IPP Meeting Prep Worksheet (Free Editable Template)

Your annual Individual Program Plan (IPP) meeting is the single most important conversation you will have with your regional center all year. It is the one scheduled moment when your service coordinator, you, and (when appropriate) your child sit down together and decide what supports get funded, what goals get written down, and what changes for the next twelve months.

Parents who walk in unprepared tend to walk out with the same services they had last year, even when their child's needs have changed. Parents who walk in prepared, with notes in hand and specific requests ready, walk out with new assessments, new authorizations, and a plan that actually matches the family in front of them. That is the entire point of this worksheet.

Why We Made This

Every California family we talked to said the same thing about their first few IPP meetings: it moved too fast, the service coordinator asked questions they had not thought about, and by the time they remembered the thing they really wanted to ask, the meeting was already wrapping up. Then another year would pass.

The worksheet solves that in the most boring and effective way possible: it puts every question, request, and concern on paper before the meeting starts. When the coordinator asks, "So how is everything going?" you are not searching your memory. You are looking at a page. You can also hand a copy to your coordinator at the start of the meeting so nothing gets skipped.

This is the same kind of prep that case managers and advocates do for the families they help. You can do it for your own family, for free, in about an hour.

What's Inside the Template

• Meeting information grid — date, time, location or video link, service coordinator name, regional center, UCI number, people attending, and a spot to note who is taking notes.
• Strengths and interests fill-in — a short section to describe who your child is outside of diagnoses. This shapes the goals and often surprises coordinators in the best way.
• Current services inventory — every vendor, therapy, and support you already have, with hours per week, how it is going, and whether you want to keep, increase, reduce, or replace it.
• Top three goals for this year — written in parent language first, so you can work with the coordinator to turn them into IPP goal language together.
• Specific requests section — respite hours, social/recreation funding, behavioral assessment, speech re-evaluation, transportation, diapers/medical supplies, day program tours, and a dedicated line for Self-Determination Program interest.
• Starter questions for your coordinator — about purchase of service, vendor choice, appeal rights, and what is available in your regional center's catalog that you may not know exists.
• Post-meeting outcomes log — what was agreed to, what was denied, what was tabled, and what the coordinator said they would "look into."
• Action-item tracker — one line per follow-up, with owner, due date, and status, so promises do not quietly expire.

How to Use It

Download the DOCX and open it in Word, Google Docs, or Pages. Nothing is locked. Fill in what applies, delete what does not, and print a copy for yourself and one for the service coordinator. If the meeting is on video, share your screen and work through the document together.

Give yourself at least a week of runway. The current services inventory and the top goals section are the two that most parents underestimate. It helps to fill those out on a quiet evening after your child is in bed, not on the morning of the meeting.

When you get to the specific requests section, be concrete. "More respite" is easier to deny than "120 hours of respite per quarter, with a community-based provider, starting July 1." Numbers and dates help the coordinator write something fundable. If you are curious about moving to the Self-Determination Program, write that in the requests section too. Expressing interest at the IPP is how the clock starts on orientation and the individual budget process.

Tips From California Parents

Ask for the agenda and draft notes in advance. Many coordinators will send a prep sheet if you ask. If yours does not, the worksheet is your agenda.

Bring a second adult when you can. One person listens and follows the conversation, the other person takes notes and watches the clock. If you are a single parent, bring a friend, a family member, or a parent from your local Family Resource Center. You do not have to do this alone, and you do not need to justify bringing someone.

Do not agree to anything in the meeting that you have not read. If the coordinator offers to "write it up and send it," that is fine. Your signature on the IPP is what makes it real, and you have thirty days to review and respond. Take the time.

Keep the "denied" and "tabled" items. If respite is denied because the coordinator says it is "not available right now," write that down verbatim. That exact phrase matters if you appeal, because services in California are based on individual need, not budget availability. The regional center FAQ has more on what coordinators can and cannot say.

Follow up in writing within 48 hours. A short email that says, "Thanks for the meeting today. Here is my understanding of what was agreed to," is the single most underrated advocacy tool in the system. It turns a conversation into a record.

If your child is over 16, start folding them into the meeting in whatever way fits. Even a few minutes of them naming one thing they want help with next year is powerful, and it sets up transition planning before it becomes urgent.

Related Guides

If this is your first IPP, read our walkthrough on how to prepare for an IPP meeting before you fill out the worksheet. For questions about what the regional center can and cannot fund, what "generic resources" means, and how appeals work, see the regional center FAQ for California parents. And if you are newly in the system, our guide on how to get regional center services covers everything that happens before your first IPP.