When discussing the CA Self Determination Program (SDP), we strive to be informative, insightful, and encouraging. And yet, nothing compares to advice from those who have been in your shoes before. So we asked, and families answered: What has been the biggest difference between using traditional services vs. SDP services?
When you’re receiving regional center services, your options are limited. With SDP, you can use a personal budget to pay for services that fall outside the normal offerings. These are things that regional centers might not normally offer, like Uber vouchers, art classes, and diverse community engagement opportunities.
When you’re preparing for SDP, there is a lot of information to absorb. Reading up on frequently asked questions is a good place to start, but who better to learn from than someone who has been in your shoes before?
Katherine, the parent of an SDP participant, was kind enough to speak on her family’s experiences. She mentioned that they found much more freedom with the benefits they could choose from, including a dance program that is very important to her son.
Having the dance program paid for by SDP freed up their personal budget enough to enable her son to move out on his own!
Elaborating on how SDP has helped her son, Katherine said it was a huge factor “...just having broader services and not being limited to vendors that work with the regional center…I went through multiple agencies, multiple individuals, and I just could never get satisfactory resources.”
She finished by saying the struggle to find resources doesn’t completely go away, but overall, SDP allows you to think much more about the “bigger picture.” You aren’t limited by what your specific Regional Center offers.
Ruth, another parent of a participant, shared her challenges in finding the right program for her son. She emphasized their person-centered approach to finding services, noting that they didn’t feel his needs were being met.
For Ruth’s family, the regional center served as more of a transitional service to SDP. Their regional center helped them put together a unique program for her son, Logan, and once he was in SDP they were able to build a plan around his strengths and interests. Previously, they had been paying out of pocket for his program, but SDP changed that.
“We were able to…really create a community-integrated, fruitful program for Logan.”
Susie, another parent who herself is a certified independent facilitator (IF), shared that her child had already been using some services apart from the traditional offerings. Once they were transitioning to college, a patchwork of programs seemed like too much to handle. For Susie, SDP was crucial for her child to transition to higher education.
They wanted a program that could meet their needs outside of the standard regional center services. Susie’s child had needs that would best be met with a personalized, curated program that would serve them on their college campus.
“We just wanted to put together a curated program for them that met their needs, which were kind of outside the traditional demographic that regional center serves, so none of the vendors really would have met their needs being on a 4-year college campus in a diploma program.”
She finished by emphasizing the importance of the flexibility SDP provides, adding that it still takes work, but not as much as had been previously required.
CA’s Self-Determination Program can open doors for participants and their families, but it’s not always easy. With NeuroNav, you don’t need to do it alone. Our independent facilitation services are here to help you navigate the ins, outs, ups, and downs of self-determination, advocacy, and independence. We’re here to be by your side, in your corner, and we’ll lead the way when you need guidance.
Schedule a consultation today if you’re ready to discover what’s possible with an experienced team behind you.