
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Lesson 11: My future employment goal and
closing my meeting
Participating in MY SOP: Elizabeth
SOP Prompting Tool
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Participating in MY SOP: Conroy – Pre/Post
Pre – PCP
Post – PCP
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Results
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Additional Preliminary Results
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Interrater reliability is 99.2% (range=93.3% -100%;
collected on 63% of probe sessions)
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Treatment integrity is 100%
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Social Validity Results
Coming soon…..
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Discussion Points
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Findings support using the Self-Directed SOP to
teach young adults with IDD to participate in their
PCP meetings
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First experimental study to investigate the effects of
the Self-Directed SOP on participation in PCP
meetings
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Study addressed need for an effective intervention
that instructors can use to teach students with IDD
to actively be involved in IEP/PCP meetings
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Provides students with a method for advocating
with employers
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Limitations
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Small number of participants (n=4)
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Lack of long-term maintenance data
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Include strategies to promote generalization to
using SOP with employers
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Suggestions for Future Research
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Conduct research with other student populations (i.e., high
school; other postsecondary settings) in other geographic
locations
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Collect maintenance data over an extended period of time (e.g.,
3 months, 6 months)
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Continue to refine intervention to ensure relevance for students
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Implications for Practice
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May provide a method for promoting self-advocacy
skills of students with IDD
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May provide a method for teaching students with
IDD about the SOP and participation in both IEP
and SOP meetings
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Visual or picture cues could help with increasing
self-advocacy skills for individuals with IDD
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Explicitly teach participation in IEP and PCP process
to ensure students with IDD are actively engaged in
the process
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Questions?
Questions?
Contact Information