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Independence Planner

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The short version to write on paper: The plan does not depend on this page. On paper, write the one skill, how much help stays in for the next try, what your child told you about it in whatever way they answer, the stop signal you both agree, what happens if it goes wrong, and when you look at it together.

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What is the one thing?

One. A tool that took a list would become a chart, and a chart answers a different question.

Concrete beats general. "Making their own breakfast on a school day" works better than "being more independent".

Why now (Optional)

How much help is in it now, and how much next time?

The five levels are the five answers below, from the most help to the least: from "I show them" to "It is theirs". Answer both questions. There is no requirement to pass through all five, and going back up is a normal move.

Where you are now

What you have agreed for the next try

It is allowed to be the same as the line above, or further back. Both are real answers.

The part you are not withdrawing. Being in the house, doing the first step with them, checking one thing at the end.

What does your child say?

In their words, not yours. However they answer counts: speech, signs, pointing, a drawing, or the device they use. Do not wait for a spoken explanation before you write it down.

Write it as close as you can to their answer, whether it came in speech, signs, a gesture, a drawing or their device, including if the answer was that they do not want to.

Where they are with it

Their answer decides what the top of the sheet says, so a no or a not yet is worth as much here as a yes.

What has to be different for it to work?

Adaptations are not concessions. If something has to change for the trial to be fair, put it in the plan rather than leaving it to the day.

Adjustments that are part of the plan (Optional)

Where it happens, and the net

Answer for the place the trial really happens rather than the idea of it. Without a stop signal and a plan for when it goes wrong, the sheet stays a draft.

The kitchen, the walk to the corner store, the bike, the tool involved. Worth a line only when it changes the trial.

The risks you are not handing over, including the ones your child cannot see: the hot pan, the road, the lock on the door, the cupboard. Naming them keeps the trial about the skill.

Agree it out loud, and agree that using it costs nothing. A word, a hand signal, or whatever your child already uses to say stop.

Who they call, what they do, what happens next. "It goes wrong" should be a thing you have both already pictured.

When do you look at it together?

Choose a date, an event, or a regular time to review it together.

What you will actually talk about (Optional)

Where this sheet stops

Nothing here overrides a legal duty or a safety judgment. If a trial would leave your child somewhere they should not be alone, the answer is not a better plan, it is a different trial. Take over at once if a serious hazard appears, such as traffic, water, fire, a choking risk, a sharp tool or a toxic product, and do not let a natural consequence include an injury. A loss of skills or a marked new difficulty is not reluctance: talk to a professional about it.

What this will not do
  • It does not produce an autonomy score, a readiness percentage or a comparison with other children.
  • It carries no age thresholds. When a child may be left alone, travel by themselves or use certain equipment is a matter of law where you live, and it is not the same in two countries.
  • It is not an assessment of your child and it is not evidence for anybody. It is a note about one thing you agreed to try.
  • It does not know your child's needs. If a disability, a diagnosis or a support plan is part of this, the people who know that work with you on it, not a web page.
Privacy and sources

Everything you type is worked out on this device. None of it is sent anywhere, and saving is a button you press on purpose.

Sources of this tool

Written for any country: nothing on it is specific to where you live yet.

The book's references for chapter 17

Nothing here overrides a legal duty or a safety judgment. If a trial would leave your child somewhere they should not be alone, the answer is not a better plan, it is a different trial. Take over at once if a serious hazard appears, such as traffic, water, fire, a choking risk, a sharp tool or a toxic product, and do not let a natural consequence include an injury. A loss of skills or a marked new difficulty is not reluctance: talk to a professional about it.