Direct Support Professional training in Delaware is governed by the Division of Developmental Disabilities Services (DDDS) within the Department of Health and Social Services, under the DDDS Training Policy (most recently revised March 12, 2025) and the state's Lifespan HCBS waiver. Unlike most states, Delaware does not leave training design to provider agencies: the DDDS Office of Professional Development (OPD) is the operational hub that builds and assigns the required curriculum for every DSP working for a DDDS-contracted provider.

Pre-service requirements start with a Policy Review completed in the state's learning management system within 90 days. New DSPs must also complete CPR and First Aid within 90 days of hire through an approved certifying body (American Heart Association, American Red Cross, National Safety Council, or ASHI), and a DDDS-approved behavioral intervention program — currently the Mandt System 3.0, with chapters 1 through 4 delivered in person.

Ongoing training is not a fixed hour count that providers track on their own. Instead, OPD assembles both the initial and the annual training plans and assigns them directly to staff inside the state LMS. DSPs complete whatever their assigned plan contains each year, and compliance is measured against plan completion rather than a generic annual-hours threshold.

Medication support is delivered through Delaware's LLAM program (Limited Lay Administration of Medications), taught by DDDS-qualified instructors under the Board of Nursing's regulation at 24 DAC 1900. LLAM certification carries an annual refresher requirement, and only DDDS-qualified instructors may deliver it.

The delivery model is the defining feature of Delaware's system, and providers evaluating outside training vendors should understand it clearly: DDDS holds a statewide contract with a commercial LMS vendor (named as Relias in DDDS provider standards, Standard 5.24), every provider must appoint a Training Administrator in the DDDS system, and all training records must reside on the DDDS LMS (Standard 5.23). The state's HCBS waiver application states plainly that "DDDS contracts with a vendor for web-based training for DSPs." A narrow substitution process exists for individual curricula — a provider may request approval to substitute a specific course by applying to OPD at least 90 days in advance, primarily used for behavioral-intervention programs — but there is no general pathway for a provider to replace the state-assigned core with its own vendor.

For Delaware providers, the practical role of an outside training partner is supplemental: professional-development content beyond the state-assigned minimum, onboarding depth for new supervisors and DSPs, and specialty topics the OPD plans do not cover. Training and eTracking Solutions supports Delaware agencies in exactly that lane — elective and enrichment courses for IDD direct support staff and a compliance-tracking layer for the certifications (CPR/First Aid, behavioral program, LLAM annual refreshers) that expire on their own clocks — while the state-assigned core remains where Delaware requires it to live: in the DDDS LMS.