It’s a good idea to do some preparation before the planning meeting. You’ll get a planning booklet from the NDIS to help. You can fill in the planning booklet before your planning meeting, or your NDIS representative can help you fill it in. If your child is older, your child might fill it in themselves.

First, think about your child’s condition and how it affects their daily life. For example:

• ‘Piper is autistic. She can’t speak, so she gets upset or frustrated when we don’t understand her.’
• ‘Ajay has cerebral palsy. He can walk sometimes although his movements can be quite jerky, especially when he’s tired. He has had several surgeries and needed a wheelchair afterwards.’

Second, think about your child, who they live with, and who’s important to them. For example:

• ‘Piper lives with her mum (Jenny) and dad (John) and younger brothers (Brett and Sal). She loves seeing her grandparents most weekends and going to Aunty Rachel’s house.’
• ‘Ajay lives with his dad (Varun) and his older sister (Su). He loves his teachers and his friends at kindergarten.’

Third, think about what your child does each day and what interests and activities they enjoy. For example:

• ‘Piper goes to school. She loves purple things and likes being outdoors especially when her parents are close by.’
• ‘Ajay goes to kindergarten 3 days a week and playgroup once a week. He has a great sense of humour and is the family joker. He loves cricket.’

Fourth, think about your child’s current supports. These include:

• mainstream health supports – for example, child and family health nurses, GPs, paediatricians and so on
• mainstream education supports – for example, a preschool inclusion subsidy, a teaching aide at school and so on
• community supports – for example, playgroups, library services, church or cultural support groups, sports clubs and so on
• informal supports – for example, the support you give your child, any help you get from grandparent or kinship carers, and so on.

Fifth, think about the supports you and your child might need. For example:

• Do you think your child needs support to communicate, learn, move, play with other children and so on?
• Do you need support for your caring role – for example, respite care?

You can write down all this information, plus any questions, in your child’s planning booklet. It’s a good idea to bring this booklet to the planning meeting.

It can also help to write a carer’s statement. This statement explains how your child’s disability or developmental delay affects you and your family. You can write about your other children, your child’s carers, and your own health, wellbeing, financial circumstances and so on. For example:

• ‘Piper’s mum, Cara, would like to be able to work more. At the moment she works part time so she can care for Piper after school and during holidays.’
• ‘When we go out as a family, we have to make sure Ajay won’t need to walk too far. This can be frustrating for his sister.’