The document describes how person centered planning changed the life of Alexander Warren. It details how he was frustrated by the limited options and low expectations at his special needs school. Through person centered planning, Alexander was able to share his dreams and goals, including attending acting school. This process helped him gain confidence and develop an action plan. As a result, Alexander pursued mainstream college courses in drama and art, started traveling independently, and is now in his second year of a drama degree. He credits person centered planning with allowing him to express himself and transforming his future prospects.

1. How Person Centred Planning
Changed My Life
Alexander Warren
Superb graphics curtsy of Helen of EDG

2. Me at 15 years old
• I was at a Special Needs School and
worried about my future.
• I wanted to do a mainstream drama
course, but didn’t know how to get
there (in truth I had no real acting
skills).
• I wanted to be independent.
• The school was encouraging me to do
an “extension course”, which I didn’t
want to do (Some of my friends did
extension courses and they thought they were
a waste of time. It's just a place to put them for
another 2 years.)

3. My Frustrations
• Mainstream Kids can choose
there own courses, whereas
special needs kids are pushed
towards a limited set of options.
• Special needs teachers are so
frightened of us failing that they
don't give us anything
challenging.
• How do they expect us to work
hard at something we don't want
to do?

4. My Person Centre Plan
• EDG came to the School and
explained about person centred
planning, then offered it to any
of the older kids in the school.
• I volunteered and they did a person centred plan
for me with a group of my family, my teachers
and my friends.
• There were various parts :- “My Story”, “Who is
Alexander”, “My Dreams”, “My Nightmares”,
“What is Needed Now” and “Action Plan”

5. “My Story”
• This was the first time ever I’d gone through all
my life.
• We all realised that it was a big achievement to
get where I was at the time. (When I was 1 year
old a doctor said I would never walk, talk, read or
write)
• Everyone in the room had felt the experience was
quite moving.
• Before that meeting I was pretty down about
myself, suddenly I thought I could achieve
anything.

6. “Who is Alexander?”
• I felt really warm because everyone said nice
things about me, like
– " brave "
– "incredibly honest "
– "tremendously empathetic" .

7. “My Dreams”
• This was where I could express my wildest
dreams, without anyone saying they were
unrealistic.
• Some of my dreams were:
– going to acting school
– a loving relationship
– travelling on the bus on my own
– going to town on my own to look around the
shops or meet friends.

8. “My Nightmares”
• They included :-
– being homeless
– not having any friends
– a boring job

9. “My What’s Needed Now”
and “My Action Plan”
• These steps looked at the first steps towards
my dreams.
– Everyone was finally listening to me
– I had a way forward towards something I
wanted to do.

10. The Next 2 Years
• At College I did a pathways art course, a
pathways drama course and a mainstream
drama course.
• I started catching a bus to college on my own
(a complicated route, changing buses at
Princes Street).
• I was also catching the bus into town to look
around the shops and meet my friends.

11. ... and Now
• I regularly present my experiences to others
with EDG as part of their “The Big Plan”
course.
• I’ve also worked
with Enable as
part of their
course.

12. ... and there’s more
• I’m now doing a mainstream drama course at
Carnegie College. I passed the 1st year and I'm
now in my 2nd year.
• I have a girlfriend.

13. Person Centred Planning has
changed my life around
• It allowed me to express myself, sometimes with
ideas I didn't even know I had.
• It got me out of the rut that was special needs
and extension courses.
• It got me excited about my future and my
prospects.
• It got me trying harder to achieve my goals,
rather than just going through the motions of life.
• It gave me masses of confidence.