1. Learn how to contact the Regional Center.

Keep your service coordinator’s phone number in a safe place. If you use email, ask for their email address. Ask for their supervisor’s name and phone number. Call the main regional center number if you cannot reach your service coordinator or supervisor.

2. Help your service coordinator get to know you.

Talk with your service coordinator so you can help them get to know you. Tell them how you like to talk – by email, phone, or text. Tell them things about you, so they remember you when it is time to plan your services.

3. Keep all your regional center papers in order.

Make a folder or binder with regional center papers. Each time you get a paper, put it on top. That way, they will all be in order. If you use computers, keep regional center files in a folder on your computer. It is helpful to have your papers organized when you talk to the regional center or other people about your needs.

4. Think about your needs.

Think about what you need in your life. Write it down so you can talk to your service coordinator. Your needs will help everyone decide what services you get. You can ask for an “assessment” to help see what your needs are.

5. Plan what Regional Center services you will ask for.

Before you meet with the regional center, figure out what services and supports you want and need from them. Talk to family, friends, and advocates to help you. Use the IPP Planning Guide to write it all down.

6. Send a letter asking regional center to hold an IPP meeting.

When you ask the regional center for an IPP meeting, tell them what you will ask for. That way, the regional center can be ready to decide at the meeting if it will give you the services and supports you ask for. Use the sample letter in RULA Supplement H to help you ask for an IPP meeting. Once you ask for a meeting, the regional center must hold one within 30 days from when they get your letter. If you need an emergency IPP, they must hold it within 7 days.

7. Request and confirm that a decision-maker be at your meeting.

The law says decisions about your services and supports must be made at the meeting by the planning team. This means someone from the regional center who is allowed to say “yes” or “no” to your requests (a “decision-maker”) must be at the meeting. Often, a decision-maker won’t attend unless you ask for it.

Sometimes, a planning team may only “recommend funding” for services and supports. Or the regional center may say that the right people are not at the meeting to decide. Or the regional center may say that its “POS committee” or another committee must approve your request. This is against the law and may mean you will not get the services and supports your team agrees you should get. Having a decision-maker at the meeting means you can get a final decision about services and supports you request at the meeting.

8. Bring a friend, advocate, or someone who knows you.

You can invite anyone you want to your IPP meeting. Have someone with you who can help you advocate. You can invite someone from your home, your day program, your child’s school, or any other service provider. Some people start “buddy” programs where they each agree to go to the other’s IPP meeting for support.

9. Make sure the meeting is “person-centered.”

Person-centered means you actively participate in the meeting. It must be your choices, preferences, and needs that lead the discussion and planning. It should not be what services happen to be available or are the ones they “usually” give people. Discuss your likes and dislikes, support needs, and your “must-haves” in the IPP. Everyone should speak in words you understand. You can take notes on big pieces of paper put up on the walls so everyone can follow the discussion. The people at the meeting should work as a team to come up with creative ways of meeting your goals and dreams. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. No question is too simple.

10. Make sure you understand what people say, even if you don’t speak English.

The IPP meeting is about you (or your child). It is very important that you understand what people say. If you do not speak English very well, the regional center must have an interpreter there and translate important papers for you.

11. Take notes about the agreements and disagreements.

Before the meeting ends, go over the things you have agreed and disagreed on. So you do not forget, you or someone else should take notes. At the end of the meeting, the regional center must give you a list of services you both agreed on. The list must give details about services the regional center will pay for.

12. Complete the IPP document.

Make sure the IPP shows: (1) what services and supports you will get (the type and amount); (2) who will provide the services; and (3) when the services will start. If the services cannot start right away, the IPP must say what steps will be taken, who is responsible to do each step, and the timelines for completing each step. The law says these must be in the IPP.

13. Sign the IPP (or list of agreed-upon services) at the meeting.

The IPP you sign should list the specific goals and objectives and the services you will get. Do not sign a paper that just says you agree with a “proposed plan.” The regional center may not write the entire IPP at the meeting. But they must give you a list of the agreed-upon services. The regional center can then type up the IPP on the form it uses and send it to you. Remember, you can agree to parts of the IPP and write that you disagree with other parts. You can agree to some services and write that you disagree with not getting other services you asked for in the IPP.

If you and the regional center cannot reach a final decision on any issue, you can have a second IPP meeting within 15 days. At the second meeting, you should not have to wait for a committee or supervisor to get a decision. You should be able to speak directly to a decision-maker at the second meeting. If the answer at the first meeting is “no,” then you do not have to go to a second meeting, but you can ask for written notice and how to appeal.

14. Get a written notice of any denial.

If the regional center says “no” to any new service you ask for, they must give you a letter (written notice) of the denial within 5 days. If the regional center says it wants to change or end a service you are already getting, they must give you written notice 30 days before the change or cut-off.

If the regional center thinks there is “mutual consent” when they deny a new service or change, reduce, or stop a service you are already getting, they may not send a letter. “Mutual consent” means you wrote or signed something saying you agree. If you didn’t write or sign anything saying you agree, the regional center must send you a letter saying they believed in good faith that you agree. The letter must say why regional center believes you agree, what action they are taking and why, and how you can disagree and appeal.

15. Appeal if things don’t work out.

If you disagree, quickly file an appeal if you want to challenge the regional center decision. You must file the appeal within 30 days if you want services you are already getting to stay the same during the appeal. This is called “aid paid pending.” If it is a denial of a new service or you do not need aid paid pending, then you have 60 days to appeal. If the regional center delays deciding, insist they decide or treat their delay as a denial and file an appeal.

16. File a complaint if things don’t work out.

If you do not receive a notice or denial letter, contact your service coordinator. If you still do not receive it, file an administrative complaint (called a “4731 complaint”) for not getting a notice or letter. If the regional center does not provide the agreed-upon services, file a “4731” complaint.

Read more about Appeals and Complaints in Chapter 10 of Rights Under the Lanterman Act